they are an Easter tradition -

       There are a few items which seem to be a part of every holiday's menu. Things such as smashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and deviled eggs being a few of them. Today's posting is about the deviled eggs.
       By the way, does anybody know how it is that they came to be called 'deviled' eggs, when they ARE continually part of menu's for things like Christmas and Easter?! Always been curious on that!
      Today I am going to share tips both on the procedure of making the deviled eggs, as well as my recipe for them. And yes, I do feel 'qualified' as some what of an expert on the subject. How so? Well, for several years in a row, we made them up at camp for the 'picnic menu' during Memorial Weekend. We usually fed 120 people each time. And last fall we did them for our church's Labor Day weekend thing, which was also around 100 people. And several times we have made four or five dozen of them for graduation open houses. Besides all of the times I've only made two to three dozen for different family type functions. Then again, I've head that an expert is just a drip under pressure, and I'm dizzy, not a drip o;-p ...

       Tips on the procedure of making the deviled eggs:
       ~ First off, I HIGHLY do NOT recommend that you buy eggs in a bucket or a jar which have already been boiled and peeled. Some of them have been pickled, some are just in water. Stay Away from both of those! Why? Because no matter what you mix with the yolks, the eggs themselves just taste rubbery. It was the only time ever that I've had ungiveawayable leftover deviled eggs.
      ~ Secondly, if you plan on making deviled eggs for Easter, then you need to go out TODAY and buy the eggs!! Make sure you mark the carton "DO NOT USE TILL EASTER", and then don't. Even if you end up needing to borrow an egg or two from a neighbor in the mean time. Experience has shown that the newer the egg, the harder they are to peel. Ones that have sat in your fridge two to three weeks, peel ever so much easier!!!
      ~ Step # 1, is to figure out how many deviled eggs you want to make. Plan two deviled eggs, or one whole egg, per person. True, some people don't like them. But usually there are some amongst the ones that do, that want two with firsts, and another with seconds ....
      ~ Step # 2, is to boil the eggs.
      Place all of the eggs that you want to use, PLUS THREE EXTRAS, into a pan. Yes, you can double stack the eggs.
     Add about 1/8th of a cup of white vinegar to the pan. Doing so insures that if any eggs crack during the boiling process, the innards cling to that eggs shell, instead of spreading all over the place.
     Cover the eggs with water, making sure that every single eggs in completely covered.
     Put the eggs on the stove, light the burner, and bring the pan to a full boil (LOTS of large sized rising bubbles).
     Boil for about seven minutes.
     ~ Step # 3, After turning the burner off, dump the contents of the pan into a strainer, which is sitting down in your otherwise empty kitchen sink. It's best to do this at somewhat of an arms length, due to the hot steam which will rise up.
     Immediately, thourally rinse the eggs with cold water. Do so again. Rinse the inside of the pan with cold water. Dump the eggs back into the pan, and again cover with water. Notice I said "dump". The sound of egg shells cracking is a good thing at this point.
    Wait about eight minutes.
    During this time, lay down doubled paper towels to peel the eggs onto. Place an edged tray or Tupperware pie taker near the paper towels, also placing a paper towel on or in it. Get one more paper towel to use in your hands. And get out one hot mitt.
    ~ Step # 4, Right away at the eight minute mark, you start peeling the eggs.
    Put the kitchen hot mitt on one hand. Hold the paper towel with that same hand. With your other hand, reach into the soaking eggs and pull one out. Place it in the paper towel, on the hot mitt hand. First crack the egg on the paper towels you laid out for peeling onto. Then with your non mitted hand, start peeling the egg. Yes, the eggs are still hot, so work quickly!
    Once that egg is completely peeled, put it on the tray or in the container, and repeat the process with all of the eggs.
    Once you have every single egg peeled, place the tray or container in your fridge for twenty minutes, and clean up the mess you've made thus far.
    Then get out what you will need for the next part: a small sized cutting board, a small sharp knife, the container you want to put the finished eggs in (putting them back in the Tupperware pie taker, lined with a new paper towel, works great!), your pastry blender, your filling ingredients, a mixing bowl, a plastic or wooden mixing spoon, a few eating spoons, and either a qt. sized baggie, or a decorating tube with the flower nozzle attached.
    ~ Step # 5, After the twenty minutes is up, one by one cut the eggs in half and (sometimes gently using the tip of the knife to help) remove the yolks from the shells, placing the yolks into the mixing bowl, and the shells onto the tray or container. Yes, sometimes the yolks are so tightly against the shell that removing the yolk leaves a hole in the shell. That's why you boiled the three extra eggs :->. Your Welcome  ;-p
    Using your pastry blender, attack those yolks! Sometimes it helps to occasionally use a table knife and scrape the bottom of the pastry blender. Keep at the yolks until they are a fine crumbly mess.
    ~ Step # 6, Sprinkle the yolks with your dry ingredients. First add the paprika and the Lawry's seasoning, enough that the eggs now look almost reddish. Then add a light layer of salt. Remember, it is possible to add more seasonings later, but it is impossible to remove any!
    Next add the three 'wet' ingredients, and start mixing/stirring. Make sure that you don't stop until there are no 'lumps' and everything is thourally blended together.
    Using one of the 'eating spoons', do a taste taste of your mixture. A note here - yes, the mixture should taste just a bit salty. Remember, you will be adding it to completely bland tasting shells. If the mixture doesn't taste 'quite right' yet, slowly start adding what you think it might need more of, and then using a clean eating spoon each time, tasting again, till you get it to where it is 'right'.
    ~ Step # 7, You are now ready to fill the shells. If you are doing more than a dozen eggs, then using some sort of a tube is ever so much easier than the old double spoon method! Fold the tube, or top of the baggie, as far down as possible. Put in a couple of scoops of the mixture, unfold more, add more, and continue. However - do NOT fill to the top!!! This stuff has a way of popping back up at you and making oh such a mess!!! Just scrape it up, dump it in the bowl, and keep going. (oh, and try hard to laugh at the mess! Otherwise you'll be eating the ears off of the kids chocolate bunnies ..... ;-p)
    Gently place the tip of the tube down just barely touching the inside of a shell, then gently start squeezing your tube, while pulling it up and away from the shell. Repeat, time after time, sometimes stopping to refill the tube, until all of your shells are filled. Yes, sometimes (actually often) you have more filling than you can use to fill the shells. This comes from adding the other ingredients to the yolks. The best thing to do, is to pull out some Town House crackers, put some of the extra filling on them, and ENJOY!!! (warning, this step can be addictive o;-p Kate and Robin P. blame me ....)
     ~ Step # 8, The finished eggs now need covered and refrigerated till time to serve them. Covering an open tray with plastic wrap will make a gooey mess, unless you use a LOT of the "pizza tables". I prefer to store them in covered Tupperware and then tray them up at serving time. It is also time to clean up the mess from this part. Well, after you have one more cracker with filling on it .....

