How to Hard Boil an Egg

My son gets in these grooves where he will only eat one thing for breakfast for weeks on end.  In the past its been blueberry waffles, Honey Nut Chex, a bagel, and most recently pancakes. Who knows why he does this, but it does take take the guess work out of what to put in front of him first thing in the morning.

The one thing that is annoying though, is that you never know when he is going to change his mind and pick something else.  I have about four boxes of Eggo waffles sitting in my freezer just waiting for the call.  It got me to thinking, maybe I should head him off at the pass, and try to dictate what his next breakfast choice will be.

This is why I made hard boiled eggs.

If you search for how to make them there are a billion different ways to go about it.  The only constant is that you need to boil water.  That I am sure we can all do, at least most of us anyway.  So how DO you boil an egg?  Just follow these simple steps:

First and foremost you need to have some eggs.  Without this process you, are just going to be boiling water.  I guess you could use it to make pasta, and while we all know that the kids will eat that, mine is not eating pasta for yet another meal.

The second step is crucial.  You need to remove the eggs from the carton and place them in a pot.

Then you need to fill the pot with the coldest water that you can find.  Mine seems to work best when you flip the handle to the right and turn it on.  Cold water will then fill your pot.

Place the pot on the stove and turn the heat on.  Since I have a gas stove I can tell the heat is on by noticing the little blue flame.  If you have an electric one, I assume sparks will start flying and you smell  the burning remnants of last nights dinner.

Timing is the most crucial aspect of this process.  Once your water starts to boil, remove the eggs from  the heat, cover the pot and set your timer for 20 minutes.

Now what you do in this 20 minutes is completely up to you.  You could play with your child, read them a book, or you could do what I do and read up on all of my gossip magazines.  I find it simply amazing that Paula Deen could get us all fat with her recipes, and now try and make us skinny with new recipes.  She is basically stealing money from all of us.

After 20 minutes is up, immediately cool your eggs off with cold water.  Simply repeat the process you did before.

So now we have the moment of truth.  What will the egg be like on the inside?  Will it be all rubbery from cooking too long?  Will it still have a somewhat undone yolk?  Will the yolk be green?

Ladies and gentlemen, a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg that my son will not eat because he is currently on an oatmeal kick.  I have to say that I make the worlds worst oatmeal, so if anyone has any tips for me on that I would greatly appreciate it.

One last important thing, make sure you label your newly hard boiled eggs.  It could get messy if you choose the wrong carton.

How do you hard boil an egg?

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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It's What's for Breakfast

I by no means am a gourmet chef.  I find cooking for kids to be one of the worst things about parenting.  You want to make sure that they are eating a healthy well cooked meal, but half the time the food that you spend thirty minutes slaving over a hot stove with, goes uneaten.  I can see why kids only eat things like chicken nuggets and fish sticks.  Who wants to put effort into a meal the kids could care less about.

Breakfast is one meal that I have mastered.  There is no prep time or massive cleanup and the boys usually eat what's in front of them.  If only they could eat cereal, eggs, and bagels for every meal, our cook (me) would be much happier.

Here is one meal that I have come to love over the years, it's quick, simple, and easy to do.  That is of course if you have the right tools.  Without them you should probably just stick to cereal, I mean everyone has a bowl right?

Toasted Waffles

The trick is to find a waffle that your kids will eat.  Through trial and error, I have found that my kids will eat pretty much any waffle put in front of them, so that makes shopping a little easier, you can just buy what's on sale.  For todays purpose we will use the Nutri-Grain Eggo waffle. They really enjoy the blueberry variety and we all know that blueberries are full of antioxidants, so that's a bonus.

Place your frozen waffle in the toaster.  My wife insists on microwaving them.  Why she would go through all that effort is beyond me.

We have a fancy toaster that takes a lot of the guess work out of toasting the waffle. See the two buttons pushed; FROZEN and WAFFLE.  Pretty simple stuff.

The next step is the most important; you need to push down the lever or the waffle will remain frozen.  Studies have found that the waffle tastes better when it is cooked.  Crazy I know.

When the waffle is done, this is where I go against the grain.  I use a pizza cutter to cut through the waffle, but feel free to use any sharp object that you may have on hand.  You could of course just feed them the waffle whole, but our kids are not animals and should not be treated as such.

Now that the breakfast is served, you might want to try pairing it with a cup of low fat milk and sit back and be amazed that your kids actually do know how to eat.  After breakfast you just might want to consider having waffles for every meal.  Why on earth would I make something extravagant again?  That's what we go to restaurants for.

Happy eating.

For more awesome culinary delights check out Solitary Mama and link up your favorite.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Daddy's in Charge Foolproof Recipe

Let's face it unless you have a menu planned, and what dad does, dinner jumps up on you everynight. I can't tell you how many times I look at the clock and have no idea how it got to be so late. This is a foolproof recipe that works everytime, although I would not use it all of the time, just as a last resort, when there is nothing else in your house, which seems to be way too often in mine.



