Wow!  I was just sitting here thinking about what I could do to pass the time while the eggs I put on the stove to be boiled, well boiled and it hit me!!!  Why the heck haven't I put on and shared with you all how I make my fool proof boiled eggs.

After years of hearing how others do it; putting a dash of baking soda in the water while the eggs boiled, let the water boil first then put the eggs in, put the eggs in before it boils, cover the eggs after they are done and let sit, etc, etc, etc. I stumbled upon my way (and maybe others) just on complete accident.

Before I tell my story (hehehe, sounds like the beginning of a 20/20 news event) I want you to know a couple of things: 1. These are not made fast, it is a slower process so if you are looking for a quick hard boiled egg recipe, this is not it. 2. I wouldn't call these hard boiled or soft boiled... more of a slow boiled ending with the results of a hard boiled egg.

Okay back to the story...

One night I decided that I was going to make some hard boiled eggs for the following morning's breakfast and maybe even for the next day.  I am a true believer in putting the eggs in before the water is even hot.  So I put a pot of water on the stove with my single layer of eggs at the bottom and I let them come to a boil, turned it down a bit and intended to let them boil for about 5-10 minutes and then let them cool off in the hot water with a lid on it because 7/10 times this is a great method of cooking eggs.

Well that is not what happened.  I forgot they were cooking!! *GASP*

About 20 minutes after I started cooking them boyfriend asked if I was cooking rubber eggs and that's when I remembered!  To play it off nicely I laughed and said, oh no I meant to cook them this long, hehehehe.  I waited about another minute because at that point I though that there was no way I was going to get the shell to come off and because I had to play the whole "I meant to do it" scenario.  I skipped the covering and drained the eggs and ran them under cold water until the water stayed cool and I could touch the eggs.  I then, because I just had to see, cracked the outside of one of the eggs and began to peel.  I expected the whites would be stuck badly to the inside of the shell.  I expected a tragedy!

I was fooled!!!  The egg de-shelled perfectly!!!

Long story short, the best eggs I had ever made occurred on this what began as an unfortunate boiling night!

So here is the how to on these eggs in a little less story telling format...

First fill a pot with enough water to cover how ever many eggs you are going to boil (a single layer of eggs, do not stack). Add the eggs to the water and ensure that the water is covering the eggs, like below I didn't have enough so I added a bit more.

Then bring the water to a boil.  Doesn't have to be a rapid boil for you to start the timer and turn down the heat.  I turn the heat down to just above a simmer so it continues to boil without overflowing.  Set a timer (hehehe because you dont want to forget) for 25 minutes and let the heat and water work its magic.

Once it is done boiling immediately drain hot water (I just drain as much as I can from the pot so I don't dirty any other dishes) and then fill the pot back up with cold running water.  Empty once maybe twice, to get rid of the warm water (the eggs and pot will heat the water back up).  Once the water is cool and the eggs are cool enough to touch transfer them to a bowl and put in the refrigerator until completely cooled (at least 2 hours maybe a bit longer).

Once cooled you can peel with ease and serve however you planned.  Beautifully shelled eggs are great for; breakfast, deviled eggs, cobb salads, egg salad and so much more!!

Now I know that there are a million posts about how to make the perfect egg but I really hope that you do give this one a try.  It is the best one I have found, even if it was on accident!

Best Mushroom Soup Ever!

I guess the title of this is more my opinion than anything else but I love this soup!!  The mushroom flavor is just to die for!

It is too hot for soup but I don't care, this is a good anytime soup that just hits that mushroom craving spot (you know if you have one *WINK*).

This soup is an adaptation to one that I found on Skinnytaste.com.  I have used more "clean" type of ingredients.

So here is what I do...

I gather all my ingredients... Organic chicken broth, white button mushrooms, celery, wheat flour, and portabella mushrooms.  I cut up the mushrooms but leave the celery whole.  I don't cut the celery because I am going to have to gathering it out of the soup later and blend it.  I cut it up the first time I made this soup because I didn't read the directions fully and man was it hard to get it out of the broth.  That is what makes cooking fun though and well I learned from my mistake.

Okay, then I put the broth and the flour into a blender to blend it together (it is definitely easier than mixing it together with a whisk or fork).

At this point rest is pretty simple...

Putting everything in a medium size pot.  You first let in boil then bring it down to a simmer and cover.  It will seem like it is going to over flow out of the pot but as long and you have it low and covered that won't happen.  

Once it has been simmering for about 20 minutes it is time to put the finishing touches on!

Taking the celery out and some of the soup and placing it into a blender (blend, obviously) then return the smooth mixture to the pot and let simmer for a little bit longer.

