Tag: simplefood

Recipes

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Striving for Simple

My family goes through a lot of hard boiled eggs.  They are such an easy grab-and-go snack.  Plus you can use them to whip up a quick batch of deviled eggs….yum!

There is nothing more frustrating than going to peel the first egg from a batch and you are stuck peeling every little piece of shell off.  Not only does it then take forever to peel them, but you are also left with a bunch of sad looking eggs with pieces missing.

If this sounds familar to you, well, then keep reading!  I have finally found a method that makes peeling my eggs easy.  Every. Single. Time.

EASY PEEL Hard Boiled Eggs

  1. Fill a pot of with enough water that your eggs will be completely covered once they are added.
  2. Place the pot on the stovetop, set on high, with a lid and bring the water to a boil. **NOTE:  keep checking to see if you water has started to boil so that it doesn’t boil out and over.
  3. Once the water has come to a rolling boil, GENTLY lower your eggs into the boiling water. **NOTE: if your egg has even the slightest crack (or if you don’t lower them gently) you can expect some of the egg white to leak out of the egg.  This usually happens to one of my eggs, but I don’t mind.  They are all still super easy to peel.
  4. Once you have all of the eggs in, lower the temp (to medium or medium-low).  Make sure that the water continues to gently boil the entire time.
  5. Set a timer for 12 minutes.
  6. While you are waitng for 12 minutes to pass, fill a large bowl with ice water.  I don’t just mean cold water.  Place a handful or two of ice in a bowl and add nice cold water.  This will be where your eggs go IMMEDIATELY after they are done boiling.
  7. When your timer goes off, quickly remove the eggs from the boiling water and add them directly to your ice water.  Stir the eggs in the ice water for a moment and make sure that there is enough water to submerge all of the eggs.
  8. Let them sit in the water for 5 minutes.
  9. Peel immediately.  **Remember to smile as the shell just falls off!

I promise to add pictures to this post soon!  I will take some the next time I make a bunch!

Recipes

Yogurt Drops- (yogurt without the mess!)

Striving for Simple
Frozen Yogurt drops
Frozen Yogurt drops
Frozen Yogurt drops
Frozen Yogurt drops

 

All you need is a container of your child’s favorite yogurt, a sandwich bag, a sheet pan, and parchment paper.

  1. Scoop a container of yogurt into a disposable sandwich bag.  Try to keep the yogurt down in one corner.
  2. Line a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper.
  3. Cut a SMALL corner off of the sandwich bag.  If you go too big it will just run out of the bag.  Start small and make the cut bigger if you need to.
  4. Go crazy squeezing dots on your pan.  Mine are not all perfect in size or shape.
  5. Pop the dots in the freezer for an hour or so and then scrape them off and transfer them to a baggie for easy access.

I usually have a baggie of these in my freezer at all times.  They are perfect for when my little is ready for food, but I don’t have food prepared yet.  She will sit content in her high chair munching on these while I make her dinner.

Recipes

Fall CSA- Week 2

Striving for Simple

Local Produce

 

 

Yummy Taco Pepper Poppers

Pepper Poppers

This recipe reminds me of stuff peppers, but made into a snack or appetizer size.  From my CSA, I was able to use my tomatoes, peppers, and onion (from a different week).

Find the recipe here!

 

Shrimp and Sausage Old Bay foil bakes

67C2B944-48D0-4603-ABA6-8DBBCF7CDE35

Find the amazing recipe here. 

We were able to use CSA potatoes and corn for this recipe.

Sliced Watermelon:

Deciding what to do with my watermelon this week was super easy…just slice it and eat it!

I did, however, try a new way of slicing my melon…with DENTAL FLOSS!  I can not take credit for this hack.  I saw it on a facebook video and just had to give it a try.

  1. Cut the watermelon in half, and then cut the half again.
  2. Now it is time to break out the floss.  See images below!
Slicing Watermelon with Floss
Slicing Watermelon with Floss
Slicing Watermelon with Floss
Slicing Watermelon with Floss
Slicing Watermelon with Floss
Slicing Watermelon with Floss
Slicing Watermelon with Floss

It worked perfectly!  And…no…my watermelon did not taste like mint.  You do have to put the watermelon rine against your body when you are doing the first pass with the floss.  This is a sacrifice I was willing to make because of how easy this trick made slicing the watermelon.  You could always put a towel between yourself and the watermelon as well.

 

Apple Nachos:

Basically a decadent candy apple on a plate.  Whenever I am having a craving for something snacky and sweet, this is my go to!

Recipes

Fall CSA- Week 1

Striving for Simple

CSA stands for community supported agriculture.  Basically, you pay an upfront fee, and you have access to farm fresh produce (and other goods such as milk, cheese, and eggs) on a weekly basis.

This is my first time joining a CSA.  I decided on a location that is convenient for me to pickup my produce on the way home from the office.  I also chose a small share, which should be a good amount of produce for myself, my husband, and our young daughter.  The CSA that I choose to be a part of runs for 9 weeks in the fall (there was a summer session as well, but I didn’t sign up in time for that one!).

I picked up my first CSA box on Tuesday, and here is what was in it!

  • 2 cucumbers
  • 1 bag of potatoes (4 large)
  • 1 large cantaloupe
  • 1 head of romaine lettuce
  • 5 peaches
  • 3 tomatoes (actually from a friend’s garden)
fresh local produce
Fresh Produce from our local farm

Time for a plan!  I do not want any of my precious produce to go to waste.  I was really hoping to get creative with my recipes, but it has been a busy week, so here is what I have done so far!

Garden Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of romaine lettuce (from CSA)
  • 1 cucumber (from CSA)
  • 1 tomato (from a friends garden)
  • 1/4 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 sweet onion- chopped

I chopped everything up.  Placed it in a clear glass bowl and then popped it in the fridge.

TIP #1** Anytime that I prep a batch of salad, I always put it in a clear glass bowl.  This ensures that each time I open the fridge, I see salad.  This makes me so much more likely to grab a quick bowl of salad rather than reaching for another snack or food.  It also allows me to keep an eye on how fresh the veggies are looking.

Salad in a clear bowl
Fresh green lettuce

TIP #2** I shred the cheese ahead of time, but I do not add it until I am ready to eat it.  This keeps my cheese from getting all wet and slimy…gross.  You can use bagged shredded cheese too, I just prefer to shred my own…mostly because it is cheaper!

Garden Salad

 

Cantaloupe

I do not like cantaloupe.  It smells so good, but I just don’t enjoy the taste of it.  Maybe I’ve just never had a good cantaloupe?  Regardless, I am determined to not let anything go to waste, and I am pushing my self to try new things.

NOTE* one great thing about my CSA is that they have a trade table.  If I really did not want my cantaloupe, I could leave it on the trade table and take something else (like more potatoes!).

I did not do anything fancy with my cantaloupe.  I cut it up once it was ripe…took a few bites…then took it with me to the office where my coworkers finished it for me!

 

Potatoes

The potatoes I saved and they went into one of my favorite dinners….shrimp and sausage cajun foil bakes.  See pictures and the recipe in CSA Week 2 here.

 

Peaches

We let them sit on the counter until they softened a bit.  Sliced them. Ate them.  BORING I know!  With fresh produce like this…it doesn’t take a lot of work.