How To: Make Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

I have a confession. I've become obsessed with hard-boiled eggs. Especially the perfectly cooked ones that come bagged at Trader Joe's. Problem is, 6 of those bad boys are $2.49, making them almost twice as expensive as a dozen regular eggs. Soooo in the interest of saving about $5-$10 a month, I decided to make my own.

I remembered watching an episode of Barefoot Contessa where she told viewers how to make "perfect" hard-boiled eggs with no green ring and beautiful yellow yolks. I decided to look up her method online, found here, and try it out for myself.

Result? Success! Literally perfect! And I honestly think they tasted better than the bagged ones I loved so much. So, here you go, a fool-proof method for making beautiful (and tasty!) hard-boiled eggs.

How To: Make Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs
Method by Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa
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*Place six eggs in a saucepan. Pour in enough water to cover the eggs fully.

*Bring water to a boil, then turn off heat. Let eggs sit for 15 minutes.

*Remove to a bowl or dish and let cool. Once cool, peel shell and enjoy your eggs! :)

all done!

Look how great the yolk looks??

looking pretty on Valentine's plates from my mom

How To: Cook Easy & Healthy Chicken

When I first started cooking I opted for casseroles. It always seemed so much easier to throw all the ingredients together and let them do the work. The only problem? They all called for cooked chicken. I tried so many different ways - frying it on a skillet (which involved oil), baking it in the oven (which required me to wait for awhile and then put the casserole in the oven after that)...

Then, a student's parent last year gave me some inspiration. She is very healthy - runs marathons, cooks extremely nutritious - and delicious! - meals. She had this phenomenal Chicken Fajita recipe, and even suggested a really lean way of cooking the chicken. She put her chicken in a casserole dish, added some sodium-free chicken broth and cooked the chicken overnight in the oven on very low heat.

It got me to thinking, and I was inspired to develop a similar way that didn't involve the oven. The result? Perfectly cooked and extremely moist and juicy chicken! This is my go-to method for cooking chicken for things like pizza toppings, casserole dishes, pulled BBQ chicken, fajitas, enchiladas...the list goes on because it is perfect every time, and so, so easy!

How To: Cook Easy & Healthy Chicken
Method by Call Me Mrs. Rapp
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What you'll need:
*chicken breasts (I've used 2-5 at a time)
*fat free, sodium free chicken or vegetable broth (I suggest chicken broth unless cooking something with vegetables, in which case the vegetable broth gives it an awesome flavor)
*a slow-cooker or crock pot
*salt and pepper, to taste

How you do it:
*Place chicken breasts in the bottom of a slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

*Pour broth over chicken, until it is about half-way covered.

*Set your slow cooker on low, and cook for 6.5-7 hours, depending on how many breasts you have and how big they are.

*Pull the chicken out of the slow cooker with tongs. Leave any remaining broth in the cooker. Cut, shred, pull chicken when it's done!

Chicken in slow cooker

plus broth

Completed chicken!!

How To: Make the Most of Your Tube Makeup

Hey there! The other day I realized that I could no longer get any more concealer out of my little tube. But I knew there was still some in there because I could see it! Fortunately I learned a little trick in high school - when I was trying to prolong the life of my favorite Clinique lip glosses - and I used it to get at least another 2 weeks out of my makeup.

And now I'm sharing this little trick with you in case you weren't as motivated to savor your favorite pink lip gloss once upon a time...

The trick? Removing an extra tube inside the tube, which cleans off the wand and prevents you from having a waterfall of makeup every time you pull the wand out. You may have never noticed it was there, but now that you do you can follow the steps below to get some more of that makeup!

One final note...do not do this trick unless you are sure you can't get any more makeup out. If you do it too early (as I've done) you'll have a mess of a wand and a gooey lid.

How To: Make the Most of Your Tube Makeup
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*Grab a small object with a sharp tip or pointer (I have used tweezers, safety pins, sewing needles, etc.). The important part is that it is sharp and small.

*Look closely at your tube of makeup. If you look at the top carefully, you should see some plastic. You want to use your sharp object to pierce it as close to the actual tube as possible.

*Once pierced, carefully lift up to pull out this additional tube. If you pull too hard you will just rip the tube and will have to try again from a different part of the inner tube.

*When you pull it out you will be able to use your wand to get all the makeup/lipgloss out of the sides and top of your tube!

I tried to do the best with pictures, but I already used this trick before I even thought of making a post about it. Feel free to send me an email or leave me a comment if you have questions!

Using the tweezers to pull out the tube (you can see where it tore because I didn't pull gently at first).

Closer look

Out!

Ta-da! More makeup :)

How-To: Easily Peel Tomatoes

So I was making these amazinggg Chicken "Paninis"with Mozzarella with Salsa Rossa, and the salsa called for peeling tomatoes. Um, ok. I thought this was simple. No. No it's not. Unless you use this trick...

Ingredients:
*2 vine-ripe tomatoes
*small saucepot of boiling water

Preparation:
*Heat small saucepot of boiling water (didn't I say this already?).

*Make a small cross at the base of the tomatoes.

*Plunge tomatoes into boiling water for 20 seconds. Drain, then peel the skin away when the tomatoes are cool enough to handle.

*Voila!

Cross at the base

Boiling 20 seconds

And voila! The peels came off in less than 20 seconds! How easy is that?