No Fail, Peelable Hard Boiled Eggs :: (No pin holes, No baking soda, No voodoo)

We spent years and tears in our sweaty test kitchen trying to come up with the hard and fast formula for an easy to peel, hard boiled egg.  Jealous, we watch the viral video of the guy peeling an egg by blowing on it. Beaten, we listen to those prattle on about just having the knack for it! We clawed at the Web for ways in which others describe their secret weapon only to fail miserably.  But it is that failure that drove the pursuit. And we've CONQUERED!  It was a break through!

Perfection!

You need:
Eggs
Water
Timer

Place a single layer of eggs in a pot.  Add enough water to cover the eggs plus 1/2 an inch more.  Place on high for 10 minutes.  Set timer.

When buzzer goes off turn off the stove leaving the eggs to sit for another 10 minutes.

When the buzzer goes off again, empty out the hot water and replace with cold tap water filled to the top of the pot and let them sit in that for another 10 minutes.

Peel and eat.  Let me know if you can blow them out of the shell!

The key here is Moderately SLOW (not hastiness) and controlled cooling.

Bow to Me Granola

I had a bad hankering for yogurt and granola for breakfast, problem is we've been furloughed $$ and we now have 2 kids in daycare $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.  And granola is so damned expensive!

The following recipe was aggregated from several found online.

Costco members will reap the benefits of buying many of these items to have on hand.

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix together in a large bowl:
-4.5 cups oats
-1/4 cups of brown sugar
-Hand full of sliced almonds or coconut
-smaller hand full of flaxseeds
-1 tsp cinnamon

If you are a daredevil - try a couple of sprinkles of cayenne pepper

In a separate smaller bowl whisk together:
-1/2 cup honey
-1/3 vegetable oil
-1 tablespoon vanilla

Pour wet into dry.  Mix.
Place into a 9x13 glass or metal pan
Put it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Stir.

-Add large handful of raisins or other dried fruit.  
Put it back in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes.  

Let cool to warm and put in serving size containers.  

DONE and yum bitches!

Dumbfounded Yogurt in the Damned Crockpot Recipe

Yogurt is pricey and is always too sweet for me.  Also, store bought yogurt is sour or tart.

Yogurt is fermented milk.  But, the bacteria in yogurt makes cows milk digestible with little consequence.

I decided to make my own..

DIY YOGURT in the Crockpot!!!!

How hard could it be?  Scouring the web, I found many yogurt fails and fixes. And people who desperately need advice and advisers who affirm quirky techniques that are a must for an A+ yogurt.  There are yogurt making appliances and appliance sanitizing solutions to purchase.

Lucky for you, the Hasty Domestic's test kitchen has spent the last 2 years (it's been that long since my last post) perfecting the simplest recipe just in time for the new year resolutions to eat better.  This yogurt is creamy not tart. 

You need:

Milk

4-8oz of yogurt, plain is best, and this one time I used raspberry -- THINKING it was plain... My next few batches had the faintest taste of raspberry for a little while.

Crockpot

Bath towel
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OPTIONAL: Frozen Berries and Granola:  Bow to Me Granola Recipe

------------Isn't this everything you already have at home?  And to think of the money you burned on yogurt that you could have spent on something better like lottery tickets.--------------------

Step 1:  Pour 1 half gallon of milk into your crockpot.

Step 2:  Turn it on high for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Step 3:  Take it out of the heating element and place the lid on sideways to cool for 30 minutes.

Step 4:   Stir in 4-8oz of yogurt.  This has the live cultures in it that will we will incubate to make more!

Step 5:  Put the lid back on correctly, wrap the pot in your least favorite bath towel.

Step 6:  Put the wrapped pot into a COOL oven over night.  *if the oven is warm or has been used that evening your will have something that's not quite cottage cheese.

When you create your first batch, reserve 1/2 cup for the next batch.

I Love You - Chicken Stew (in the crockpot)

This recipe is one of those Semi-Homemade-Sandra Lee like compilations where all you have to do is chop a couple of items but mostly open packages. Surely Cuomo would finally pop the question before Sandra brings out dessert if she made this for him!
My husband loves this one.

2 lg onions, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped

I love you - Chicken Stew

1 package of shredded carrots
6-8 chicken breasts, boneless
1T thyme
1T oregano
1T black pepper
1 can of cream of mushroom
2 cans of cream of chicken (Fat free is ok here)

---throw all of this in the crockpot for 6 hours
After 5:30 hours throw in:

1 package of frozen corn
1 package of frozen peas
1 or 2 cups of some thing green like frozen spinach, kale, collard greens, or green beans

Serve with biscuits, butter and cold beer.

