A reliable way to Make Hard Boiled Eggs

Reliable hard-boiled eggs every time! Whether you’re meal prepping for the week, making deviled eggs, or just love a simple protein-packed snack, this foolproof method guarantees simple-to-peel eggs with bright, creamy yolks.

We recently returned from our eighth Fresh Air Retreat! Hard to believe we've co-hosted so many food blogging retreats with the standout Liz of The Lemon Bowl.

In case you want to walk down memory lane, we’ve traveled all over the country: Scottsdale, New Orleans, Park City, Austin, Miami, Palm Springs, and recently to sunny San Diego.

Fresh Air Retreat is a unique experience where high-level influencers and sponsors come together in a private home to connect, learn and of course, eat savory food.

Attendees

We must say our San Diego retreat had a fun lineup of attendees. These ladies were not only incredibly charming but brought a wealth of knowledge so everyone could learn and continue to grow their businesses.

• Krista of Stay Fit Mom
• Robyn of Real Food Whole Life
• Jenn of Jenn Eats Good
• Kiley of Well Made by Kiley
• Julia of The Spicy Juju
• Christian of One Happy Bite
• Aleka of Aleka’s Get Together
• Liz of The Lemon Bowl
• Lauren of Fisiz

Sponsor Experience

In addition to spending time with a standout group of women, we also got to connect with some memorable sponsors!

Happy Egg

We've worked with Happy Egg for a long time and we must say they are just the happiest people to work with! In case you didn’t know, Happy Egg hens require a minimum of 21.8 square feet of range for every bird, which equates to 10 acres per 20,000 birds. Also, inside every Happy Egg, you’ll find a rich amber yolk; every egg has a quality you can see, and a difference you can taste. We appreciate that they support small family farmers and currently work with 103+ small family farms throughout the midwest.

To say we were giddy to help highlight their happy eggs in a three course tasting meal prepared by Chef Trimell was an absolute pleasure.

The Happy Egg Menu:

• Chilaquiles: fried egg with avocado crema and salsa roja
• Tomato Avocado Salad: heirloom tomatoes with microgreens, hard boiled eggs, and jalapeno lime vinaigrette
• Mexican Scottish Egg: chorizo wrapped soft boiled egg fried golden brown with salsa verde hollandaise and jalapenos

We did want to let you in on a little secret. Eggs are best enjoyed morning, noon or night and we thought y’all might need A reliable way to Make Hard Boiled Eggs in your kitchen cooking arsenal. If you want to make the Tomato Avocado Salad from Fresh Air Retreat follow these steps below to ensure a favorite hard boiled eggs….. just make sure to use Happy Eggs!

A reliable way to Make Hard Boiled Eggs

Making hard boiled eggs is actually rather simple so here a few simple steps to ensure success:

Prepare Eggs:

• Place the eggs in a single layer in a medium or large saucepan. Make sure there is enough room to avoid crowding.

Add Cold Water to the Saucepan:

• Fill the saucepan with enough cold water to cover the eggs by about 1 inch. Optionally, add a pinch of salt or a splash of vinegar to the water to help prevent cracking and make peeling easier.

Bring Water to a Boil:

• Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the water to a rolling boil. Once boiling, cover the saucepan with a lid and remove from heat.

Cook the Eggs:

• Set a timer for 10-12 minutes. Use 10 minutes for slightly softer centers or 12 minutes for fully set yolks.

Prepare an Ice Bath:

• While the eggs cook, fill a large bowl with ice and cold water to create an ice bath. This will stop the cooking process and make peeling easier.

Cool the Eggs:

• Once the timer goes off use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs immediately to the ice bath. Let the eggs sit in the ice bath for at least 5-10 minutes to cool completely.

Peel the Eggs (Optional):

• To peel, gently tap each egg on a hard surface to crack the shell and then peel under a bit of cold running water.

Serve or Store:

• A favorite way to store hard boiled eggs is unpeeled and in a container with a lid. Unpeeled eggs should be eaten within 5 days and peeled should be eaten within a day or two!

Butterball

One of the many perks of attending Fresh Air Retreat is trying NEW products from brands. We had the chance to get up close and personal with Butterball’s new Cook From Frozen Whole Turkey and let us tell you it’s a game changer.

