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!!!

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!