Sometimes, you need to cut those recipes and smaller measurements into half or in thirds.  Or sometimes you need to make servings for 3 instead of 4 (like we do with oatmeal in our house).

For times like those, this chart will come in very handy.  I say print it and put it up in the cabinet.  You never know when you might need it.

Not too long ago, I was sitting with a couple of my teacher friends and we were talking about Pinterest.  Those of us that are on it (you can find me here) were explaining how we use it and why or why not others might want to get on board.

Somehow, the conversation turned to talk of making perfect hard boiled eggs.  Now I will admit, for years and I do mean YEARS, I had no idea how to hard boil my eggs. I’d over cook them.  I’d under cook them.  Nothing worked.

Then one day, I was watching Rachel Ray and she shared her secret.  Since then, I’ve never had a bad batch of boiled eggs.  Which means, we’ve also been enjoying egg salad (with lots of dill…yum!).

So here’s what I learned from Rachel.  It’s so simple you’re going to wonder how everyone doesn’t know about this.

1. Put your eggs in the smallest pot they can all comfortably fit into, cover them with water (no lid) and turn the heat on high (meaning, the flame heats the bottom of the pot, not the bottom and half-way up the sides).
2. Let the water get to a rolling boil.  It should look something like this *
3. Turn off the heat and cover the pot (I use a silicone lid, but you can use whatever works).
4. Leave them for about 15 minutes, covered, without heat (you can even remove them from the stove – I usually don’t).  I’ve actually left them on the stovetop for hours and they were still fine.
5. Now you can do whatever you want with them: paint them for Easter baskets, peel them to eat or to cut, make deviled eggs, make egg salad, the choice is yours.

In the time it took me to write this, my eggs are now ready for me to turn into egg salad…yum!

* photos to come

With all the rich foods of the holidays – ham, cookies, rum cake…oh the rum cake! – we needed to lighten things up tonight.  So I thought I’d try making a black bean soup.

I found this Black Bean and Vegetable Soup recipe on All Recipes (it had great reviews), and tweaked it a bit. I cut down on the veggie broth (reviews said it was way too much), added an extra can of beans (pinto as it was all I had on hand), used roasted diced tomatoes with garlic and I didn’t have chili powder so I used red pepper.  And if it matters, one can of black beans was a Trader Joe’s cuban black beans (already seasoned so I didn’t rinse them much).

Even cutting down the broth it was still a little too runny.  I’m thinking that next time I’d add some rice to thicken it up.  And yes, it was a little too spicy for me, but it was so yummy.  And let’s face it, with enough sour cream, nothing is too spicy!

And no photos as I’m not a food blogger here 😉

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• a sprinkling of pepper flakes

Directions

1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion, garlic, and carrots, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until onion is softened. Add chili powder and cumin; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add stock, the beans, corn, and pepper; bring to boil.
2. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30  minutes or until carrots are tender.
3. Puree with an immersion blender or save one can of beans to blend/puree with the tomatoes
4. Serve over rice, with sour cream & a sprinkling of jack cheese

Can’t you just see how soused this cake is? And it should be considering it’s got half a bottle of rum in it!!!

Now that’s what I call holiday baking! Mmmm…good!