I don't know if you noticed that I have not added any seasonings.  It seems weird I am sure but I want the soup flavored by the mushrooms and celery.  When the soup is finally finished and you ladle yourself some into a bowl... taste it.  If you would like to add pepper and salt this is when I do it.  Sometimes I don't put any in, others I need my salty friend.

For the full recipe click HERE and scroll down.

VIOLA!  

Awesome, flavorful, mushroomtastic soup!

Enjoy!

Lemon Hand Pies Turned Tarts

As promised yesterday on my Twitter, here are the amazing lemon tarts that I made over the weekend!  I adapted a recipe that I found on another pretty awesome blog called Pixel Whisk.  On her blog she made lemon handpies!  They looked so tasty and flaky and well all around amazing, I decided to try and make the recipe.  

I have tons of lemons on my lemon tree still.  If you all recall I made Organic Lemonade with these lemons and let me tell you the picture below doesn't even do this tree justice!  We still have so many lemons I don't even know what to do with them all.  I think I am going to have to start juicing them and freezing the juice and/ or giving them away to family and friends.

Also, yes I do know that the tree is over grown but we don't like to cut the tree when there are lemons still growing on it. 

Anywho...  Back to the tarts...

Like I said above the amazing Pixel Whisk made these beautiful handpies and I knew right away that I was never going to be able to replicate them fully for several reasons but the main one is because I have never made a lemon curd before.  Even now after making it, I still don't think that I made it right but my tarts turned out super tasty and one of my good friends, The Bubbly Brunette, tasted them today and she gave me the yummy approval so I decided that I would for sure share my experience and what I think I will do differently next time.

To start it all off I followed the Pixel Whisk recipe for the lemon curd to a T!

I squeezed my lemons (using my handy dandy juicer from IKEA) and set aside for when it was time to add it.  I put the sugar (organic granulated) and the yolks together in the saucepan and heated till combined.  Then I added the juice and zest of the lemons.  Here is when I think I went wrong...

I believe I did not let the curd mixture thicken enough because I was super worried that I would get some weird cooked eggs.  But I rolled with it because at this point I didn't know that it mattered how long to cook it, I thought it was thick enough and as it cooled with the butter it would thicken more.  Next time though I will for sure cook it a bit longer.

I also do not have the correct whisking apparatus for my pots so I used this cute egg spatula (figured it was fitting and it is small) and rolled with it.  Can you tell that I am a first timer or what?!

As that cooled I began the wheat flour crust.  I used the same recipe on the Pixel Whisk blog but I did not add the walnuts (boyfriend doesn't like them).  After everything cooled and sat in the refrigerator for the allotted time I began the process of putting the tarts together.
This is when I really noticed that the lemon curd was too thin because it would not stay put in the middle of the bottom half of the pies.  So in a leap of faith I used the dough not for hand pies but for tarts.  I used a muffin tin to form the crust (I used a regular muffin pan and only filled the cups with dough but only half way) and filled the tart crust with the curd.
I continued to follow the recipe, with out the egg wash, by putting the tarts in the oven at 400 for about 16-20 minutes.

Then VOILA!

My first lemon tarts were born!

Since my lemons are super sour I decided to add half a blackberry to the top of the tart (my own twist) to cut some of the tartness.

Also because most my pictures didn't turn out that well (like the one above) I made sure to get a yummy side angle to show you all the amazingness that were these tarts (that's right folks, they are all gone).

So if you are in the mood for some pretty amazing little hand pies or in my case tarts you can find the recipe at Pixel Whisk.

Thanks friends!

Oh and I wanted to mention that I also shared this with

Skewer Sundays

My family has weirdly been begging me for theme dinner nights.  Even Boyfriend was asking why we don't do Taco Tuesdays!  So this week I am doing a theme every night!  Here is how the week looks:

Skewers Sunday--- Chicken and Shrimp Skewers

Marinara Madness!--- Spaghetti

Taco Tuesday :)--- Tacos

Waste- Not- Wednesday--- Left Overs

Thirsty Thursday--- Nachos and Sparkling Strawberry Lemonades

Free-For- All Friday--- Leftover or anything you want to make :)

Last night was of course the skewers and they were a huge hit!  The kiddos loved them and Boyfriend of course did (he loves all my cooking, he can't even pick a fav recipe).

I thought that they were pretty amazing myself.  The thing I loved the most was the marinade that I put on them (click HERE for the recipe).  Sweet and salty, almost teriyaki flavored.

