Hello all. Or should I say my devote 4 or 5 followers. Haha. But seriously, whether you are reading this or not, I just want to say thank you to all of my supporters. I couldn't do this without my mom, dad, and Kevin. The trifecta of my rocks (if that even makes sense). People who hold it down for me. Whole30 is hard enough, so to have the support of my friends and family means a lot.
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| Mah Broth |
Today was a good day for me, my health, and my food. I had a good breakfast, which was the left overbroccoli mash with some chicken and eggs. I needed the fuel because... wait for it... I WENT TO THE GYM TODAY! Yes people. I dragged my fat lil ass all the way to the gym on campus and worked out. Well, I don't know that you would actually call it a full workout because all I did was 20 minutes on the elliptical and some crunches. Ha! But i'll take it for my first day. I am forcing myself to work out at
least 3 times a week starting off. Preferably up to 5 times a week. And I am going to start off slow with basic cardio (aka the elliptical), abs, and push ups. I think this is a good starting point for me. I really want to start exercising because I honestly feel like "It Starts With Food". Meaning the next step is being more active and exercising. I don't need to sit here and blog about the benefits of regular exercise, as I am aware all of you are adult human beings who have sat through at least one health class. Even if it was when you were in 6th grade and it was taught by your old sweaty gym teacher, who awkwardly and almost at a whisper explained the diagram of the female anatomy.
Annnyways. Got a little off track there...
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| Italian style meatballs <3 |
Some other developments for the day included: successfully making 2 mason jars full of my own chicken broth, cooking up some delicious meatballs, and failing miserably at hard boiling eggs. Okay so first, the overnight chicken broth experiment was a success!
(See picture above) I am excited to cook with the broth and taste the flavor it brings to my food. Second, I thawed some ground beef and made some amazingly tasty meatballs in only like 20 minutes (I will post the recipe in my recipe tab). I highly highly recommend making meatballs with ground meat of any kind. Both of the Well Fed cookbooks have some tasty meatball recipes in them. They're so easy to make and you can really experiment with different flavors. Go make meatballs people! Third, I for the life of
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| Busted ass eggs |
me can't figure out how to freakin hard boil a gosh darn (G-rated) egg... I have literally tried everything and I follow all instructions to a tee. Rolling boil, cover, remove from heat, 10 mins, then into ice cold water. If anyone has a "miracle" recipe please share it in the comments below. Because my eggs come out so ratchet. Wheeewie. I lose half the egg in the pealing process.
Overall, a good start to a great month! Let's have a great September everyone. I am sending positive vibes
*buzzz buzzzz* <-- those are my vibes. Embrace them.
Hi Megan, I'm a friend of your Moms and she gave me the link to your blog since I'm going to give Whole 30 a try. Very entertaining BTW. Here is the solution to your egg issues. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteFair Warning – this post is longer than it needs to be (pics are at the bottom I think)
Based on the numerous request (yes, singular) I am posting the perfect “hard-boiled” egg procedure. You may not know you want it, but trust me, you do. I found this, along with several not even close to perfect methods on the internet. You could maybe save time by just Googling “Best Hard-Boiled Eggs Ever”, but I doubt it (1,570,000 hits, no s#!T – I tried it). If you’ve read that older eggs are better, not to worry, I go straight from the store to the stovetop. I can’t say if straight from the hen to the stovetop works, but I’ll bet it does.
The Hook:
If you want eggs that look like the pictures below, with shells that slide off like they’re greased, and bright yellow yokes then read on. If you like those 5 minute to peel only to come out looking like whiffle ball eggs with gray yokes, then don’t waste your time reading this.
The secret is to steam them, not boil them. That's right, steam. You are probably wondering, wouldn't “hard-steamed eggs” or “hard-steamy eggs” be a more appropriate description then? More honest yes, but more appropriate? I don’t know about that.
What you need:
1) a sauce pan (mine is 3 quarts) with a lid;
2) a steamer basket (mine is shown in the picture – it basically sits on top of the sauce pan, and the sauce pan lid fits nicely). I’m sure you can also use the collapsible ones that sit down in the pan, but make sure the water level is low enough so that you’re not boiling the eggs and high enough to last 15 minutes.
3) a bowl with ice and water (or ice water:)) enough to cover the number of eggs you’re steaming.
4) oh, and you need Eggs - I usually do 6 large or extra large ones at a time, sometimes I’ll stuff 8 or 9 in there – a little contact among the eggs doesn’t seem to be a problem.
What you do:
1) Bring an inch or so of water (whatever - it has to last 15 minutes and not contact the eggs) to a good boil, put the eggs in the basket, put the basket on or in your sauce pan and cover. No different than steaming vegetables, only tastier.
2) Steam for 15 minutes then put the eggs into the ice water for about 5 minutes.
3) Peel and Eat, or Refrigerate and Peel and Eat later. I usually do both.
Note: If you need tips on peeling, go ahead and ask. But be aware, you will not get a short reply.
On occasion, one will split (I had one that did a lot worse than that), but that was the hen’s fault, not a fault with the method. A little oozing egg white doesn’t hurt anything, but it’s kind of unsightly. Total shell failure is rare, but kind of messy, so just try to avoid eggs with weak-looking shells.
Don’t worry that my water boils at a lower temp here than it does at sea-level. I doubt it’s an issue. I’ve run a little long a few times with no ill effects, so I think the method is pretty forgiving.
And one final tip if you love deviled eggs, and who doesn’t? Just put a dollop of mustard and some paprika on your (peeled) egg, and there you go. Lazy man’s deviled eggs.
Hi Dan,
DeleteThank you so much for commenting and reading my blog! It helps that there are people out there who are reading it - looking for Whole30 inspiration. Well now look at me, I am just assuming you're inspired by my blog. Haha.
I am DEFINITELY going to try your steam technique. It sounds right up my alley. Although the steamer I have is one of those silicone ones that sits in your pans and the one and only time I used it my broccoli fell into the water. So I am either going to have to get a new one or figure out how to use the one I have. Regardless, I am looking forward to trying your method.
Thanks so much for the comment and the egg-tastic wisdom. I wish you luck in your own Whole30 experience and I hope you find it as rewarding as I did.