Yes we are talking about boxed Macaroni and Cheese. In my case I bought mine at Wegmans, which by the way is the worlds greatest grocery store, but you can probably find in at any store. There is a brand name Kraft you might have heard of. Make sure you have the People magazine on hand as there is a lot of down time with this.



The first step is to boil water. You will know you have accomplished this task by seeing the water start to bubble when that happens you mist add the macaroni.



Normally I would not let my son do this part because we are talking about an open flame on the stove and I don't want him to get burned, but for the sake of the blog I wanted to show a cute child. I was told that puppies and babies sell, but it would be kind of weird to see a dog pour macaroni into water, so in this case a child will suffice.



Boil your macaroni for eight minutes. This is crucial as experiments have shown me that the macaroni will have the absolute right tenderness in this amount of time. Also it affords you the opportunity to read about how Ashley was hurt to hear some of the things that her prospective husbands had to say on the Bachelor.  Poor girl, I was sick watching it.

When the pasta is done you must drain all the water out of the pot. Then you are going to add about eight pounds of butter and a little bit of milk. I tend to find that it tastes exponentially better with each pat of butter added, but obviously this can be done to your taste.



The most crucial ingredient is the last one, it's what gives this meal it's name. We are of course talking about the cheese. Otherwise we have a dish of pasta with butter, another classic dish the kids will love.



Once this is all mixed together make sure that you spoon equal amounts into each bowl you are serving. Kids will somehow know that they got less in their bowl than the other one. Now you can sit back and watch the kids eat while you enjoy the rest of your People Magazine.

Suggested Pairings:
I would offer this with a nice cold glass of 1% milk or some sort of juice like apple

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Daddy's in Charge Foolproof Recipe (for the Wife)

Let's face it dinner time can be a very stressful time, there are just too many people to please. I know in my house dinner is usually a smorgasbord and I know that is wrong. The kids should eat what I make blah, blah, blah. I get all that. Sometimes though things have to be done to make the wife happy. When the wife is happy, daddy is usually happy if you catch what I am saying. This recipe is actually a pretty simple one that requires no actual cooking, some might not like this style of "cooking", but I have found that the misses is much nicer to me when I make this dish.

Shrimp Ceviche


The first ingredient is obviously shrimp. I usually use two pounds of raw shrimp. Make sure that you remove all of the stuff that you would normally not eat, like tails and rise other things that hang off of them.


Next you need to squeeze enough limes to make around 3/4 cup of juice. Makes sure that you have no open wounds or this will be a tortuous process. I have found out the hard way, it's pretty painful.


Pour that juice over the shrimp in a medium to large bowl and let that sit aside for about five minutes until it gets a little opaque.

In the meantime you are going to chop five Roma tomatoes and one medium to large onion. I know in the picture I have two that's only because I thought I had a bigger onion on hand, which I clearly did not. A reminder, make sure you have all of the ingredients to make this dish before you make it. Also while you are doing this you will finely chop one big bunch of cilantro. It usually yields about had a 1/2 cup which is perfect.
Once that is done mix it all together and put in the refrigerator for about an hour. The lime juice will actually "cook" the shrimp. I know that sounds kind of strange but it works.


While you are waiting you can chop up an avocado which will be added right before you serve this dish. Do not mix it in as the person eating this dish will take care if that.


The final two ingredients are simply for taste so you can put in as much or as kittle as you would like. I usually put in a few splashes of Worcestershire Sauce, and around a tablespoon of ketchup.


For sake of pictures I served this dish up in a wine glass, I know that doesn't make much sense, but I was looking for Martini glasses which would have been much cooler. Everything is cooler in a martini glass, think James Bond. Now that the dish is done hand it over to your wife and watch her go crazy. You my friend should be in for an enjoyable evening.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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A Daddy's in Charge Foolproof Recipe #1

In a follow up to last nights entry I decided to feed the boys again. I thought that I would share with you one of the recipes that my boys like the most. I have pretty much perfected this recipe as it is the only thing that I know the boys will eat. It's a pretty simple recipe, one that should take no more than 15 minutes.

Daddy's in Charge? Pasta With Butter

First step is to boil the water, if this takes more than seven minutes you should have your stove checked.

Second step is to add the pasta, feel free to substitute any variety. In this case tonight I got a little crazy and used those yolkless egg noodles. I know it's a risky idea but one I was willing to take.

Set the timer for 9:00. You could go longer depending on your pasta variety. This where it gets a little tricky though, cook it until your timer beeps.

Strain pasta to remove any excess water.

Add butter. You could use some other substitute but I find it tastes better with butter. I think my boys would agree.

Serve it to your children and watch them go crazy.

It's a pretty simple recipe and one that can easily be mastered through trial and error. I will share with you exclusive recipes in the future, ones that I am sure your kids will love, and you will love making. If you have any to share I would love to hear them and give them a try.

Happy Eating!

If you have your own nonsense recipe to share feel free to link up over at Solitary Mama where she is always dishing up good stuff.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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