Separating Eggs

A good friend just sent me this video. I have GOT to try it!

THIS would make a huge difference when I'm making meringues.

Very cool way to separate egg yolk - YouTube

 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/iAp8pEaWB1Y

Let me know how it works for you!!!

Halloween Party Snacks

We had a Halloween Party this past weekend. The girls hosted a murder mystery, written by Bethany, and a costume party. Lots of fun was had by all.

And lots of snacks were eaten!

I thought the Mummy Dogs were very cute...and so easy.

We used one package of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and cut the dough into very thin strips. We wrapped the strips around hot dogs that we had cut in half. We were looking for finger food, not an entire entree. Then Delaney used a toothpick to put green food color eyes on the mummies. Baked them at 375 for 12-16 minutes. The hot dogs were Cheddarwurst, Beef, and Turkey dogs. The Cheddarwurst sort of "blew out" which made them even creepier looking!

Also on deck were Monster Eyeballs... Devilled eggs with green olive eyes! To add an extra measure of creepiness, I let the peeled hard boiled eggs sit in a some red food coloring with white vinegar for a few minutes.

To top the evening off, Amanda and I made Broken Glass Cupcakes! We've seen several of these posted at Pinterest and we used portions of EasyBaked's Recipe for the most part.

For the glass, we used almond flavoring.

I think if we made it again, we'd spray Quick Release Aluminum Foil instead of waxed paper. 

Don't they look yummy? And they really were easy.

Eggs

We have a small flock of chickens. I sell a couple dozen eggs a week. And we eat eggs all the time. We use them in baking, potato salad, fried for sandwiches, and hard boiled. We feed the goldfish in the koi pond a yolk every month. The dogs get them, too.

One thing about a fresh egg, as opposed to the ones you get from the store which may be up to three months old, it is almost impossible to peel a hard-boiled FRESH egg. At least that's what I always thought. I mentioned this to one of my elderly egg buyers. She scoffed and said, "Of course you can peel a fresh egg! You just have to crack it first. My Grammy taught me that trick."

Crack it? I was sure she was nuts, but being a home school family, we followed her directions, and sure enough...you CAN peel a fresh, hard-boiled egg!

The secret is cracking the egg on the large end. You just tap it on the counter until you hear the CRACK. Don't do it hard enough to smash it, just enough to crack it. The large end is where the little air pocket is.

I asked Annie if the white would ooze out. I hate it when it does that...shudder. She assured me that it wouldn't.

The home school students immediately cracked several eggs...lightly...and placed them in the pot of cold water. We watched over the pot as it came to a boil, waiting to see if the white would ooze. Nope, not a bit of it came out.

We boiled the eggs for 11 minutes, then rinsed them in cold water. We each took an egg and cracked it all over.

THEY PEELED LIKE MONTH OLD EGGS!

We were VERY impressed. I was so impressed that I gave Annie three dozen eggs for FREE the next time she came by.

Caveat: We have one hen whose egg just won't peel nicely, though. Not sure who she is, but one brown egg still doesn't peel well. But all the rest, little white bantam eggs, green Americana Arucaunas, and the other brown eggs all peel very neatly and easily.

I used an egg wedger for years. I got it in Germany and the girls and I enjoyed making egg wedges with it. It finally broke a couple of months ago. Hubs, being the great guy that he is, found a slicer/wedger and ordered it for me. I love it!


Here's a link if you want one for yourself - Egg Slicer Wedger Piercer.


The Egg Skelter

This is another nifty thing that Hubs got me for Christmas this year. It keeps our eggs in order of lay. You just take the one off the end (in this case, that big green one) and the rest roll down. I love it! It holds two dozen eggs. The only drawback is that the bantam eggs don't work on there. They are smaller than the others and will "clog" the roll...so they go in a bowl beside this wonderful gadget.