Making and Using Natural Egg Dyes

The lovely Catherine of Photo Kitchen came over last week to take photographs for Hounds in the Kitchen Egg Week 2011. Yesterday, I shared how to blow out eggshells. Continue reading for recipes, tips, and even an eggshell planting project.

Encouraged by my friend Vanessa Prentice, I made egg dyes from edible materials this year. I was surprised to find that natural dyes are easy to make, completely safe to consume, and don't stain your fingertips.

I made dyes from purple cabbage, red beet, and ground tumeric, pictured left to right above. Other edibles that Vanessa recommends include blueberries (purple color), tea (light brown), and coffee (dark brown). Green is a particularly difficult color to achieve, she says.

I boiled the edible materials in water with a splash of vinegar to act as a mordant. A mordant is a chemical that encourages dye to attach to a surface. These mixes simmered until the colorful edible until the liquid was brightly colored, about an hour.

I strained out the solids and poured the liquids into jars. Because I was using them the next day, I stored the dye in the refrigerator overnight.

Next, I gathered the prepared the eggs for decorating. Some were boiled and most were blown out for a more permanent canvass.

Lil wrapped the eggs in string, tape, or rubber bands for patterns. Shaped stickers also make white space on the shells.

Finally, it was time to dunk the eggs. I should have predicted that the hollow eggs would float, but I didn't until we actually observed them. Because we wanted solid colored eggs, I gently weighed them down with glass jars on top of the dye.

The hardest part came next: waiting. Natural dyes make the deep rich colors if left in the dye bath for 24 hours. The blue egg in the picture on left was in the bath for about 2 hours; the one on the right soaked for 24 hours.

Finally we had a rainbow of dyed eggs with fun patterns! Are you dying eggs this year? Will you experiment with natural dyes?

All photos with the Photo Kitchen watermark belong to Catherine and were generously shared with me. You may purchase copies and view the whole set of photographs in the online gallery. Use the coupon code houndscrossover to receive 25% off prices until May 15.

Added to Hearth and Soul Volume 44.

Talk Amongst Yourselves: De-Lurk!

I am still off playing with kids at Franklin Park conservatory. What better time than now for you to talk amongst yourselves? That's right, I want you readers to come out from behind the screen. This is your open invitation to introduce yourself.

Tell us a little about where you live, whether and what you like to cook, if you have a garden, and the URL of your blog if you have one. Whatever you would like to share, we would like to read!

Pi Day 2011

It's Pi Day 2011! Get it? 3.14 aka 3/14 aka March 14? Celebrate the transcendental constant π with Hounds in the Kitchen by including your favorite post about pi or pie in the Linky below. Feel free to link to a recipe, homeschool lesson on circles, or geometry related story. It's fine if the post is an older one - we want to read what you think about 3.14159265359...

I want to share how I decorated a very special pie exactly one month ago, on Valentine's Day.

This sour cherry pie was already going to be memorable because Lil, Alex, and I picked the cherries in July from a friend's neighbor's tree. Alex and I hand-pitted the cherries, froze them on sheet trays, sealed with the vacuum sealer and tucked them away in the deep freeze.

Fruits of such provenance, those we had patiently avoided until February 14, demanded an extraordinary preparation.

The cherries were mixed with sugar, flour and nutmeg and a bottom crust rolled out. Then, Lil and I cut dozens of hearts out of the top crust, reserving the cutouts. This process tested every bit of Lil's patience and mine, as she wanted to eat the raw dough and I wanted to crust to be beautiful. There's no re-rolling a crust in this house so we had but a single chance.

The Valentine's day treat was assembled including placing the heart cutouts around the outer edge. Our heart pie cooked, bubbling sweetened juices all over the oven.

Fully baked, it was a lovely centerpiece for our family afternoon tea. It tasted tangy and sweet, with the refreshing flavor of summer in the midst of winter.

What's your Pi Day story?

PS. Pi Day is an annual tradition on our homestead. Read about Pi Day 2010.

Friday Five: Inspirations and a Video

Here are five cooking thoughts trolling through my taste buds: 1) Lil ate root vegetables! - I agreed to make a video featuring Newman's Own ingredients in exchange for a video camera and some of their products. I do honestly purchase Newman's Own products and genuinely like the brand, so this was an easy video to kick out. What surprised me was that my co-star, picky daughter Lil, actually ate the sweet potatoes and beets in the recipe I prepared! She hasn't willingly eaten either ingredient in years! Watch our goofy video if you want and I'll share the recipe Tuesday for what I made.

