Devilishly good appetizers

My family loves simple food, and you can't get any simpler than cooking eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Although there are hundreds of recipes to choose from, my kids love making and eating Deviled Eggs.

If we fix a dozen for a get-together, we get to eating them, and then, before we know it, we are lucky if there are six left over to take.

After ordering them out of the kitchen, I always end up boiling more eggs and fixing them to take.

Easy to make, economical and good for you, eggs are a great menu item for the holidays.

Probably the most tricky part of making Deviled Eggs, is boiling the eggs, correctly.

Place eggs in a saucepan large enough to hold how many you are cooking, and cover with cold water. Bring water to a rolling boil on the stovetop, and then immediately remove from heat.

Cover pot with a lid, let eggs stand in hot water and set a timer for 12 minutes. When the timer goes off, immediately remove eggs from hot water and let cool.

To cool more quickly, rinse and peel eggs under cold running water. Slice the eggs in half, placing the cooked yolks in a mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, cook four pieces of bacon in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat until evenly brown and crunchy. Drain on paper towels, crumble and set aside in a mixing bowl with the yolks.

(If in a hurry, you can wrap the bacon in paper towels and microwave for about 1 minute per slice, drain and then crumble.)

If you really want to be "lazy," use "real bacon bits" or precooked bacon in this recipe. No imitation, it just doesn't taste right!

Add a 1/4-cup each of mayonnaise and sour cream, four tablespoons finely shredded Cheddar cheese, one tablespoon each of mustard and horseradish sauce. (Wasabi sauce is great replacement for the horseradish sauce.)

Mash the ingredients together, and then place the mixture in a zipper sealed bag.

Cut off the tip of one corner and fill egg white halves with the yolk mixture and refrigerate until serving.

Sprinkle a little bit of the shredded cheese and bacon bits on top of the eggs. I like to place an olive slice, green or black, on top.

For a little extra zip, try adding a tablespoon of sweet or dill relish, diced chilies or jalapenos to the mixture.