How to Hardboil eggs

How to hard boil eggs - the easyway!

This is totally different than the way I've been hard boiling eggs my whole life.  But it *works*!  My entire life I've always put eggs in a pan, filled it with water, and then boiled them.  And the shells are always hit or miss - usually they're a pain to come off, and I end up butchering the eggs! Occasionally I'd get lucky and they'd be easier, but usually such a pain!

Our family eats a lot of hard-boiled eggs - the kids like them, which is awesome because they're so healthy (such great protein!), I love them as egg salad, on top of a real salad, etc.  

But, they're always such a pain to peel!

{insert cheesy infomercial music...

until NOW! ;-)}

When I was up late one night I decided to google and figure out how to hard-boil eggs.  after reading way too much about this random subject, I stumbled upon this method -  and it works! 

I've done it for a couple of months now, and it's awesome.

Directions:

1. Get your eggs out of the fridge. (I set them on a towel so they won't roll of the counter!)
2. Put fresh, cold water in a pot.
3. Bring it to a boil.
4. Carefully add your eggs. (I use a spoon and lower them into the water).
5. Boil them (no lid) for exactly 15 minutes.
6. Take the pan to the sink and run cold water over all the eggs (rinse them off well so they're cool).
7. Then, crack them against the sink - the shells will seriously just FALL off. 
8. be amazed at how well this works. ;-)

I've never had eggs crack when they hit the water except when I didn't set them on the counter as the water was coming to a boil.   And, the science behind it is something about the water temperature and the temp it has to come to to boil the egg and how long the shell is in the water, blah blah blah blah.....I skipped over the details, and just tried the method. It works! oh, and, look how pretty and yellow the yolks are! the first time I did this I was actually surprised at how good the yolks looked - it's noticeable!

 Try it and tell me what you think!!!

Best Ever Blueberry Muffins

So, these aren't healthy at all.

they're not grain-free, gluten-free, or anything else free. ;-)

but they're our family's favorite ;-) 

not too sweet, not too dense.  a light, fluffy, perfect blueberry muffin.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare muffin pans (use muffin liners or spray with non-stick spray)

Combine these dry ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

Cut 5 tablespoons of butter into the above dry ingredients until mixture resembles oats.

Combine these wet ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
1 cup (or less) milk
1/2 vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon grated lemon peel (optional - super yummy with out it).


Stir the milk/egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Do not overstir.  

Muffins will have holes and be too dense/hard if overstirred.

Add 1 cup blueberries and mix gently.

(i've used frozen and fresh and they're both fine!)

Bake 18-20 minutes until golden and the tops bounce back when lightly touched.

 Remove muffins from pan to cool.

Blackened Chicken

There's an Earth Fare close to me that sells blackened chicken ready-to-go in their deli, and I LOVE it. But, it's crazy expensive.  So, I tried several recipes, and they just weren't as good.  I finally just ASKED Earth Fare how they make theirs, and it's crazy easy!

ONLY chicken, olive oil, and cajun seasoning!

I make a whole batch - maybe 2 batches - at the beginning of the week,

and then I have a yummy lunch or snack option that's great protein, and I can easily slice it up and take it on-the-go!  

Ingredients:

chicken breasts or tenders

{I use tenders because it's more seasoning! I buy the organic, trimmed, ready-to-go stuff at Target}

olive oil

Cajun seasoning

{if you want to avoid MSG and other gross stuff in pre-made seasonings, this is my fave seasoning!}

Instructions:

Dump chicken in a bowl.

Swirl 1-2 swirls of olive oil on them.

mix around.

Sprinkle a LOT of cajun seasoning on a plate.

Place chicken tenders on a plate and cover thoroughly.

 Grill for about 3-4 minutes per side or until chicken is done.

I use a George Foreman, and it's way easy! 

Throw it all on there, and you have chicken for the week ready to go!!

Enjoy!

21 day fix approved! 1 chicken breast = about 1 red

Heatlhy Inspiration

Need some inspiration for the rest of the week?

Here's what's on our menu. 

Wednesday night:

Hearty Meatball Soup

from Skinny Taste. 

Low-carb, 21-day fix approved!

Thursday Night:

Frozen pizza

{pizza on a flat-out wrap for me -

 21-day-fix approved!}

Friday:

I try to make a fun {read = unhealthy buy yummy}  

breakfast on Friday mornings as we eat together as a family then. 

 So, we're having

Hawaiian Bread & Maple Banana baked French toast

{I'll prob eat a small amount, count it as a yellow for the day,

and go back to eggs for the rest of breakfast}

Dinner Friday:

Rachel Ray's 

Pasta with pumpkin & Sausage

I'm going to try saving a bit of the spaghetti squash noodles 

and seeing how it'd work in this recipe to lower the carbs. 

Saturday:

Pancake night! 

This week will be Oatmeal Cottage Cheese Banana Pancakes.

high in protein, gluten free pancakes! 

that can be adapted for 21 day fix. ;-)

Hope that gives you some inspiration!

Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce

Dinner Tonight! 

Easy to have ready ahead of time and just pop in the oven.

Actually, I'm going to do 2-for-Tuesday, and double this recipe,

and put half in an aluminum pan to put in the freezer.

Requires just a bit of prep work since you have to cook the squash and brown the meat ahead of time,

but I'm planning on doing it while the kiddos are at school this afternoon 

so I can just pop it in the oven - make that crazy dinner hour smoother! ;-)

We'll eat it with salad (always salad for dinner!), and steamed broccoli.

Recipe and photo from Skinny Mom!

{for the 21-day-fix, I think I'll count the squash as 1 green, the sauce as 1/2 a yellow for the carbs, 1/2 a green for the sauce as well as 1/2 a red for the protein from the meat. or maybe 1 red depending how much meat I think I eat. and 1 blue for the cheese. :) } 

omit the cheese and it'd be a Paleo recipe!

Crockpot Enchilada Soup!

Mondays. 

whew.

back to the grindstone,

which, for us, 

is a school at home day.
{my kiddos go to a hybrid school} 

it's a LONG day. 

lots of coffee and patience. 

{crockpot to the rescue!}

I've used my crockpot the past several Mondays

and it's brilliant.

I always feel like I need a big gold star for getting dinner not only planned and shopped for, but also IN THE CROCKPOT at 9 in the morning.

so, dinner tonight? crockpot enchilada soup!

it's a new recipe for us, but I think we'll love it.

I'm going to lessen the jalapenos for the kids' sake

{I'd probably double them if it were for me ;-)}

almost zilch-ville prep work.

low carb, Paleo, 21-day fix, clean-eating,

and gotta be every-other-diet approved, too.

recipe and photo found here.

Comments after making:
SO good.  I'll totally double the "broth" part next time 
as we never have enough broth with soup recipes,
and halving the jalapeno still left LOTS of kick! 
Served with cheese, and I used plain greek yogurt for sour cream! 
super yummy, healthy supper. And smelled fabulous. Definitely a keeper.

enjoy!

Flank Steak and Roasted Cauliflower

Tuesday the weather was still nice, so I wanted to grill atleast one more time!

flank steak (on sale for $6.57 for enough for 4 of us} thrown on the grill

roasted cauliflower,

salad.

easy peasy! total cost of dinner was about $9, with leftovers for cauliflower for me for the next day.

{21 day fix friendly, too!}

Here's the pin for roasted cauliflower. :)