How Do You Like Your Eggs?

The other day I was looking at my Twitter feed and I saw  link to an article on eatthisnotthat.com about what 10 foods you should add to your diet that will help you live a longer, healthier life.  Not to my surprise (but this may be strange to some) eggs were on the list at number 10.  My mother always used to tell me if I wanted nice long, strong hair I had to eat my eggs.  When I was a kid I did not like eggs.  Maybe my mom overcooked them or under seasoned them or maybe my teen nose was averse to their sulfury smell.  Now things couldn’t be more different.

In my 30s with two small girls I’ve noticed I’m actually starting to lose my hair (NOOOO!); I still have quite a bit, but my paternal grandmother was practically bald when she died and I really don’t want to be a repeat of that (yikes!).  Eggs are loaded with vitamins, minerals and healthy fats which are essential to healthy tissue growth and function and hair.  Though eggs do have cholesterol in them studies have shown that their consumption in moderation does not affect your serum cholesterol levels.  On the other hand heavy consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates and your own genetic predisposition does severely affect what your cholesterol score will be.  Found all that out when my dad had a super cholesterol scare back in the 90s and I did research on the subject for my 8th grade science fair project.

As soon as my girls were medically deemed old enough to eat eggs I made sure they had them often enough to get used to them and actually crave them.  I want them to be healthy, happy and with full heads of hair for the rest of their lives.  Yes, by this time I had started eating eggs again – you have to lead by example.

One way DD1 loves to eat eggs is hard boiled.  I always shied away from cooking them this way because I was so prone to over cook them leaving the whites super rubbery and the yolks green and dried out (yuck).  Well, I came upon an incredibly easy way to cook a dozen or more  eggs at one time without even a drop of water or a pan on the stove.

Hard Cooked Oven Baked Eggs

Ingredients:

Eggs

Tools:

Oven preheated to 325°F

Large cookie sheet to catch any possible drippings

Bowl of water with ice to cool the eggs

Tongs and/or hot pad

Instructions:

Since you will be turning on the oven to complete this task I would recommend you do no fewer than at least 8 eggs at one time.  Depending on the size of your oven you can easily cook a dozen or more (think deviled eggs for a party) at one shot.

Put your eggs on the counter ahead of time so they come to room temperature. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Place one oven rack in the middle position and then put the eggs directly on the rack – they will set perfectly between the rails.  Make sure there is another rack beneath the one with the eggs so you can position the cookie sheet there.  There is a chance the eggs could leak or explode (I’ve not had one do this violently; other than little brown specks on the shells of surrounding eggs there had been little evidence of a major blowout).  The cookie sheet will prevent the bottom of your oven from getting soiled with egg goo.  Cook the eggs for 30 minutes (don’t forget to set  your timer).

In the last few minutes before your eggs are done make up your ice bath to cool the eggs.  When the timer rings immediately remove eggs from the oven and plunge them into the ice bath to stop the cooking and to cool them for peeling.  Hard cooked eggs with the shells left on will last in the refrigerator for 7 days.