Never peel another hard boiled egg again, ever.

If you like peeling hard boiled eggs please stop reading this post right now. You will be disappointed.

Easter is coming and this year I have 4 dozen eggs sitting in my fridge waiting to be coloured, displayed, smashed and EVENTUALLY eaten. 4 dozen does seem like a ridiculous amount but we are hosting a bit of an egg colour extravaganza. Side note: some of those eggs will make it into cake and cupcake recipes before they make it to The Colouring (sounds like the Hunger Games, for eggs, yes?!)...


I've been peeling hard boiled eggs for far too long. Until a few months ago actually. I've been married for 5 years (aweeee) and still, I have failed to notice how my husband extracts (?) a hard boiled egg from it's shell. It's not like this although my husband is also asian and cute...

it's like this,

Cut it in half with a sharp knife and scoop the egg out with a spoon. THAT'S IT!

I know what you may be thinking:

1. What about the bits of shell getting into the egg? Rarely does shell make it into the egg. Sometimes there's a chip of shell on the cut line, sometimes.

2. Too much egg will be wasted when I try and scoop it out. No. You can scoop the egg right out and run the spoon against the shell. 

3. What about deviled eggs?! Cut the egg in the other direction. This is how my hubby cuts it anyways, I just like to cut it the short way.

If this method doesn't suit your liking you can try my daughters method from 2011 - It's called Smash Egg.

Grocery Shopping the the Morning

I went to our grocery store this morning at 6:40 am (to be exact) and it was GLOOORIOUS (singing voice)! The store was void of people (other than employees stocking the shelves), I could stop my cart where ever I wanted to without incident and run up and down the aisles, everything I needed was in stock and I stayed the course with regard to my list. I beat one fella to the (only) checkout open and swish boom bang. Dunzzo. I don't have to go tonight and join the Zombie Walk (I'm always so tired going late and night, I think it impairs my judgement)...I'm done. It really felt like a different store at 6:40 am and I liked it! Even my groceries are put away and it's only 7:51am. Not bad.

I forgot somewhere, somehow that I'm really a morning person at heart. With the baby being up at night I could make a joke out of it...but I won't. I like being up early and accomplishing something I want to do. I think I'll hit the gym tomorrow...but I'm not promising.

Happy Wednesday!

Easier (for me) Meal Planning

Meal planning is a big deal. Although my intentions are good, I've realized it needs to be as simple as possible for me to make it work (see original post).

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I tried and...voila! 2 weeks in, so far so good.

Supplies

• Baseball card protector sheets + 3" x 5" index cards cut in 1/2
• 8.5" x 11" sheet protectors + 8.5" x 11" paper
• Dry erase marker

Method (see corresponding images below)

1. Front of card: meal (including sides), cookbook shortcut and recipe page number (Disney Family Fun Cookbook recipe on page 82 = DFF-82)
2. Back of card: all ingredients for meal
3. Separate page: list all ingredients and rough quantities and sleeve into sheet protector (add a check mark to the end of each ingredient for the amount of times you'll be using it) This works for me rather than a master grocery list because it cuts down on my prep time before heading out to the grocery store. Each meal has a grocery list ready to go.
4. Ingredient inventory: cross out all ingredients you already have with dry erase marker and add missing ingredients to your weekly grocery list. I keep my weekly grocery list on the cupboard and add thing to it as we run out: milk, spray cooking oil, tissue, etc. 

Follow Up

• Photocopy and/or scan winning meal plan
• Archive winning meal plan and corresponding grocery list together (back to back) in 1 sheet protector in Meal Planning Binder 
• Shuffle cards to make new meal plan for weeks to follow using same/different meal plan cards

Tips

• Baseball card protector sheets seem to come in packages of 10, which is plenty, don't buy more than that. In theory I could have 10 weeks planned (I don't) and some weeks archived. This is looking promising, isn't it?!
• Hand write it, it's faster and more relaxing than being on the computer. It doesn't have to be really pretty because nobody is going to see it but you and your family...and maybe your friends who you really like. This project can take effect immediately and P.S. it's ongoing.
• * Use the remaining 2 card slots to house A) Suggestions for breakfast and lunches and B) Desserts and snacks. List ingredients for these on the back of the cards and add to weekly grocery list.
• Don't feel bad pitching a loser meal
• Don't hesitate adding a recipe you've never tried. You can always pitch it if you don't like it and white-out your grocery list of the ingredients.
• Don't hesitate adding wild cards like Sushi, Pizza Night, Go Out To Eat, Sandwiches in the Park,  Invite selves over to Grandparents (haha!) and so on! You don't have to make every meal, from scratch, at home, every day.
• If you go out for dinner or plans change, you can have that dinner meal for lunch the next day or freeze it for another day.
• Write the date of winning meal plans on the top corner of the archived sheet (maybe one day meals could be organized by what is in season, but it doesn't have to be that organized today, or ever)
• Feel free to add notes to archived sheets (who liked what, good for a potluck, etc)
• Swap out [sides, spices, etc.] if you like to be more spontaneous, if something is on sale or if you have a serious craving (I just wouldn't swap out too much in one week)
• Don't forget to wipe the dry erase marker off of the page protector
• Get the family involved in meal planning while you sip your drink of choice and supervise. Let them pick meals, do ingredient inventory, photocopy or scan winning weeks, do prep work at meal time, why not? Well, maybe after you have your goal number of weeks planed ;)

Good luck and let me know if this works for you or what you thought!