Tip-sy Tuesday: Single Cupcake Container

Patty couldn't come to Sunday Supper so I packaged up some food to make her a doggie bag - we had cupcakes for dessert (check tomorrow for how to make "Island Cupcakes", they turned out SO good!) and I wanted to include one for her but packaging one cupcake isn't easy - how to hold it upright and not mess up the pretty topping?

Then I remembered this idea I saw somewhere - it's brilliant, easy, and works. Now you can take one cupcake in your lunch (or your kids' lunch if you are sharing the cupcakes) thanks to this simple idea ;) Mmmmm lunch cupcake....

Put the cupcake in a small plastic tumbler, top with a second tumbler and either tape them together or tie something around to hold the top one in place. No smushed cupcake!

3.12.18: make a layered paper shamrock using decorative patterned paper
3.12.17: blueberry chutney (delish with pork tenderloin!)
3.12.16: copycat shamrock shake


Happy moment ~ hello - lunch cupcake, obviously

Zesting a Lemon

I love lemon.

I started to add more to that sentence but then realized that those 3 words summed up what I wanted to say :)

If you need to zest a lemon for a recipe, or to jazz up salad dressing, or just because zesting is fun - there are a couple easy ways to go about it. The simplest way is to use a handy little tool that has holes on one end that you scrape down the sides of a lemon to remove the peel (I'm pretty sure it's called a "zester"...a somewhat obvious name...); or you can use a vegetable peeler to peel strips of lemon and then finely slice the peel with a sharp knife. Either way, be careful to only remove the top colored part of the peel - the white pith under the skin is bitter and you want to avoid using that part.

Same goes for grating the lemon peel - you can use a hand grater or microplaner to remove the peel but be careful to not grate too much off, just the colored part. You can use other citrus fruit peels the same way - oranges and limes are great additions to many dishes, and lots of times I'll use one or the other in place of lemon.

one year ago: net wrapped mason jar
two years ago: LeDonna's fabulous rhubarb pie

How to Sharpen Knives

A quick video to show you how to use the knife sharpener that comes with a block of knives! I've never had an electric sharpener but it's easy to do with one of these stick things (what the heck is this thing called? I'm pretty sure it's not "stick thing").

Oh and PS: I see on the second time thru when I wasn't trying to explain it while sharpening that I turn the knife over to sharpen the other side on the top of the stick instead of holding it under the stick...I usually sharpen without thinking about it too much - either of these ways works!

Perfectly Peeled Hard Boiled Eggs

I have been making hard boiled eggs for years the same way (put the eggs in a pan, fill with water, bring to a boil for 5 minutes, turn off heat and cover, let rest in hot water for 20 minutes) and they are foolproof, perfectly done everytime. But if the eggs are too fresh then it's always a crap shoot if I could peel them easily (did you know that fresh eggs are the culprit behind difficult-to-peel hard boiled eggs? Yep!) and if I wanted pretty deviled eggs then it was such a pain hoping to get enough nice ones.  I'm making deviled eggs to take to a friends house and of course bought brand new eggs this morning...and then I saw this method with the claim that even fresh eggs will peel perfectly...well of course I'm going to try it!

Bring a pot of water to a boil and then carefully lower the eggs into the pan. Let them boil in a gentle simmer for 15 minutes. Drain; then put the hot eggs into a bowl of ice water and let cool for 5-10 minutes. And sure enough, every one of the eggs peeled super easy - I'm shocked. A couple have a sort of dent on the side (I put them on the top in this picture), not sure what that's about, but when I halve the eggs I'll just make sure to put the dented side on the bottom.

Click here to see where I found this - my new method when I need perfectly peeled hard boiled eggs!