Deviled Eggs--The Appetizer That Will Never Fail You

It is funny the things you inherit from your mother.  For instance, I have to use Dawn dish soap and Tide for my laundry.  If I drink pop, it is Diet Coke and not Diet Pepsi.  I like my coffee black, I refuse to use margarine, and am liberal with the EVOO.  These are all things that I am pretty sure are learned behaviors that I picked up from my mom.  There are two other behaviors that fall in this category--I dislike making appetizers and desserts.  I will make a salad, a side dish or a main course--but ask me to bring an appetizer and the first person I call is my cousin Sarah, who is the appetizer expert. 

However, there is one appetizer that never comes to mind right away and that is deviled eggs.  The recipe below is the most simple version--but be creative with them.  You can add chopped capers, olives of sweet pickles. You can soak the hard boiled eggs in beet juice and bring them to watch the Vikings, who will hopefully win one of these days.  You can add different kinds of mustard and add different herbs.  They are pretty versatile and hey, if you mess them up, at least eggs are cheap.

Ingredients
6 hard boiled eggs (put eggs in pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, remove from heat, let sit for 17 minutes, drain and rinse in cool water)
1/4 cup mayonaise (substitute with Greek yogurt & 1 Tbs. of vinegar)
1-2 Tbs. of chopped green onions
1 tsp. of dijon mustard
paprika
salt & pepper to taste

1) Peel your hard boiled eggs, slice and remove the yolk, scraping it in a small bowl.  Repeat until all eggs are sliced in half.  Place the egg halves on a place.
2) Mix the egg yolk with the mayo, onion, mustard and add salt & pepper to taste.  Mix until creamy.
3) At this point, you can either spoon the mixture into the egg halves (I recommend a baby spoon), use a pastry bag to make it look pretty, or use a ziploc bag with the corner cut off to fill the egg halves.  Distribute evenly between the egg halves and then sprinkle with paprika.