Dear Folks, At lunch today I knew full well that I was eating the last bowl of delicious soup I'd made over a week ago and that I needed to cook up another pot of soup for my lunches. But I couldn't decide on what sort of soup I could cook with the ingredients I have on hand. I figured that if I could stall that decision for a few days, I'd come up with the perfect soup for lunch. As an alternative, I decided that I'd like some egg salad sandwiches over the next few days. I knew that I had an excess of eggs and I'd enjoy them fixed that way. I knew that I'd find them delicious but there was one hitch. I've never prepared egg salad before in my life. I checked through my recipe books and the Internet and took many mental notes about the different variations of egg salad. Finally I came up with a recipe of my own that combined the ingredients that suited me the best. This evening I got to work and put a pot of water on to boil. I gently lowered each of the six eggs into the boiling pot and set my timer for 10 minutes according to my cook book. When the 10 minutes were up, I drained the eggs of the boiling water and cooled them off under running cold water. Later I tackled the peeling of the eggs, not always an easy job. When the eggs got peeled I got out my aluminum egg slicer (vintage 1950), sliced them, put them into a container and eventually just mashed them with a fork, not even concerned that they were a bit lumpy. Then there was the moment of truth. I had to add the other ingredients. First was the mayonnaise. As far as the quantity of mayonnaise, it was guess-and-by-golly. When I finally was satisfied with the amount, I added unmeasured sweet pickle relish, dry mustard, salt, and a couple of shakes of onion powder. When I mashed it all up together I could only hope that it tasted the way I wanted it to taste. To taste test it I spread some on a saltine cracker. I took one bite out of the cracker and I just KNEW that I had invented the best egg salad recipe in the world! Of course I hadn't written down the precise recipe but if I prepare it again, I guess I'll measure the ingredients out, write the recipe down so that at least I will know how to prepare egg salad to my liking. Oh my, how I look forward to an egg salad sandwith for lunch tomorrow! vee

Hello Vee, I love your posts! Here is the easiest way to peel the eggs. I learned this from my wonderful mother-in-law, who (sadly) has been deceased since 1970. After you boil the eggs, pour off as much of the hot water as is feasible. Then, put the pot in the sink and add lots of ice on top of the eggs. Sometimes, as the ice is melting, I add some cold water too. But, the best part is that you then take an egg & crack the shell by tapping it on the side of the sink. Then, just roll the egg between your hands and the shell will come loose from the egg itself. Note --- Be sure to let the eggs cool ONLY to where they can be easily handled, or this method will not work, and then you'll have to go back to a more difficult (and more time-consuming) method. BTW, tuna & egg salad is great for sandwiches too! Leslie ----- > Dear Folks, > > At lunch today I knew full well that I was eating the last bowl of > delicious soup I'd made over a week ago and that I needed to cook up > another pot of soup for my lunches. But I couldn't decide on what sort of > soup I could cook with the ingredients I have on hand. I figured that if > I could stall that decision for a few days, I'd come up with the perfect > soup for lunch. > > As an alternative, I decided that I'd like some egg salad sandwiches over > the next few days. I knew that I had an excess of eggs and I'd enjoy them > fixed that way. I knew that I'd find them delicious but there was one > hitch. I've never prepared egg salad before in my life. > > I checked through my recipe books and the Internet and took many mental > notes about the different variations of egg salad. Finally I came up with > a recipe of my own that combined the ingredients that suited me the best. > > This evening I got to work and put a pot of water on to boil. I gently > lowered each of the six eggs into the boiling pot and set my timer for 10 > minutes according to my cook book. When the 10 minutes were up, I drained > the eggs of the boiling water and cooled them off under running cold > water. Later I tackled the peeling of the eggs, not always an easy job. > When the eggs got peeled I got out my aluminum egg slicer (vintage 1950), > sliced them, put them into a container and eventually just mashed them > with a fork, not even concerned that they were a bit lumpy. > > Then there was the moment of truth. I had to add the other ingredients. > First was the mayonnaise. As far as the quantity of mayonnaise, it was > guess-and-by-golly. When I finally was satisfied with the amount, I added > unmeasured sweet pickle relish, dry mustard, salt, and a couple of shakes > of onion powder. When I mashed it all up together I could only hope that > it tasted the way I wanted it to taste. > > To taste test it I spread some on a saltine cracker. I took one bite out > of the cracker and I just KNEW that I had invented the best egg salad > recipe in the world! Of course I hadn't written down the precise recipe > but if I prepare it again, I guess I'll measure the ingredients out, write > the recipe down so that at least I will know how to prepare egg salad to > my liking. > > Oh my, how I look forward to an egg salad sandwith for lunch tomorrow! > vee