Safe Alternatives for Baby and Child

If you have been wondering how to dye hard-boiled eggs naturally, instead of using artificial food colorings, we’ve got the tip for you!

We’ve been on the HUNT for a natural AND simple way to dye eggs this year, and we are happy to share this post from Mrs. M.

What a great way to be crafty and creative this Easter with toddlers and children!  This post lays out the simplest way to dye eggs with WHOLE FOODS.  Enjoy!

Time to prepare for the spring tradition of dyeing chicken eggs. The kids love to help with this task and a good morning can be spent using natural dyes found in your kitchen to produce lovely safe and pretty colored eggs.

Hard boiled eggs keep for quite a while in the frig and make a perfect lunch, a snack, sliced into salads, diced and mixed with fresh mayonnaise for a sandwich filling, diced and stirred in a cream sauce (fresh with butter and flour and whole milk with a squeeze of mustard and a dash of cayenne or chili) to make creamed eggs over toast points, yummy supper dish, or the best many think, sliced in half to make a whole platter of deviled eggs.

I have never taken a plate of deviled eggs to a pot luck and had any left over! Some people just love those deviled eggs! Simple mix of fresh mayonnaise or a bit of sour cream, salt, mustard, and mash well, top with papricka, a hit nearly every time for a party. Purists may want to try plain whole milk yogurt but you are not going to fool a mayonnaise hound with that, trust me. : )

Ok now onto the eggs.

Dying Easter Eggs Naturally

Have on hand 2-3 dozen eggs. Fresh and raw.

Gather:

• 1 head red cabbage
• A pile of onion skins, red or brown, you can gather these up at the local grocer for free, they have tons!
• 2 cans diced or sliced beets, drain the juice and keep it, eat the beets with chopped hard boiled eggs, celery diced, onion diced with a dollop sour cream stirred in later, yum!
• Tumeric powder

Have on hand four stainless steel pots:

1. Pour over beet juice, add big splash vinegar (wine or apple) then lay in eggs to fill the pot and add water to cover eggs. Set to simmer on the stove.
2. Toss in lots of onion skins, red OR brown ones, and cover with water, press down on the skins, and add handful of salt, set to simmer on the stove. Bring to a simmer for 20 minutes, then gently use a spoon to put eggs into mix, bring back to a simmer-boil.
3. Add 2 cups water and 2-3 T tumeric powder and big splash of vinegar (apple or wine never white) and lay in the eggs with a spoon, be sure to add water to cover eggs, bring to a simmer.
4. Cut apart the cabbage by removing core, and wrap each egg in a leaf as best you are able, then tuck into a pot, pour water over the cabbage-eggs to cover, and bring to a simmer.

Simmer-boil the eggs for about 8-10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for a half hour or so. Pour off the liquids and discard beet juice, skins, and the tumeric water.

You can certainly keep the boiled cabbage and chop it up for a dinner casserole if you like, mix in chopped sauteed onion in 1/3 cup butter with 6 cloves garlics, 2 cups basmati rice, and mix in the chopped cabbage and pour over broth (chicken or veggie) and cover tightly with a lid or foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, stirring once. Makes a delicious supper dish!

Goodness I must be hungry, or I am making myself hungry with all this food talk!

The purpose of the activity to find yourself with several dozen very pretty pink, yellow, purple, red-brown eggs, ready for hiding on Easter Morning or bake into those clever Eastern Braided Sweet Breads or served in a bowl for breakfast.

Perfectly safe to eat and enjoy!

Some folks love to eat the beet dyed part of the white with purposefully slightly cracked whites. To accomplish this, let the eggs hard boil, then remove and place the eggs in the frig, cool down for an hour and save the dye water, then take the eggs and crack them all over in a towel by rolling gently on a hard surface, then put the eggs back into the beet juice and let them soak over night in the frig. Drain the next day, and store, and you will have marbled pink-red beet eggs for your table.

Simplest way?  Peel and Eat.

Thanks Mrs. M(awk mawk mawk) for sharing your post!

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