Alissa is Cooking: Easter means it's time to color EGGS!

So my sister and I normally color our Easter eggs together at my parent's house every year, this year however she has moved to L.A. so I am on my own. :( Now perhaps this is just my family, but we LOVE when the little PAAS easter kit contains the coveted white crayon so that we can write secret phrases on the eggs that reveal themselves once they are colored. Normal people probably write Happy Easter or other such Easter like phrases; not my family. We tend to write that one dog loves the other more and for some reason we got into this habit of writing Mom is a ho bag. Yes I know you are all very shocked, who would ever write such a thing about one's own mother?! Well my mom was always there and found it humerous. Not sure how in the world it got started that we were writing that, but it happened every year and even though my sister, Ashley is not here with me to laugh and joke and write obscene funny phrases on the eggs I will try to keep the tradition going. Although she is surely missed.

Now it's EGG COLORING TIME!!!!

Start with room temperature eggs.
Eggs that have been sitting on the kitchen counter for up to an hour are less prone to cracking when the cooking water rapidly heats up than ones that come straight from a cold fridge. The USDA says don't keep raw eggs out of the refrigerator for more than two hours.

3. Cook eggs in one layer in cold water.
Place eggs in one layer in a saucepan and cover by about two inches of cold water. Gently bring to a boil. This helps prevent cracking. Don't overcrowd. Eggs jostling each other can also lead to breakage. It's safer to cook a large number of eggs in a few batches.

4. Turn off burner and cover.
When the water comes to a full boil, turn off the heat and cover pan tightly.

5. Let eggs sit undisturbed for about 12 minutes.
They will slowly cook in the hot water yielding a tender white and sunny yellow yoke. Jumbo eggs will need 15 minutes. The beauty of this method is that it's difficult to overcook your eggs, so you can be flexible about the timing.

6. Gently remove eggs from water.
With a slotted spoon, carefully transfer boiled eggs to a large bowl of ice water.

7. For easy peeling, crack shell and submerge in water.
Gently roll a hardboiled egg on the countertop and place in a bowl of water for a few minutes before peeling. The water will seep in and loosen the shell.
Store hardboiled eggs in the fridge for up to a week.

Now it's time to color them!! I found this idea on Pinterest and it's awesome. Instead of using 12 different bowls for each egg color why not use a muffin pan?!