Easter Eggs...the natural way

As a new mother I struggle everyday with providing my child and my husband with healthy, nutritious foods to eat without feeling like they are missing out on what our culture has deemed "the good stuff". So when it came to my daughter's first Easter egg dying experience I wanted to eliminate the artificial dyes and go more natural.

So we invited over some friends and using a few websites as guides and Pinterest as inspiration we embarked on the trial and error that is natural egg dying.

We made 6 different "shades" of dye using shredded red cabbage, frozen blueberries, fresh spinach, fresh beets, paprika, and turmeric (directions for each listed below) and hard boiled 3 dozen eggs and "baked" a dozen more. (Not impressed with the baking method ): )

The items that worked the best (in order) were beets, turmeric, paprika, and red cabbage. The blueberries and spinach made no change in color to our eggs after 45-60 minutes, so those got discarded. The beets worked the fastest by far needing only 10-15 minutes to result in a nice soft pink color. The turmeric and paprika worked better when the dye mixture was hot (15-20 minutes), once the mixture cooled the eggs required about 30+ minutes to develop a pale yellow or spotted orange color. I must note, the paprika eggs were speckled due to the paprika flakes, once totally dried these eggs looked cool and the paprika didn't rub off like when they were damp. The red cabbage eggs took 30+ minutes to develop a pale blue color, but they were really pretty.

Toward the end we started to get impatient and took the eggs in all the other dyes and added them to the beet dye, this resulted in some great coral and orange eggs, too bad we didn't start mixing earlier!

We did also have a few eggs that took color in patches so we re-dipped them in different colors, it was cool to see that, for example, the yellow egg that was splotchy with white still once dipped in the cabbage dye, turned blue and green and the purple splotchy egg dipped in beet became a tie dye effect. This technique was totally random, and really was out of our control.

We also tried a few eggs "stamped" with fresh flowers by placing an egg with a flower bud against it in a knee high sock. Tightening the sock snugly around the egg with twist ties and dipping it in the dye. We did 4 this way and only one came out with a stamp of white flower and the rest of the egg blue. We discovered the other eggs were not tied tight enough to prevent dye from getting under the flower. (More on this technique here: http://bigsislilsis.com/2010/04/02/natural-dye-colored-easter-eggs/) I should also note we took a lot of short cuts as the process in that blog is very long, but check out our 1 blue egg, it looks cool!

I would definitely do this again next year! It was easy and fun, although much more expensive (approx $30-40 for produce and spices) and more prep time required. Definitely worth it to avoid artificial colors!

Directions:
(Pink)
4 fresh beets, trimmed and peeled
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vinegar

Trim,peel, slice beets, placing peels and stems along with beets in 2 cups of water, bring to a boil. Drain water into a plastic bowl, add 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Reserve beets for dinner, discard stems and peels.

(Yellow)
Ground turmeric (we used dried turmeric root and ground it fresh, not sure if this makes a difference) approx 3 tablespoons
2 cups of water
2tablespoons of vinegar

Boil water, add turmeric. Stir until dissolved, add vinegar. (This one worked fast warm, I would leave on low next year and do this one by the stove.)

(Orange)

Same as above, substitute paprika.

(Blue)

2 cups of water
1 small head of shredded red cabbage (I cheated and bought 2 packages cut by my local store)
2 tablespoons vinegar

Place shredded cabbage into boiling water, boil a few minutes. Remove and let cool slightly. Drain and squeeze cabbage. Add vinegar to water.

Resources: here are the two websites I gathered information from.

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/eggs/natural-easter-egg-dyes/

http://chemistry.about.com/od/holidayhowtos/a/eastereggdyes.htm

Thank you to our friends who came to play today! Good luck! Happy Easter!

Mmmmm pasta!

As many of you know, I love to cook, but sometimes I just want to grab a bunch of random stuff from my fridge and throw it together and be done. Tonight was one of those nights, and it came out fabulous!

Pasta has always been a go to dish for a quick meal, but since becoming gluten free it is something we rarely have. After a few tries we did finally find a brown rice pasta we enjoy.

Tonight I had a full fridge to grab from, so I selected fresh baby portabello mushrooms, a small sweet yellow onion, beet greens, and a small amount of pork sausage links and in just 20 quick minutes dinner was served!

When we sat down to eat, the plate reminded me of a dish my grandma used to make called "Cowboy Stew"...basically it was elbows and meat sauce. Here is the new, veggie induced version..I could have done without the sausage, in fact most of it went to my hubby.

Cooked pasta of choice, I used brown rice elbows

Sauté cubed sausage, if using
When sausage is most of the way cooked add chopped onion and baby bello mushrooms
Add a splash of veggie stock and let everything reduce
Add chopped beet greens

Once veggies are to a desired softness, add cooked pasta and a very small can of tomato sauce, stir and season. I used Italian herbs, salt and pepper, and basil. I would have added garlic but I was out.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

Yum!

Undiscovered Tuesday....a new name for Tuesday!

You've heard of Meatless Monday, right? Well let me introduce you to Undiscovered Tuesday...ok it's a working title...lol

I love trying new things in the kitchen...new veggies, new fruits, new recipes, new spices! Today was an introduction to a new veggie, the parsnip! Thanks to Pinterest I found a recipe that inspired me, even though I didn't end up using it.

So on the menu tonight was Orange Honey Glazed Boneless Country Ribs with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Roast Parsnips, Carrots, and Brussel Sprouts.

I think the roasted veggie is way under used in many homes, there is nothing like a farm fresh assortment of veggies tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted on a stoneware pan in a hot oven. They make the house smell fabulous! They look beautiful served on a white dish! And most importantly, the taste as good as they are for you!

Recipes:

Boneless country style ribs, trimmed
Orange marmalade, be sure to select one without high fructose corn syrup...I found a locally made one at my grocery store
Chicken broth, I like kitchen basics..it's rich, flavorful, and gluten free
Honey
Salt and pepper

Trim fat off the ribs and generously season both sides with salt and pepper. Use more salt then you think, as salt breaks down the meat while marinating and tenderizes it. Place an glass baking dish. In a small bowl whisk marmalade with a small amount of broth, just enough to thin it out but leaving it still a syrup consistency. Pour over meat, cover with plastic wrap or a lid and refrigerate 24-48 hours, turning at least once.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove wrap and drain remaining marinate off the meat. Pour a small amount of broth in the pan and top meat with a spoon full of marmalade. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 1 hour. Remove foil and bake until fork tender, mine took another 15 minutes. Top with a small amount of honey and broil until the top starts to caramelize. Serve!

I served this with whole, roasted brussel sprouts, baked sweet potatoes, and roasted parsnips and carrots.

Delish!