Homemade Funnel Cake

I just got back from taking my High School choir to Silver Dollar City for a music festival. It was such a great trip!  The kids behaved really well, and the parents that went along were a huge support.   After singing in Silver Dollar City (and earning top honors…cough cough) we got to experience the ShowBoat Branson Belle dinner cruise. They had a magician comedian, tap dancers/cloggers, and a men’s vocal group that made the evening a delight.

Rachel and Me

I shared a hotel room with Read more

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Meat and Cheese are the two most expensive categories in my grocery budget. I keep costs down by choosing less expensive proteins a few times a week like eggs.   While I’m not a fan of vegan protein alternatives like tofu and TVP,  I do enjoy fresh or dry roasted edamame.

how to prepare tofu

If someone in my home developed food allergies to all dairy and eggs I’d consider tofutti. Until then…. nope.

Eggs, on the other hand, are little compact nuggets of serious nutrition.  2 large eggs have 140 calories, 12g of protein, and everything necessary to grow a chick = lots of nutrients.   Plus at $1.50 a dozen, a serving of 2 eggs is only $.25.

Grant Slicing Eggs

We like to have hard boiled eggs on hand for snacking.  They are also great chopped on top of a chef’s salad, in egg salad, potato salad, tuna salad, creamed eggs over biscuits, deviled (stuffed) eggs….you get the idea.

Boiled eggs are easy to cook, but may not be so easy to peel.  When eggs are freshly laid, they are slightly acidic which makes the shell stick tightly to the albumin in the egg white and impossible to peel cleanly. The hen covers her eggs with a protective coating as they are laid which keeps this acidic level intact and the egg fresh outside the fridge for 10 days.

peeling eggs

Commercial eggs have the protective coating washed off.  This allows the natural CO2 trapped in the egg to dissipate through the porous shell reducing the acidity and the stickiness of the shell.  Commercial eggs will ripen in the refrigerator to be easy to peel in about 10 days. By the time they reach our homes commercial eggs are typically perfectly ripe.

If you have your own hens, you’ll need to wash the eggs you hope to boil with warm water and a soft cloth before storing in the fridge.  Label them so you’ll be able to tell the date they will be ready to boil and peel (10 days ripened.)  Oiling the eggs for storage will make it impossible for them to ripen to easy peel stage.

Eggs in steamer

We enjoy steaming our eggs instead of boiling them in water.  They don’t crack since they aren’t in the rocking boiling water to knock them around.  We think they are easier to peel than boiled eggs and don’t have the grayish green line separating the yolk from the white, unless we forget about them and over do it.

I use our combo steamer/slow cooker/rice cooker to do it, because it automatically starts timing when the water comes to a boil and sets of an alarm when they are done.  I simply fill the bottom with 2 inches of water, fill the top basket with eggs, set it to steam for 15 minutes and go to something productive.

Peel eggs with a spoon

When the alarm sounds , I use oven mitts to lift out the steamer basket and plunge it into a sink of cold water to stop the cooking process.  When they are cool enough to handle, I tap and roll the eggs on a paper towel (or cloth towel) to break up the shell, then slip a spoon between the shell and the egg.  The spoon curves with the egg keeping it protected and the peel slips off pretty quickly this way. If the spoon doesn’t slide well, I oil the tip with a touch of olive oil.

How about you, does peeling eggs frustrate you? Do you have a family tradition for making eggs easy to peel?

 

 

Valentine Snack Mix

Valentine Snack Mix P

We made Valentine Snack Mix this week, just because. The kids each have a basket to hold their personal snacks for adding to lunches and for grabbing on the way out the door.  I thought these would be a festive and unusual addition to their baskets.  Read more

Cream Cinnamon Rolls: Cooking With Brandon

cinnamon rolls 10

Cinnamon Roll Dough

1/2 cup warm milk

1 Tablespoon active dry yeast

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup honey

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole wheat flour (you may need another 1/2 cup)

In a mixer, combine milk and yeast. Stir until yeast is soft.  Add butter and honey, mix well.  Add egg and mix well.  Add salt with the flour and stir until a soft dough forms that is not to sticky.  Knead well.  Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled.

cinnamon rolls 7 

Punch down dough and roll into a rectangle.  (Our rectangle was the size of our silicone baking sheet.)

cinnamon rolls 11

Spread the dough with softened butter.  (We used 1/4 cup, but you could use more or less.)

cinnaomn rolls 8

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  (We sprinkled until it looked good, but 1/2 cup sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon should be about right.)

cinnamon rolls 5 Roll up the dough so that the dough ends up as long as possible.

cinnaomn rolls 4 Cut the log into 12 rolls.  Dental floss works great for this. 

cinnamon rolls 6Place the rolls in a greased 9 x 13 pan. cinnamon rolls 2 Let rise for 1 hour.

cinnamon rolls 9 Mix 1 cup of sour cream (This was raw cream skimmed off the top of farm fresh milk that soured after 7 days.  As a substitute, use buttermilk, cultured sour cream, or yogurt mixed with 2 Tablespoons of milk.)  1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.  Mix well and pour over rolls.

cinnamon rolls 3

Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes.  Check the rolls after 20 minutes by pulling 2 gently apart to see if they are still doughy.

Mix a thin frosting with 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 Tablespoons of milk or cream.  Drizzle over the rolls.  Serve warm with milk–Yum!

Blueberry Sweet Rolls

These would make a nice Christmas breakfast treat!  The girls on the Grocery Shrink group were so nice to help me find blueberry doughnut recipes for a special brunch last Saturday.  After all that, I decided sweet rolls would be less trouble.  This recipe is partly a Better Homes and Gardens Cinnamon Roll recipe with my own changes.  They are for a special Mary Kay training brunch tomorrow so I’ll have to let you know how they taste. If looks are any indication, they will be delicious!

Blueberry rolls 2

The dough recipe:

1 C milk

5T butter

1 T yeast

1/3 C sugar

3 eggs

1 t salt

5 cups flour (I used 2 Cups white and 3 cups whole wheat since this was for guests)

Combine milk and butter in a class measuring cup and microwave until butter is soft or melted (about 120 degrees.)  Pour mixture into an electric mixing bowl.  Add yeast and stir until softened.  Add rest of ingredients and stir until a soft dough forms.  Add more flour if necessary and knead for 8-10 minutes.  Let dough rise until double.

Combine 3/4 C sugar and 1/4 C flour.  Cut in 5T butter until you have coarse crumbs.  Fold in 1 C wild blueberries, thawed and drained (I got mine at COSTCO)

Divide dough into 2 balls.  Roll each ball into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle.  Spread half of the blueberry mixture on each rectangle.  Roll up lengthwise.  (Roll should be 12″ long.)  Use dental floss to cut into 1″ pieces.  Place in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Let rise until double.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Frost with milk and powder sugar glaze.

P.S. They WERE delicious!