     my recipe for them:
     I am thrilled to say that this recipe comes highly recommended. :-D
     On the phone the other day, my step mom told me how she was "THRILLED!!!" to read that I was making the deviled eggs again. "Yours are always so-o creamy, and oh girl, what you do with the flavor... how soon till we can eat them?" ;-}
      And one year up at camp, Jericho kept trying to convince me that he did NOT like deviled eggs. I, on the other hand, kept, yes pushing, that I bet that he did, due to other things he likes. And that it was just how somebody had made theirs, or what they had put in them, that he didn't like. Finally, I am sure it was just to get me to shut up (o;-p), he said he would do the "one no thank-you bite". (You agree to try one small bite of something, with full rights to saying no thank-you to any more, and the agreement that you won't be harassed about it any more). He took the one small bite, his eyes literally popped, he shoved the rest in, and asked just how many we really needed to save till serving time. ;-D

       Three 'dry' ingredients:
       - Spanish Paprika
       - Lawry's Seasoning Salt
       - Regular Table Salt
       Three 'wet' ingredients:
       - Miracle Whip
       - Regular Mayonnaise
       - Yellow Mustard

       Yes, I use both Miracle Whip and regular mayo. Only mayo leaves it to bland. Only Miracle Whip is to much zest. I use equal amounts of both at first, sometimes adding one or the other during the tasting part.
       As with the seasonings, it is easy to add more of the mustard later, but impossible to remove it.
       No, I can not give you exact measurements of the ingredients. I'm not sure I've ever made exactly the same amount twice ;-p. And besides, it totally goes by your taste preferences.
       Also no, I do NOT add pickle relish, or horseradish, or any thing else like some people do. Just simple deviled eggs.
       And another no, I do not sprinkle the tops with paprika. Much prefer adding it in the mix and thus blending it's flavor as well as adding it's coloring.

      Now you too can volunteer to make the deviled eggs for this years Easter Dinner :-}

I 'plan' on linking this particular posting to:
~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)' (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Mom2my9, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven' (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
~ "Make-Do Mondays", hosted by Shari, at 'My Practically Perfect Life' (www.practically-perfect-life.blogspot.com)

~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace' (http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com)
~ "Kitchen Tip Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Tammy, at 'Tammy's Recipes' (http://www.tammysrecipes.com/).
~ "What I Learned this Week", are hosted by Jo-Lynne, at 'Musings of a Housewife' (http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/).
~ "Tuesday is Food Day", hosted by Byron, at 'A Lord, A Lady, and a cute little Princess' (http://byroncyndi.blogspot.com/) .

~ "Tasty Tuesday('s)", hosted by Jen, at 'Balancing Beauty and Bedlum's' (http://beautyandbedlam.com/).