Toaster Oven "Hard-Boiled" Eggs

Today, I made the greatest discovery in history:  You can make "hard-boiled" eggs in a toaster oven!  For those of you who don't know me personally, I have been known to have eggs explode in the kitchen from trying to hard-boil them in the past, when I decided it was undercooked and I put it in the microwave to finish it (by the way, NEVER do that).  To make the perfect hard-boiled egg, all you need is an oven (or, in my case, a toaster oven).  My toaster oven cooks much more evenly than my standard oven, so I use it for small items.

Turn on your toaster oven to 325 degrees.  Put 3-5 eggs directly on the toaster oven rack.  Place them parallel to the rack, so they don't roll around.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes.

Take the eggs out of the oven and immediately immerse them in ice water.  Leave them to soak for approximately 15 minutes, or until they are cold.

These things are so easy to peel!  However, you can see that this one was a bit scorched on the inside.  It didn't affect the taste whatsoever.

These are the oven rack marks:

I was a bit worried from the scorching, but you can see that, once I sliced it, it is perfectly cooked on the inside.  Now I can make hard-boiled eggs without having to worry about explosions in my kitchen, and so can you!

DIY Aftershave Treatment for Razor Bumps

I have very sensitive skin.  Because of this (and much to my husband's disappointment) , I rarely shave my legs.  It's just easier than dealing with the inevitable ingrown hair, and then trying to get rid of it before it gets to the point at which I need antibiotics (which has happened multiple times).  I am allergic to many antibiotics, so I can't take them very often anyway, for fear that I will become immune to the ones that I can take.

There is one product, which will remain nameless, that I have used with much success.  You can probably figure out what I'm talking about, but I am not posting the name because I'm basically giving away their recipe.  I got a free sample of it with some makeup I ordered from Sephora.  It's a wonderful product, and it allows me to shave my legs without getting ingrown hairs.  However, the price tag is pretty shocking:  For an 8-ounce bottle, it's $35.00!  Someday, when I have a better-paying job and thus disposable income, I will totally buy this stuff.  However, until then, I found a recipe to make my own version.  It's not exactly the same, but the active ingredients are the same. Mainly, that's aspirin.  I found a recipe on an online forum, the website it linked to was long gone, but luckily she put the full recipe in the post.  I modified it slightly, just to make it easier to make.  Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:  5.5 ounces rubbing alcohol, 2.5 ounces witch hazel (I eyeballed the measurements), 8 uncoated aspirin tablets (available at the dollar store), crushed in a mortar and pestle.  You will also need an old bottle to put the product in, at least 8 ounces in size.  I used an old 12-ounce astringent bottle that I washed out with hot water.  It has a nice spout in the lid that will work well for this application.

First, I poured the alcohol and witch hazel into the bottle.

Next, I put 8 uncoated aspirin in my mortar and pestle.  I crushed up the aspirin as finely as possible, as shown below:

I made a funnel out of a piece of paper and dumped the crushed aspirin into the bottle.  Most of the aspirin dissolved immediately, and only a little bit was left in the bottom of the bottle.  I shook it up to mix the ingredients. That's it:  8 ounces of after-shave skin treatment for less than three bucks.  Just shake the bottle well before each use.  Apply liberally to any freshly-shaven area with a cotton ball, and enjoy never having ingrown hairs again!