Easter Eggs

Decorating eggs is a big part of Easter fun and it can be done days ahead of time. Here are some simple egg dyeing ideas and recipes for all-natural dyes.

To hard boil eggs:

Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold/room temperature water. Place on stove over high heat.
When it comes to a boil, turn off the burner & let the eggs sit for 10 min. This method is recommended by Rachel Ray & I've found this works for up to 3 eggs (on an electric stove).
Sometimes I'll keep the eggs on low for 7 min. This works when boilling a greater quantity of eggs so I would recommend this for a whole dozen.

To decorate eggs – from Cooking Light

Hard boil and refrigerate a carton of eggs.

Dissolve 6-8 drops of food coloring in one cup of hot water, then stir in ¼ cup distilled white vinegar.

Use the empty egg carton as a drying rack. Make sure to blot excess dye from the bottom of the eggs when moving them.

Designer Eggs: Dye an egg in a base color, then use a crayon or masking tape to apply designs to the egg. Re-dye the egg. Remove the tape when the egg is dry.

Banded eggs: Wrap rubber bands around an egg and dye it. Remove the bands when the egg is dry.

Marbled eggs: Stir 1-3 tsp canola oil into the dye and dip an egg in multiple times. The oil will repel the dye in spots, creating a marbling effect. Wipe off the excess oil when the egg is dry.

Stickers: Place stickers on hard-cooked eggs to create perfectly-shaped polka-dot, letters, or even bunny rabbits. Choose your shape, stick it on, and then dip the egg in dye until the egg changes shades. Remove the egg from the dye and let it dry. Once it’s dry, remove the sticker and re-dip in a different color if you wish. (from MyRecipes.com)

All Natural Coloring – from MyRecipes.com

Instead of using the traditional color kit this year, try these natural ingredients to give your eggs a vibrant hue. Best of all, you’ll find most of these items in your pantry or refrigerator.

There are two approaches to cooking the eggs and the dyes:

Hard-cook the eggs and let them cool. Then bring the ingredients for the desired color to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain mixture and let it cool to room temperature. Place the eggs in the dye for 15 minutes. For the most vibrant color, refrigerate the eggs in dye cups overnight.

Boil the raw eggs and the ingredients for the selected dye color together. Let eggs and ingredients simmer for 15 to 30 minutes, then remove the eggs from the pan.

Yellow: 3 tablespoons turmeric, 4 cups water, 2 tablespoons white vinegar
Blue: 4 cups red cabbage, 4 cups water, 2 tablespoons white vinegar
Purple: 4 cups cranberries, 4 cups cranberry juice, 2 tablespoons white vinegar
Lime Green: 2 (10-ounce) boxes frozen chopped spinach, 2 cups water, 2 tablespoons white vinegar
Red/Pink: 2 cans beets, 2 tablespoons vinegar

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