*Store brand is just as good.
*Only when baking do you need precise measurements and all the right ingredients.  When just cooking you can add a little more or less of almost anything.

Real Spinach Pie ~ made easy

Want more friends or respect from colleagues?  Make them a spinach pie.

The recipe that follows originated from a greek cook book of authentic greek food.   "They" want you to use fresh leaf spinach that you have to wash and then par boil.  "They" want you to beat the eggs and layer each delicate sheet of Phyllo with brushed olive oil before it dries out and crumbles on you (about 7 minutes if you are lucky).  I wanted to know if my way would taste just as good.  It does.  My way = slap it together and shove it in the oven.

Prep Time:  20 minutes.
Cook Time:  45 minutes.
Eat Time:  5 tasty minutes.

4 packages of 10oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed ---Leave out on a plate over night)
1 small onion chopped
1 bunch of dill
1 12-16oz. package of feta (the more the merrier)
2 eggs
1 roll of phyllo dough (thawed -- over night in the fridge)
Olive oil
salt and pepper
*Optional:  4-6 Morning Star breakfast patties (chopped and thawed like the spinach)

----
How to get rid of the water in the spinach:

-The Manimal way:  squeeze the boxes with your bare hands over the sink.

-The Lady-like way:  Dump the content of 2 boxes into a kitchen towel and squeeze and twist out excess... this is the way Racheal Ray does it.  It is the quickest though, you'll want to use a green towel.

----
Preheat to 375 degrees if you want.  I generally do not these days. It is the opinion of The Hasty Domestic that for a lot of things (not all) preheating the oven is myth of sorts.

Dump in a large bowl all contents except for the phyllo.  For the dill, I just rinse it and then snip with scissors all the way down to the rubber band.  For the olive oil, I have whisky pourer on the bottle.  I go around the bowl 2 times or so (use about 3 tablespoons). 

Combine ingredients with your hands like your mom did when making meatloaf.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a 9x13 pan.  Unroll phyllo.  There is about 24 very thin sheets.  Grab a quarter of them place in pan.  Drizzle a bit more olive oil.  Place another quarter over that.  Dump contents of large bowl and smooth out.  Place half of the sheets you have left over that.  Drizzle a little oil and place the rest of the sheets over that.  Tuck in edges.

*Important: before you put pie in the oven, sprinkle a little water over the top of the pie to prevent burning.  And if you bring it to work for lunch, don't.  You'll be harrassed for not bringing enough for everyone...it is that good.

Bake for 45 minutes.

... and by all means, make your comments below if I am missing something or you know of a better way!!!!

Vegetarian Avocado Tacos (No Cook)

This will make about 8 to 10 small tacos.
This should take about 20 minutes.

4 ripe avocados
2 roma tomatoes chopped
1 quarter onion diced
a little salt
to taste (I add a lot):
pepper
hot sauce
garlic powder
cumin
8-10 CORN tortillas, thawed (these are the small ones found either refrigerated or frozen)

Place avocado meat into a large bowl.
How to open an avocado the Mexican way: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGWU5a67Nvs&noredirect=1
Add all ingredients except for the tomatoes and mash with a fork or spatula.
Let it sit and start on heating the tortillas. 
Grab a paper plate and 2 paper towels.  Dampen the paper towels and place on plate.  On top of that place your tortilla stack.  On top of that place another 2 damp paper towels.
Microwave for about 2 minutes until they are soft.

Add tomatoes to your large bowl and gently fold them in until the are combined with the avocado.

Stuff your corn tortillas.

*Best served with strong margaritas.  If they are a little sloppy just add more tequila to the margaritas.

Blog statement:

I work full time and have my hands full of "baby" the rest of the time. How the hell am I supposed to feed myself, keep a somewhat sanitary living space and etch out a life ---- for myself!?

I cut corners. The corners "they" don't tell you about. I'm here to tell you there is a faster way that yields the desired results.

The idea for this blog sprung from my partner in crime, respected colleague and loyal friend...The Reluctant Domestic: http://reluctant-domestic.blogspot.com/. What we both have in common is that we need a team of domestic servants to support our life style. But have yet none.

There are many like us. I am speaking to you!