Egg salad sandwiches are the perfect lunch when you have extra hard-boiled eggs. I love to add avocado and pesto to my lemony egg salad sandwich recipe to make it extra special.  I love plain hard-boiled eggs as  a quick lunchtime snack, but when I have a little extra time, this is my go-to egg salad recipe.  You can absolutely eat it right from the bowl, or sandwich it with some homemade basil walnut pesto (recipe below) sliced avocado, and leafy greens between two slices of bread for a more hearty lunch. Lemony Egg Salad Sandwiches with Basil Walnut Pesto and Avocado Makes 2 ..read more

These upscale-looking deviled eggs use balsamic pearls as the “caviar” on top that pop with a burst of flavor in each bite.  My deviled eggs only look expensive. By substituting balsamic pearls for caviar, I've turned them into a more budget-friendly appetizer that still looks so elegant and is sure to wow. Creme fraiche mixed into the filling and also dolloped on top provides a nice subtle tang on your tongue, but you can absolutely substitute Greek yogurt or sour cream if you don’t have any creme fraiche. I've also sprinkled some black lava salt on top for an additional dash of elegan ..read more

Everything a mother hen needs in this functional and roomy chick brooder box built from just one sheet of plywood. Spring is just around the corner, and that means chick season is almost upon us!  Your new baby chicks will need a nice safe, secure place to spend the first few weeks of their life, and I've got the plans for this super economical Brooder Box designed by Kelsey from Green Willow Homestead. Sure, you can use a plastic tote as a brooder, and that works just fine if you get your chicks shipped (so no mother hen), and you only order a few, but they'll grow out of that tote p ..read more

Give your basic chocolate chip cookies a "glow up" by adding chunks of white chocolate, pecans, and  marzipan. If you're tired of your basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, you might just want to give this one a try!  To my standard recipe, I've added white chocolate chunks, chopped pecans and chunks of marzipan. You want to very coarsely chop everything, leaving fairly large chunks to give the cookies distinctive flavor in each bite and lots of texture. These cookies are super easy to make, and they taste as good as they look. The chunks of chocolate melt as the cookies bake, turning ..read more

That greenish-gray ring around an egg yolk is not attractive, but what is it, and is it safe to eat? One of the most common questions I get about cooking eggs is about the green ring around the yolk that sometimes happens when eggs are hard boiled. It's certainly not pretty, and not something you want to see when you're making hard-boiled eggs, deviled eggs, or egg salad, but what exactly is it?  What causes the green ring?  And is it safe to eat? Why Do my Hard-Boiled Eggs Have a Green Ring around the Yolk? Let's start with the basics - which is to say the science of it all. Beca ..read more

Orange posset is a simple dessert requiring no baking and only a few ingredients, but it packs a beautiful punch of flavor. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that you have never heard of posset. I never had until I recently stumbled across an Instagram reel and saw how simple it was to make.  I just adore citrus-based sweet and savory recipes in the winter, so I knew I had to make this.  Although traditionally made with lemons, it can be made with other citrus fruits just as easily. Since my husband had just brought home a big bag of oranges, I went with orange.  What is Pos ..read more

Glögg is a traditional Scandinavian spiced mulled wine that is typically enjoyed during the long, cold winter evenings. Glögg, or gløgg, is a spiced mulled wine that is enjoyed in the Nordic countries of Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden, but is especially popular in Sweden.  Sort of like sangria with its red wine base, glögg is also similar to German glühwein, but glögg usually contains a hard liquor, in this case vodka, making it solidly Scandinavian!  My family is originally from Finland. The photo above is my maternal grandfather's mother (the woman ..read more

Here are a few simple tips for the perfect poached egg. Poached eggs can be a delicious meal on their own, but they're also the foundation of my favorite breakfast dish - Eggs Benedict.  But that's certainly not the only recipe that calls for a poached egg, so it's a good technique to have in your repertoire. It can be tricky to achieve the perfect poach, and I think sometimes people get intimidated to try poaching eggs, but I have a few tips to help you succeed in poaching the perfect egg. Optimally, a poached egg will have a slightly runny yolk enveloped in perfectly formed, fully c ..read more

Each fall, chickens lose their feathers during an annual molt and grow in new ones. If you're new to chicken keeping, you might not realize that each fall, starting when they're around 18 months old (assuming they hatched in the spring), chickens will start to lose their feathers. Although there are a variety of other reasons why your chickens might be losing their feathers including flock aggression, poor nutrition, mites, an over-zealous rooster or predator attack, stress, etc. if you start to notice feathers all over the ground in the late summer or early fall, most likely they're molting ..read more

Focaccia is one of the easiest types of bread to make and it's great for snacking or sandwiches. Focaccia is a quick and easy yeasted bread that I make fairly often. It's a flat-ish Italian style of bread made with olive oil and often flavored with herbs.   Focaccia is so good cut into squares and served warm with butter or olive oil, or cut into slightly larger pieces, sliced in half and used for sandwiches. Or you can use it as a base for more traditional pizza or flatbread toppings, pesto, tapenade, etc.  I love making focaccia because it's very versatile and bakes up in n ..read more