Pickled eggs and patience...

I can hardly believe that I only started making these a few years ago. In fact, I had never even eaten a pickled egg till about ten years ago. I have tried them many ways, and I make them according to how I am feeling when I am making them. Sometimes they are a little bit sweet, and other times they are really sour, and I just never know exactly how they will turn out. I like to add pickled beets to them, even though I really don't like beets. It makes them a beautiful red color, which looks really awesome if you make them into egg salad sandwiches.  I wonder if someday my kids will like pickled eggs too?  Right now they look at them like they are food from aliens who have tentacles and huge beady eyes!

This time I took the almost empty jar that I had my honey in and put warm water into it (don't want to waste any of the honey from a neighbor who raises honey bees), then I followed a recipe from one of the many recipe sites online.  I put peppercorns, allspice, cloves, apple cider vinegar, honey, water, salt, and diced canned beets into a pot and heated it to a boil. There are an incredible number of pickled egg recipes out there, all with different amounts of vinegar, water, sugar, no sugar, salt, no salt, etc.  It would be impossible to list them all, but I always use one that has a high amount of vinegar and make sure my vinegar is a high percentage.  I then boiled the liquid and spices for ten minutes, put my hard boiled eggs into a sterilized jar and poured the liquid through a strainer and into the jar. I then sealed the jar, let it cool, and put it into the fridge to sit. This is another test of my patience, to watch that beautiful jar of eggs waiting to be eaten.

God has been working on this patience issue with me for as long as I can remember. I tend to think, jump, and then say, "Now WHY didn't I wait?" but with pickled eggs as with baking, it is always better to wait the allotted amount of time for the bread to cool or the eggs to get pickled all the way through. I am on day 2 with my pickled eggs, we shall see how long I can wait before I MUST try one!  Wonder what project God will give me next that will require me to slow down and enjoy the process, rather than rush through it.

Note:  The best feeling in the world is when you look at your children and realize they have grown up to be really awesome young adults.  My heart is full today....