It is officially Easter Week! N is on a business trip and I have been quite busy this week – I was in a commercial yesterday! (I have always loved acting ever since I was 12 and started taking classes in the 7th grade! The long – all day shoots don’t bother me one bit.. I’ll share some BTS pics on tomorrow’s post!)

I haven’t had time to prepare my house for Easter this year!! There is just so much to do! Luckily, we do not host Easter so I guess it doesn’t matter as much?? But one day, I would love to have it all Eastery …

In the meantime, I’ll dye Easter Eggs. My grandpa always used onion peels and beets to make the colors, so I love that I was able to expand that to include more colors.

On Holy Saturday, we put the eggs we prepped in an Easter Basket, head to the Polish section in Dorchester, MA, buy kielbasa, bread, babka and chocolate to put in the basket and get everything blessed. Here is an article that mentions some other things traditionally put in the basket. There is a mass that runs every 15 minutes where the baskets get placed around the altar and a blessing is given by the priest. This is a tradition that I learned to love, which is why I continue to do it now in my late 20’s and introduced it to Nico. He must think it is so strange!

How pretty are these colors? And the fact that they are derived from natural ingredients makes me love them that much more.

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

adapted from TipHero

Makes: 12 eggs
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: up to 12 hours

 Ingredients
  • 1 dozen hard boiled eggs

BLUE/GREEN

  • 2 cups purple cabbage, shredded
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar

ORANGE

  • 2 cups yellow onion peel
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar

PINK/RED

  • 2 cups beet, grated
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar

YELLOW

  • 1 Tablespoon turmeric
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar

OPTIONAL

  • coconut oil or olive oil

Preparation

  1. You’ll need a medium-sized saucepan for each color. Add the dye material and water to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes – one hour. (The longer the dye material is simmered, the darker the dye will become.)
  2. Remove from heat and strain out the liquid through a fine mesh strainer. Allow the liquid to cool to room temperature. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to every 1 cup of dye liquid.
  3. Place 2 – 3 hard-boiled eggs each into four pint-sized mason jars and cover each with a different colored dye. Place the lids on the jars and refrigerate until the desired color has been reached, 2 – 12 hours. (The darker you want the color to be, the longer you should let them sit.)
  4. Once the desired color has been reached, carefully remove the eggs from the dye with a spoon and place them on a cooling rack placed over a sheet pan to dry.
  5. Optional: to give the eggs a nice sheen, rub a little coconut or olive oil on the eggs once they have dried.

Tips:

  • You can dye more eggs at once by using quart-sized mason jars.
  • If you want lighter colored Easter eggs, the eggs can be rinsed and dried after being removed from the dye. (The darker outer layer of dye can still be easily wiped away before the eggs have dried completely.)

I’m curious, do you still dye Easter Eggs? I mean if you have young children, it would make sense but…

There are just some traditions I never want to grow out of!

Thanks for reading along.XO

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