How to Boil an Egg/Egg Salad Sandwich!

So, I've never boiled an egg before. I had to text my Mom to ask her how to do it. It's just one of those things that I've never done, so doing it right on my very first try felt downright triumphant. Why did I think boiling eggs would be a delicate process?

Egg salad is the easiest, most prosaic meal ever. It's so comforting.

Ingredients

Makes 2 Sandwiches

4 slices of whole wheat bread (the more fiber, the better! The nuttier the better! If there's wheat berries in it, awesome!)

5 eggs

1/3 c. mayonnaise

2 t. mustard

three shakes garlic salt

Here's how my mother boils eggs (verbatim, from her text): "Put eggs in cold water in pan. Start boiling on stove. When @ fast boil turn off cover and let sit 10 min. Put in cold water until completely cooled."

That's what I did, and it worked like a charm. Peeling off the shells, on the other hand, was a pain in the ass. I hear that putting a dash of salt in the pot before you boil the eggs helps? I'll try it next time and let you know.

Then I mashed the eggs, mayo, mustard, and garlic salt in a bowl. Before I actually started mashing, though, I threw my bread in the toaster oven to toast as I mashed. I like my egg salad a little chunky and less like an egg purée so I just mashed with a fork and the strength of my wee little arms.

Once my bread was toasted, I buttered it lightly, covered one slice in leaves of fresh spinach, and then spooned loads of the egg salad on. It was excellent. 

P.S. I hope that we can all laugh about how embarrassing it is to use the RetroCamera app on my phone for blurry pictures of egg salad sandwiches. 

First Snow!

Breakfast Burrito!

The Eggs

2 eggs, scrambled

basil + parsley

small pat of butter

1 clove garlic, minced

In the Tortilla

one whole-wheat tortilla

a few smears (not too thick!) of authentic refried beans

pepperjack cheese

handful of diced tomato

You will need two pans: one small, for scrambling the egg; one larger & flatter, for grilling the tortilla. 

First, assemble the tortilla by lying it flat and spreading the small portion of refried beans + chunks/slices of pepperjack cheese down the direct center. Begin heating the bigger, flatter pan to low-medium heat. 

Scramble two eggs with basil and parsley in a small bowl or cup. Then, in the smaller pan heated to medium, add a small pat of butter and the minced garlic. Let the garlic begin to sautée, but just as it begins to start browning, add the scrambled egg mixture. Cook the eggs to your version of perfection. Keep an eye on them; if you have to scrape at the bottom vigorously, you haven't paid enough attention, in my cooking opinion.

Your bigger pan should be adequately heated by now. Put the tortilla open-faced into the pan and let it hang out until the cheese is melty and the bottom is crispy. The eggs should finish before the tortilla is done grilling, so put the finished eggs directly onto the open-faced tortilla and let them hang out by the melty cheese and beans (mmm).

Once the tortilla is adequately melted on the top and grilled on the bottom, your breakfast burrito is ready. Add some diced tomatoes, and/or cilantro, diced peppers, avocado slices, etc. Eat with sour cream and hot sauce.

P.S. For cheese, I actually used a delicious Chipotle Havarti from Forgotten Valley Cheese in southern Wisconsin. So spicy, and much more buttery than pepperjack, with larger chunks of pepper. It helps clear up my sick sinuses, too!

Someday, when I climb out beneath the pile of papers and exams, I will remember that I once had a less stressful life, free from the tunnel-vision of final essays and tests. When that time comes, I will hopefully also remember that I have a blog, and an apartment that needs cleaning, and real pants that don't have elastic waistbands. Hopefully.

You'll hear from me by January, if I make it out alive.

Rainy Saturdays

Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

 My favorite snack and my favorite flowers.

I made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies today.

The note reads:

For: Superman

Love: Lois Lane

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart!

This tart is rich, creamy and delicious. Its main ingredients are heavy cream + Nutella. Talk about a dream. My only regret is that we didn't make fresh whipped cream to top it! Unfortunately, because it was Thanksgiving Day and so busy, I didn't get a picture of the wholly finished product. The above photograph is everything but the chopped hazelnuts on top, though, so pretty close!