2) Brined green peppercorns - This ingredient was used by Del Sroufe at his recent Hills Market cooking class. I was fascinated as I've never heard of or tasted Brined Green Peppercorns. They packed a big flavor punch into the pasta dish he made. I want to make them myself (of course) and figure it can't be that hard with only four ingredients listed on the bottle: vinegar, water, salt and peppercorns.

3) Smoked fried chicken - I am reading Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work, a cook book for true food nerds. It details the scientific reasons behind the way food behaves. I have been obsessed with the idea of their cold-smoked then fried chicken even though I don't have a cold-smoker.

4) Alpaca - I was browsing Dine Originals Restaurant Week menus online. There are so many great ones but I was truly surprised by the Ohio alpaca terrine offered by The Refectory Restaurant and Bistro. What I know of the alpaca industry is that the animals are most often raised for fiber. I'm curious where the chef is finding meat alpacas and what in the world they taste like.

5) Cooking to make an emotional experience - Yesterday, I listened to Fresh Air featuring Alinea chef Grant Achatz. He described that in designing his highly creative meals, he aims to affect a person emotionally. I've never deliberately tried to affect others' feelings with my cooking, but I certainly do address my own emotions in what I cook.

Wordless Wednesday: Ohio Apple Tattoo

I mentioned a few times that I love Ohio apples.  My sentiments are now indelibly inked on my shoulder, courtesy of Julie Edwards Whittaker, now tattooing at High Street Tattoo.

Happy Holidays from Santa Chicken

Precious few family and friends will receive a Santa Chicken in the mail this week.  As is our family tradition, Lil's illustration was printed on a postcard.  She later painstakingly water colored each chicken.

Lil offers you, dear readers, her chicken christmas joke.

"Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"To eat the Christmas worm."

Ho ho!

30 before 30 Update

It is now twenty days until my 30th birthday.

The day after my 30 before 30 post, my next youngest sister (do you know I'm the oldest of four sisters?) knocked on the door, shoved a handful of pennies at me, and walked away. I later counted them; there were thirty.

Nothing happened the next day.

The day after that, the dogs barked wildly at Lil's bedtime.  We stopped reading a story and found two gifts on the porch - a plum figure with thirty toothpicks and a string of thirty paper clips.  Two of my sisters were hiding in the bushes.

Are you getting the theme?

Every day since, there's been a gift of thirty somethings.  My sisters have left a plethora of pixie sticks, a swarm of plastic spider rings, a secret message comprised of thirty characters, and, my personal favorite, thirty gummy bears glued to the steps of the house.

You can probably imagine the fun Lillian and the neighbor children had at chomping the heads off the stuck gummy bears.

I am excited for the next twenty days.  I am already realizing that a few of my goals (weight loss and escapist vacation) might not happen, but I am OK with that.  There are other trips on the horizon and I'm exercising more regularly so who cares about the number on the scale?

Recommended Reads: Hungry Monkey, Insatiable & Cooked

Every night after cooking, gardening, parenting and teaching, I settle in to bed to read.  Columbus is the home of the number one library in the nation by many measures; most of the books on my nightstand come from their nonfiction section.  Below are my thoughts on three recent reads: Matthew Amster-Burton's Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater is part journal, part editorial. He honestly and humorously details dining out, eating in, and cooking with his daughter, taking on fast food, child dieting, and bland baby food along the way.  The account is peppered with unique recipes for family friendly dishes. This fun read is perfect for any parent who desires to share their passion for great food with their children.  Amster-Burton also writes the fascinating food blog Roots and Grubs and records a biweekly podcast Spilled Milk.

Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess is the autobiography of food critic Gael Greene. Greene details her unexpected journey to reporting during the free reeling 70s, celebrity sex affairs, and delicious descriptions of restaurants in New York and abroad. As only a food writer could, Greene reveals the details of 40 years of lavish meals and restaurant gossip.

The true story of a cocaine dealer turned chef, Cooked kept me up late too many nights. Jeff Henderson's book is a first hand account of his rise in power in the 90s California cocaine market, arrest, jail time, and eventual success as a professional chef. I was fascinated to read about the cocaine trade and federal prison system. The conclusion, with Henderson finding redemption and passion through cooking, is soul satisfying.

I've chosen a few other books to feature in the Shop page. Check them out of your local library or click through to buy from Amazon to fill your summer reading list.

I want you to read and learn with the best books and tools. I'm a big fan of borrowing but if you click through from HitK, I earn a commission. Disclosure served.