Natural Egg Dying

My sister-in-law and I gave our first attempt at natural egg dying on Friday. It was a fun experiment, and some of the dyes worked really well and relatively fast. Check it out!

We let the kids dye eggs with store-bought artificial dye kits while we got started on our natural dyes (which take a lot longer to prepare and dye than the pop a tablet of dye into vinegar kind). -- Don't worry, the little one on the left has juice in his cup, not dye. :)

We looked at several different natural egg dying blog posts to get ideas for ingredients to make our dyes. Here's what we ended up trying:

Back Row: beets, red onion skins, yellow onion skins, turmeric, turmeric + blueberries

Front Row: blueberries, red cabbage, grape juice concentrate, strawberry puree

OUR METHOD was to boil all the dye ingredients (separately of course) to extract the color from the food/spice. Then we strained the liquid from the food bits, poured the dye solution into mason jars, added a little vinegar, then dropped in an egg. The only exception to this method was the grape juice concentrate, which we just thawed and added the egg directly to it, and the strawberries which for some reason we tried to puree them in the blender instead of boiling them. As you'll see in the photos below, that didn't work. At all. If I ever try using strawberries again, I'll definitely boil them instead.

After a few hours of letting the eggs sit in our natural dyes, here's what we got:

beets, red onion skins, yellow onion skins

turmeric, turmeric + blueberries, blueberries

red cabbage, grape juice concentrate, strawberry puree

Like I said above, the strawberry puree did absolutely nothing. If you attempt strawberries, try boiling them instead. And actually, just try boiling raspberries instead of strawberries, because that is what all the websites recommended. We just happened to have strawberries on hand so we tried them, but messed up on the method. Oh well. :) 

The beets and red onion skins were the last dyes we made, so their eggs didn't sit in the dye bath as long as the others. I think they would have produced a better color had they sat longer. Also, we didn't have as many red onion skins as we did yellow onion skins, which accounts for the drastic difference in color saturation between the red and yellow onion eggs. The turmeric worked great! As did the blueberries, and the interesting combination of turmeric plus blueberries (a suggestion on one of the blogs we found) which produced a beautiful green. But next time I would try straining the blueberry solution through something finer like cheesecloth to get a smoother texture. The speckling on these eggs is kind of beautiful though.

The kids got out the costume box to entertain themselves while we worked on our natural dyes. :)

Left Bowl: grape juice concentrate, strawberry puree, red onion skins, beets, red cabbage

Right Bowl: blueberries, yellow onion skins, turmeric, turmeric + blueberries

** Now an interesting thing happened when I put these eggs back into their cardboard container and drove the 10-minute drive back to my house. THEY CHANGED COLOR! Check it out:

Here's how the eggs looked before I left my sister-in-law's house:

beets, red onion skins, yellow onion skins

turmeric, turmeric + blueberries, blueberries

red cabbage, grape juice concentrate, strawberry puree

And here's how they looked when I got them home:

yellow onion skins, turmeric, turmeric + blueberries, blueberries

red cabbage, beets, grape juice concentrate, red onion skins

The four eggs in the back stayed mostly the same color, but the eggs in the front changed dramatically! I don't know if it was having them enclosed in the egg carton or the heat from the trunk of my car or what, but I was very surprised when I got them home and saw the different colors. 

Here's a side-by-side comparison with lines connecting the same eggs before and after their change in color:

color-changed eggs as pictured in bottom photo: 

red cabbage, beets, grape juice concentrate, red onion skins

I really don't know what made those four eggs change colors like that--maybe we needed to let them dry longer before putting them back into their cardboard carton?--but they turned out beautifully. 

clockwise from left-center: red onion skins, grape juice concentrate, yellow onion skins, blueberries, red cabbage, beets, turmeric + blueberries, and turmeric in center.

COLORS AS THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO APPEAR:
PINK: beets / strawberries?