You might be wondering, what is a Cook From Frozen Whole Turkey? Glad you asked! When you think of a classic Thanksgiving turkey you probably think of a zillion steps you need to take in order to cook said turkey. Well, the folks at butterball have created a two step process to make your turkey dreams come true. All you have to do is unwrap the frozen turkey and cook. It doesn’t need to be thawed, brined, or basted. After 5 hours of cooking you’ll get a tender and juicy Butterball turkey as your Thanksgiving centerpiece.

We were blown away by this whole no prep, no mess and no stress turkey. As a mom we can’t tell you how relieved we were to have something that actually required zero prep but provided flavor. If you want…. scratch that…. you need to grab this Cook From Frozen Whole Turkey for your holiday feast. Check out more info HERE as well as a store locator to find it at a store near you!

Current Backyard

Pizza night at home just became an 11/10. We're trying not to geek out but we had a chance to try the Current Backyard Model P Smart Oven Pizza Oven at home and at Fresh Air Retreat. As a supreme pizza lover we must tell you this pizza oven will change your life. Why?

First of all it’s designed for indoor and outdoor use. When you live in a frozen tundra half the year it will be nice to use an appliance that is versatile.

Second, it reaches a whopping 850 degrees and cooks a pizza in 2 minutes. TWO MINUTES!!!! With five cooking modes, smart app connectivity (GENIUS) and dual-pane viewing window, it basically is a seamless cooking experience.

Thirdly, there are five cooking modes so you can pick an option based on your pizza consuming needs – Neapolitan, New York, Thin Crust, Frozen and Broil. We're not kidding that this bad boy is versatile. We cooked pizza and these appetizers: wings, salmon bites, and grilled wrapped asparagus. Does life get any better? To grab a pizza oven head on over to:

SweeTango

As someone that eats an apple a day we can assure you that the only apple we want within arms reach is a SweeTango. What is a SweeTango apple? Answer: A cross between the Honeycrisp and Zestar! varieties, SweeTango apples are known for their unmatched crunch, sweet-tart flavor, and juicy burst with every bite. They’re grown in carefully selected orchards across the US and Canada by a dedicated network of family farms that prioritize quality, sustainability, and flavor.

We had a chance to sit down with one of the growers of SweeTango apples, John Jacobson, Pine Tree Apple Orchards and learn the rich history of this standout apple. Between sinking our teeth into all the factoids we were also treated to a three course meal prepared by Chef Trimell that highlighted the versatility of the SweeTango. Because after all SweeTango isn’t just a snack it’s the IT apple of the fall season best enjoyed in a variety of ways!

Mediavine

We've been married to Mediavine since 2014 so to actually spend time with them IRL was so much fun! In our opinion they aren’t just your basic ad management company they do care about you and your business. We appreciated how they helped us get unstuck when it comes to thinking about traffic and income. It was a much needed round table discussion that was thoughtful, constructive and motivating to apply these processes to our main infrastructure.

Grocers List

We can’t say enough good things about Ben and Grocers List. He is an absolute gem and a HUGE advocate for our industry. In case you don’t know about Grocers List, it’s the service we use to send you recipes via Instagram. This is just one vertical they offer. Grocers list offers many opportunities to grow your business and lets just they have a few options that are coming down the pike that will blow your mind. If you are using ManyChat, leave now and save yourself the trouble by joining Grocers List. You will thank us later!!!

Culinary Adventures:

Besides dining at the house, we had the opportunity to enjoy two offsite meals. One at George’s at the Cove with the most standout view of the ocean. Don’t skip on their suitcase sized lobster roll!

We also visited downtown La Jolla with Mediavine and made a pit stop at The Mediterranean Room happy hour cocktails and The Marine Room for dinner where we devoured a savory lamb tenderloin!

****HUGE THANKS AGAIN to our standout sponsors: Butterball, Current Backyard, Grocers List, Happy Egg, Mediavine, SweeTango, and Kaitlin Janes. Also, thank you to our wonderful attendees who made the journey and who we now call best friends! Thank you to Laura who captured all these memorable photos and to our in-house executive chef, Chef Trimell for keeping us well fed! Until next time!***