Easter Eggs... Hollow Style

I love colored Easter Eggs as everyone should but for some reason hate to waste the inside of the egg.  Something about just what that hen went through to create it.  Anyway, instead of hard boiling my eggs to color I poke holes and blow out the insides into a bowl and make omelets, use them in cake batter, make a quiche for cryin out loud... I just don't like to waste them. 

I saw a documentary of a single lady once that said you can freeze eggs.  Not while still in their shells, but as yolk and white.  She also said that you could half an egg.  By cracking the egg into a bowl, mixing it up and dividing it in two.  There's a good hint for the single cook when the recipe calls for one egg. 

So to get the insides out of the egg, you gently and I mean gently poke a hole in the top of the egg using a straight pin.  Just push the pin into the shell ever so slightly and it will go. 

Next put your fore finger over that hole and turn the egg over to have bottoms up and poke three small holes like a triangle and then break out the center.  This hole needs to be bigger than the top hole and poking three right together makes it a lot easier to get this one the right size. 

Put your thumb and finger over both hole and give it a good shake to break the yolk.

Stop laughing right now so you can do this step!
Over a bowl, put your lips on the top of the egg and blow the insides out into the bowl.  If they don't come out very easily, take your pin and either make the bottom hole a little bit bigger or use the pin to mix up the egg.  Shake it some more and blow again.  Come on... puff those cheeks up! 

Run water into the bigger hole to wash any excess yolk out of the egg.  We don't want no stankin eggs!

When you color these eggs you have to hold them under the color water obviously because they are empty and not heavy like boiled eggs.  They will also retain a little water so drain them well.

To color my eggs I used a coffee cup half full of boiling water, 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar and 5 or 6 drops of food coloring.  You don't have to have that store bought stuff. 

Waalaa... empty Easter Eggs and no egg guts wasted!

Oh No It broke... Paint it!

Saturday, while potting flowers and making a dirt mess of my potting station which is what it's for, I discovered that one of my small clay pots was broken.  I admit I don't use clay pots much for planting.  They are beautiful and have wonderful qualities but if I use them for plants that need to be watered often, I have to water even more often because the clay obsorbes so much of the water.  My aloe veras love clay pots.  They don't even require water hardly ever. 

I didn't let the loss of a pot slow me down.  I picked up the pieces and thought... chalk board paint!  Then I could write messages on the pieces and place them on top of the dirt in my potted plants.  I felt brill!  Plus it was yet another use for the paint that I feel like I have a ton of when in fact I only have a quart because that is the only size the hardware store had so I think I'll be using it for a very long time.

I ran upstairs, got the paint brushes and paint and headed back down and amidst the pots, dirt, mulch and plants I started painting pieces.  It was super duper easy and looks cute in the pots with messages written in chalk like Smile :) , Pink Petunia, and Hens & Chicks.  Plus I didn't have to throw away my teeny broken pot.  I wound up painting the other two small clay pots and putting seperated hens and chickens in them.  Fun on top of fun :)!  I almost couldn't handle it all by myself.

Now, if I could only find chalk that you can sharpen!  I always have trouble writing small with a regular piece of chalk. 

Pretty Pots to Plant In

I just cannot be normal.  I refuse to purchase normal pots from WalMart to put my summer beauties in.  Well, unless they are on serious clearance and big enough to repot an inside plant in.  Instead I am like a scavenger when thrifting and at yard sales trying to find items large enough to put plants in. 

At my Thrift Store, I call it mine because it's the one I frequent, two weeks ago I looked up to the top of a long clothing rack where they display kitchen glassware at one and and pots and pans at the other, and spotted a big pot.  I darted, and I mean darted, towards it, picked it up and immediately admired it's size, age, nice wooden handle and it's price wasn't bad either at six dollars.  Six dollars is a tad high but it is a good sized pot that a lovely summer geranium would soon call home.

This spring and summer I ask you to venture out.  To break out and find something unusual to plant something wonderful in.  Take the kitchen outside, take the laundry room outside, take the bathroom outside (ok not like that!)  I am going to show you how to take an old stock pot and turn it in to a planter and also give you more ideas of things you can look for to plant in from the last couple of years. 

First select the pot to plant in. 

If it has no possible way to drain water you're going to have to make this happen.

If the pot is thin enough, or has rust holes already, simply use a hammer and nail to make the hole.  Sometimes you have to use a drill and drill bit. 

Line the bottom of your pot with gravel or rocks then top it with potting soil.

It helps to insert the pot your plant comes in into the dirt to get the correct size hole.  Then easily remove the plant, dirt and all, from the pot and insert it into the hole that you made. 

Fill all around the plant with potting soil and top with mini chunk mulch to help keep the soil moist. 

Give your new plant in it's new pot a good drink of water and a smooch of good luck!

Here are some other items I have found are fun to plant in.

Old chip can.  Used the lid on a bird feeder.

Large, enamel bowl.  It already had thin rusty spots so it was easy to knock holes in.  The chair... came with no seat.  I did spray it pink.  When you're single you can paint anything island pink.  Shaun doesn't go for pink so much :)

Yes, it's a hospital pee pot.  And I did clean it first :) (enamel pot planted in in the background)

This lovely Pyrex nesting bowl I bought at a yard sale and luckily it already had a hole in the bottom.  Who the heck would get rid of this?

This, I thought, was a good idea.  I did have a bit of trouble cutting the matting  to line it with but it finally worked and did great all summer.  Not bad for a twenty five cent old kitchen basket at a garage sale!

Good luck and send me picks of things that you find to plant in!  I'd love to see the great ideas! 

Easy Rolls For Supper

Almost every meal deserves the accompaniment of bread of some sort.  What else are you going to use to sop up what's left on your plate?  I have here a really easy roll recipe that I have had for years upon years and haven't the slightest clue where it came from, which is a tad strange.  There are two things I can always remember, where the yard sale was the I got my finds from and where I found a great recipe.  I'm thinking a sister?  That is highly likely.  So if you are my sister and you know and use or have used this recipe and answered the phone when I called looking for a quick and easy roll to make with supper one night, please refresh my memory.

Also, forgive me for not having prep pictures.  I decided to share the recipe a little too late in the roll making process. 

Easy Rolls

1 Cup Self Rising Flour
1/2 Cup Milk
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Melted or Softened Butter

Mix ingredients together in a bowl.  Spoon into six, greased muffin cups.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes or until they begin to brown around the sides.

"Em are mighty fine biscuits."  That was a quote from the supper table tonight.  I'm not going to say which one of use said it.