I start by putting all the marinade ingredients in a bowl.  Then I put the chicken into the marinade for at least 2 hours (if you can do it longer or even over night that will be better).  Once they have sat and are getting yummified I start placing them on the skewers.

**HOW TO HINT**

To make sure wooden skewers do not burn while on the grill, soak them in water for at least 1 hr before putting the meat and vegetables on the skewer.

Then I placed these bad boys on the grill.  Yes ladies and gentlemen I know many tricks, including grilling.  I am actually the go to griller in our house. 

I cooked the chicken for about 30 minutes in total only turning them maybe twice.  Too much turning can cook your food unevenly.  On these skewers I used onion, bell pepper and mushrooms.  But I have used cherry tomatoes, pineapple, asparagus and squash before.  Really you can put any veggie you like on there as long as it will hold to the skewer and not fall off into the abyss of your grill.

Then voila!  These yummy guys are ready to go!

We also did shrimp ones, but I didn't take any pictures of those.  

This time I paired this with a pasta salad using organic noodles, broccoli, kalamata olives and mozzarella.  This whole meal brought us a bit of summer on a super rainy day (I guess I didn't mention I grilled these in the middle of a rain shower, I got skills guys!).

When Life Gives You Lemons... Literally

We have a gigantic lemon tree in our back yard.  It is at least 10 feet tall so we live a real life, "If life gives you lemons" scenario.  We give many of them away to friends and family but we also like to utilize this awesome citrus!  So for the first batch of lemon flavored yummies this year we went for the simple and made lemonade!

What made this extra special is that my daughter made it, almost all by herself!  This is an organic lemonade that is super simple.  You can find the recipe on my recipe page!

So my daughter juiced the lemons while I made a simple syrup for the ade.

Then we mixed everything together!

Yes the lemonade is not going to be quite as yellow as you as use to seeing but that is because it is from fresh fruit and organic sugar.  This is completely normal.

Daughter says it makes her cheeks pucker which she says is the best part!  So this summer enjoy a drink that is not super healthy but made healthier by the fresh lemons and organic sugar.

*CHEERS*

Grilled Salmon Pouches

Morning all!

Today I am bringing you a wonderful dish that I like to make for my family often. This recipe is very versatile but I am going to show you an easy version and you can add you own-ness to it. :)

So today is all about salmon!  I make grilled salmon pouches on the regular for my family.  It is a huge hit with them and me (mainly because the clean up is so easy!).

What I do is get my simple base of salmon, lemon, butter and some quick simple spices (for the complete recipe click HERE to visit my recipe page) and put them all together in a Leaning Tower of Pisa style.

Then I wrap this little guy up in aluminum foil.  How do I do this you ask?

Well first... I fold the sides up over the top of the tower o' fish.

Then I bring the top and bottom side up to meet in the middle and fold them over and together,  Be careful not to puncture the aluminum foil as it will let the steam out while cooking and you don't want that because that is how you cook the salmon.

Then cook the salmon on the grill for about 25 minutes and voila!...

Yummy salmon!

Now I said above it is versatile and that is because you don't have to stop with these simple ingredients.  You can add things like asparagus, zucchini, cayenne, or whatever your taste preferences are.  Just note that the cook times may vary with what you put in there. 

Salmon is done when it can flake from the skin,

Happy- Healthy Eating!

Artastic Weekend!

This weekend my fam bam and I spent our time running errands, cleaning house (trying to mark off my spring cleaning lists) and going to the 26th Annual Spring Artisans Festival at the Tucson Museum of Art downtown.  I was a little worried about going to this festival at first because we couldn't find it and thought that it was going to be a bust.  But then there they were, the little white tents that all people signify as festival tents.  We parked and walked to the festival, which was located inside the museum and around the outskirts, so it looked smaller than it really was.  

My boyfriend is getting into woodworking and so we come to these type of festivals a lot to get ideas and man were the ideas flowing at this one!  There were so many amazing booths and people there that we could pick the brains of it was awesome!  We say metal work, wood work, clay, watercolors, photographs, and so much more!
Not only was there cool things to look at, there were yummy treats too!  We ate carne asada tacos from a local church, ramen from a local food truck (Fat Noodle) and there were some other yummies that we just didn't get to. 

Overall it was a pretty neat event that I didn't even know existed until I was looking around Saturday morning on the local event sites (oh wow I should do a post about the ones I visit!, writing that down right now, sorry about the side track... moving on). 

If you didn't get to go this weekend do not fret!  The event happens twice a year.  Once in the spring and once in the fall (around Thanksgiving).  

Here is a link to check it out if you missed it ----> HERE

Have a great Monday friends!