I'm Dyeing

When I was growing up and when our boys were, Easter baskets were always filled with color, jellybeans (ew!), and eggs we had dyed together the night before.

This year, with houseguests coming the week before Easter, I decided to undertake something I've always wanted to experiment with: natural food dyes. While I would miss the fizzy disappointing vinegar-smelling Pa's egg dyes from my past, I thought it would be fun to turn fruits and vegetables into colors. It was!

I followed these guidelines for making the dye for my eggs, using three ingredients in the blue/purple/red range: blueberries, red cabbage, and red beets. In the end, the beets produced my favorite color, a vibrant rose; the blueberries dyed the eggs lavender, and the red cabbage (interestingly) turned them more blue.

It was a very satisfying morning activity, actually, and one which definitely added interest to our breakfast table. The next day I even got to achieve the rarest of rare lunchtime experiences: the (full) rainbow salad!