Deviled Eggs

This weather is so beautiful! I am loving the 80 degree days and 60 degree nights - I am finding it the perfect temp to manage coolness inside and also be outside whenever possible.

I did lots of gardening at the Northside homestead on Saturday. The pepper plants and the cucumbers seem to be struggling - I think it was just too cold for too long after they went in. So I tried an experiment of fertilizing with urine?! Apparently there is quite a compelling read on the subject, called "Liquid Gold" (isn't that an amazing title?) I have not read it yet (Hennepin county library does not own it), but did do some research and learned that you can use your fresh (as in less than 24 hours old) urine to help your plants: use 1 part urine to 10 parts water. Free and plentiful! So I gave it a try on the peppers and the cucumbers, and will do another dose later this week. We'll see if it helps - the little plants seem to be a bit stunted, so it might already be too late. (You can also pour urine directly on weeds as a weed killer, and it works great as a compost starter. So many uses?!)

I have grand plans to do some weeding and transplanting of brussel sprouts and kale this weekend - we'll see if it comes to fruition. I am continuing to enjoy lots of salads, and also made a really delicious batch of deviled eggs on Saturday. I love deviled eggs in just about any fashion, but I think they are amazing with homemade mayo and smoked paprika (the smoked part is really key to the surprising flavor). You can get smoked paprika in the bulk section at the co-ops.

For the hard-boiled eggs:
Fill a pan with cold water and your eggs. Make sure eggs are covered by about an inch of water. Heat on stove on high heat until boiling. Once it hits a rolling boil, cover the pot, turn off heat, and let sit for 10 minutes. Use a timer for best results! After 10 minutes, remove eggs to a cold water bath (I just get some kind of large bowl or vessel ready with cold water in it, you can put ice cubes in if you want to get real fancy) to cool. You can refrigerate them, or move on with the deviled eggs as soon as they are cool enough to handle.

Deviled Eggs: Peel eggs, than carefully cut them in half, removing egg yolks to a small bowl. I have not measured precise amounts, but add a good amount of mayo, a little bit of mustard, some salt (smoky salt would be great), and a splash of vinegar (white wine or champagne vinegar works nicely) to the yolks. Mix together and than spoon back in the egg white halves and sprinkle smoked paprika on top. Garlic chives are growing like crazy in the garden, so if you have some of those, throw them on top. So good!

If you are not bringing these babies to a potluck, serve with a nice garden salad - mine included a few nasturtiums, some radishes, and some shredded beets (not from the garden) on a bed of lettuce and arugula. So pretty.