RED: red onion skins
ORANGE: yellow onion skins
YELLOW: turmeric
GREEN: turmeric + blueberries
BLUE: red cabbage / grape juice concentrate
PURPLE: blueberries

WHAT WORKED:

• Blueberries - boiled in enough water to cover for about 20-30 minutes. Strained liquid, let egg sit in liquid for 1-2 hours. Produced a lovely marbled dark blueish color. Would have done differently: strained through cheesecloth to get smoother consistency and less marbling on egg color.

• Turmeric - boiled a few tablespoons in water until dissolved. Let egg sit in liquid for 1-2 hours. Produced a rich yellow color.

• Turmeric + blueberries - combined some blueberry liquid with some turmeric liquid. Let egg sit in liquid for 1-2 hours. Produced a nice green hue with blue marbling (see "would have done differently" under blueberries to reduce marbling).

• Yellow Onion Skins - boiled skins from about 8 onions in water for 20-30 minutes. Let egg sit in liquid for 1-2 hours. Produced a rich red-orange color.

WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY:

• Beets - boil beets longer and let egg sit in liquid longer. (only boiled for about 10-minutes. Egg sat in dye for less than one hour).
• Red Onion Skins - boil more skins and let egg sit in liquid longer. (only boiled skins from two onions. Egg sat in dye for less than one hour).
• Red Cabbage - chop cabbage smaller to allow for less water in boiling. Let egg sit in liquid longer. (Boiled 1/4 head of cabbage cut into large pieces for about 30 minutes. Egg sat in dye for 1-2 hours).
• Grape Juice Concentrate - maybe try 100% juice not from concentrate instead? Let egg sit in liquid longer. (Egg sat in dye for about one hour).
• Strawberries - boil to extract color, let egg sit in liquid longer. (Pureed berries instead of boiling. Did not work at all. Egg sat in puree for about one hour).

WEBSITES FOR DYE MIXTURES AND METHODS: these are the websites I found and referenced to make our natural dyes. 

• Two Men and a Little Farm - has a great list of several options for each dye color
• Comfy Tummy - their colors are so rich! I will try their method next time (boil dye material for 30 minutes, then boil egg in dye liquid (instead of hard boiling before sitting in dye).
• The Make Your Own Zone - good color saturation also.
• Katie Did - shows lots of variations in results. Her red cabbage blues turned out so pretty!

OVERALL REACTION TO NATURAL EGG DYING:  it's a lot more time consuming than using the dye packets you buy at the store, but the natural dyes produce beautiful, natural, rich colors not found in the store-bought dyes. I will definitely try it again with a few alterations. You should try it too! And if you do, let me know how it goes!

Now the only problem is, the eggs are so beautiful, I don't want to crack them open to eat them! :)

20 weeks + I already feel huge so tell me how small I look.

I've seen photos on the internet of girls who look this big when they are 9 months pregnant. I'm only 4.5 months along. Boo. Granted they were skinner than me to begin with, and it was their first pregnancy so they didn't "pop" as fast as me, but I'm still wondering how on earth this belly is going to get any bigger, 'cause I already feel so huge! Ok, pity party over. What I meant to say was, look how cute my baby belly is!  :)  Haha.

And just for comparison's sake, here's my blog post from when I was 6-months pregnant the first time around. Um, ya, my belly is same size now as it was then. Insert huge-bellied sad face here. Ok, ok, again, enough with the pity party. The baby is healthy and that is all that matters, right? Right?!!  :)

20 Weeks + Sara was right!

I am 20 weeks along in this pregnancy today. That's halfway folks! Let the countdown begin!

We had our 20-week ultrasound yesterday and the baby is looking healthy. No concerns that they could see. But because of the heart defect Sara had, they are suggesting we get another ultrasound done in about a month by the cardiology specialists, just to get a closer look at this baby's heart to see if there are any congenital issues there. Mostly the doctors have told us that Sara's condition was a one-time thing and is unlikely to reoccur in other pregnancies, but it doesn't hurt to look more closely to be sure.

