Eggs are becoming a popular food again, now that nutritionists have learned the healthy benefits of this natural, easy to prepare snack. Eggs are a good source of choline, a vital nutrient in brain functioning. Choline has also been shown to have natural anti-inflammatory properties. Although nutritionists recommended avoiding eggs in the past, scientists have learned that eggs may actually help reduce your level of blood cholesterol.

To make eggs a handy and portable snack, you should eat them boiled. The main difficulty with boiled eggs is the time they take to prepare. You must wait for the water to boil, then cook the eggs to the desired firmness. Now you can reduce the time to prepare eggs in half by using a microwave egg cooker.

Faster Egg Cooking in the Microwave

Our family tried this egg cooker, made by Nordic Ware. The ad promised it would make "up to 4 perfect hard or soft boiled eggs in your microwave oven", and it does just that. It is simple and easy to use with little to no cleanup. The cooker is dishwasher safe and works by steaming the eggs.

How to Use the Egg Cooker

The cooker looks like an egg, and the inside is lined with metal. You pour water in the base to the fill line, put in the metal tray for the eggs, add your eggs and snap the lid back on. You then put it in the microwave for the length of time you want. We experimented once or twice before we found the exact cooking time for our microwave. But now we get the exact same eggs every time. Use caution taking the cooker back out of the microwave because the water in the bottom is boiling hot and it can leak when you pick it up.

The instructions in the egg cooker are in a very small leaflet and can be easy to lose. I went nuts when I thought I lost mine, because I could not find the instructions anywhere online. Finally, my husband found the leaflet in the recipe box, but I thought I would post the instructions here to help anyone else who can't find the instructions to their cooker.

Nordic Ware Microwave Egg Cooker Instructions:

• Take out the aluminum tray in the egg cooker's base
• Pour water in the base up to the fill line, about 1.5 cups
  
• Replace the tray and put up to four eggs in the cooker
  
• No need to pierce the egg shells
  
• Replace the lid and microwave on high for the time stated:
  

Cooking Times

600 Watt Microwave

• Soft - 7 Min
• Medium - 8 Min
• Hard - 10 Min

800 Watt Microwave

• Soft - 6 Min
• Medium - 7 Min
• Hard - 9 Min

1000 Watt Microwave

• Soft - 5 Min
• Medium - 6 Min
• Hard - 8 Min

Adjust the cooking time for your microwave and write it down on a card in your recipe box so you can always find it.