Kitchen Nightmares: Egg Edition

It all started out innocently enough: with a craving for some comfort food egg salad like my mom and grandma make so deliciously. Went to bed with a severe migraine, woke up with a slightly better but still there migraine and all I wanted was some comfort food. How hard is it to boil some eggs? Apparently, hard.

Let me back up here. I followed these simple directions on how to hard boil eggs.Not so easy. I should have known when I started peeling the first egg that it just didn't seem quite done. So my moronic resourceful self proceeded to put that egg back in the pot with the other unpeeled eggs. I was going to monitor the yolk to see when it was cooked. Not smart. I ended up with the picture above. And more not completely cooked eggs.

I gave up. I was out of my egg reserves and could not sacrifice another egg. So I turned to the microwave. Whatever. Eggs cook in the microwave? Sort of.

You see some normal colored hard boiled egg yolk poking out. That was the remainder of the 'test yolk' during the re-boil.

I settled for 'cooked enough' egg salad. I made 2 servings: one for today's lunch and one for tomorrow's. I took 4 hard boiled eggs (in theory, this was more like 3-ish), chopped 'em all up, added 2 tablespoons of Duke's Mayo and 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard, a packet of splenda and salt and pepper. That was it! Deceptively easy. What should be a 20 minute process took me 45, all the while my stomach was growling at me, mocking me.

It turned out decent enough. With cauliflower 'rice' on the side.

I blame it on the electric stove.

Breakfast for Dinner

This past week, I was on a serious breakfast for dinner kick. We have been getting fresh farm eggs in our farmshare each week, and since I don't have time to fix eggs in the mornings during the week, I have been incorporating them in my dinner. We also have been getting a lot of sweet potatoes, which are something I have recently come to enjoy. A lot. I like them when prepared savory, not sweet.

Which led me to this: sweet potato hash topped with fried eggs and a side of veggie sausage

My friend Christine inspired me to make this sweet potato hash - she gets full recipe credit!

This is now one of my favorite meals to make. It's quick, easy, satisfying, and most of all, it is nutritious!

To make the sweet potato hash, I shredded up a few sweet potatoes (1 large and 1 small, to be specific), squeezed out most of the water, and set them aside. I also diced up some onion. As much or as little as you would like. I sauteed the onion on medium-low in some cooking spray until it softens and semi-caramelizes. Then I added in 1 tablespoon of light butter and let it melt. Now you are ready to add the sweet potato shreds! Turn the heat up to medium high. Spread them around evenly and then don't touch them for a few minutes! When shreds start to brown, it is time to turn them. Keep repeating this until the hash has reached your desired level of done-ness! I topped with some truffle salt (a new addition to my kitchen) for something a little extra - regular salt will do, of course and still be just as delicious.

Then I fried up two eggs (over easy/medium) and topped them with salt and pepper, and then put them on top of the hash! On the side, I served up two Morningstar veggie sausage patties. The perfect breakfast for dinner!

Christine recommends using a cast iron skillet for this meal, which I JUST purchased. I can't wait to make this again this coming week with my cast iron!

Arts and Crafts time

After my hellish day on Thursday, I came home and redirected my energy. My coworker official guest blogger, Elizabeth, inspired me to do an art project! You need to know, I am not crafty. I don't like art projects. I used to scrapbook and like that, because all it involved was cutting and gluing.

This was the EASIEST art project in the whole world! And I happened to have all of the necessary components sitting around my apartment. Picture frames and scrapbook paper. The paper from my former scrapbooking days, and the frames I purchased at IKEA for a grand total of $2. I just hadn't filled them with pictures yet. I had a bare wall in my kitchen that needed some attention anyway. This was perfect.

I cut the scrapbook paper to match the size of the frames. I inserted the scrapbook paper in to the frames. I hung them with a hammer and nails. 

Easy peasy. 

So easy that I decided to do a second set for my bathroom. Yes, all of these frames were just sitting around my apartment. 

Now, I know this is not a revolutionary thing to do, but the last time I made artwork for myself was when I lived in Tennessee. I made a collage out of magazine clippings. That was a big step for me. And it looks very homemade. These beauties look like I bought them at the store! I may paint the natural frames, but that involves a whole 'nother level of craftiness. Maybe one day...