And now for the issue of the gender..... First of all, let me tell you that about three months ago, before we had even told Sara about the pregnancy, she woke up from a nap one day and started telling me all about a dream she had about the baby that was coming to our house. I was so surprised since we hadn't said anything to her yet! Maybe she just overheard us talking about it to each other? Or maybe she just had some sisterly intuition? I don't know, but she was telling me all about the baby and that it would be a girl and that her name was Trainer. No, that isn't a typo. :)  So for the past few months we have all been calling this baby Trainer, and if you ever ask Sara if it is a boy baby or a girl baby, she is very insistent that it is a girl. Well the ultrasound technician had a little bit of trouble determining the gender since the baby wasn't positioned perfectly, but she was able to get a pretty good shot and was very certain that Sara was right....IT'S A GIRL! 


In talking with Sara about what the baby, I'm pretty sure this is what she is imagining her little sister will come out looking like:

{from the children's book Pinkalicious}

Sara will tell you that the baby has pink hair and pink eyes. She hasn't said anything about pink skin, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't say no to the idea. :) 

So there you have it, Sara is going to have a little sister! We are all very excited about it--except maybe Rob's dad who was hoping for a grandson to carry on the Hinckley name. Sorry Stuart! Maybe next time. :)

Philly

I just got back from a 5-day trip to Philadelphia. My sister had a conference there for work, and my mom and I tagged along! Here are a few highlights from our trip:

"Old City" (from left to right - click to enlarge):

• East room in Independence Hall, where Declaration of Independence was signed. Large chair behind desk at front of room is the only original piece in the room.
• Independence Hall exterior
• Colonial row houses in Society Hill
• America's first hospital
• Liberty Bell
• Close-up of tower on Independence Hall
• Constitution Center with my mom
• "We The People" inscription on Constitution Center facade
• Huge bust of Benjamin Franklin

"Center City"

• City Hall - the largest masonry building in the world. The tower was tallest structure in the world when it was completed in 1896. Statue of city planner William Penn on top of tower.
• Views from top of City Hall Tower: downtown skyscrapers, Benjamin Franklin Bridge crossing the Delaware River, Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Museum of Art 
• Love Park / JFK Plaza
• Oversized board game pieces: Monopoly Top Hat, Dominos, Sorry piece
• Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (the inside was beautiful!)

"Parkway Museums District"

• Benjamin Franklin Parkway with flags from every country lining the street and museum of art at the end
• Shakespeare monument and public library
• fountain at Logan Square
• Entrance statues flanking steps below Philadelphia Museum of Art
• view of downtown Philly from top of museum steps
• Rocky statue (the famous scene of him running up the steps was at this museum)
• Washington Monument and Museum building
• Thinking with "The Thinker" in front of the Rodin museum
• A Monet from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Other Highlights:

• Trying an authentic Philly cheesesteak sandwich (just so you know, the "cheese whiz" is what makes it authentic. It's basically melty nacho cheese, not the stuff squirted out of an aerosol can.)
• Taking a horse-drawn carriage tour through Old City and Society Hill
• Refreshing my memory / learning more about the founding of our country
• Touring the Betsy Ross house
• Seeing the special Van Gogh exhibit at the museum of art
• Eating at the Reading Terminal Market, a huge indoor farmer's market full of ethnic food stands, fresh produce, delicious cookies, ice cream, and other treats, etc. housed in the building that used to be home to the Reading Railroad.
• Attempting to hail a taxi on the street, then trying to call one to pick us up from the museum of art, then having the dispatch lady on the phone ask me where the museum is. "If you don't know where the Museum of Art is then I'll try calling another company."
• Getting a foot massage in Chinatown after a long day of sight seeing
• Visiting my Aunt who lives an hour away in New Jersey in a large, beautiful brick home on a peaceful, wooded, secluded lot in the countryside. Thanks again for picking us up, Anita!
• And of course, spending some quality time with my mom, sister, and nephew!