Natural Egg Dye

For so many families, dyeing Easter Eggs is as common a tradition as blowing out the candles on your birthday. As the years go on, there always seems to be some new trendy and innovative box kit you can find while strolling through the aisles at Target ( which for me is a weekly habit, holiday or not!) This year however, I thought let's try something radical...... let's not use a box kit, let's DIY our own dye. As the wave of Organic/Healthy living keeps roaring into the everyday family's home, holiday traditions are equally evolving, except not forward, backward. After doing some research, I discovered how you can literally dig through your refrigerator and pantry to collect everything needed to make your own egg dyes. Now before we begin, all natural doesn't always mean easier or quicker, but it does mean more meaningful and memorable!

Let's get to it!

Ingredients:

-White Eggs

-Water

-Vinegar

Color Options:

Green- Spinach & Parsley (2.5 cups- freshly chopped)

Blue- Red or Purple Cabbage and/or blueberries (1/4 of a head, chopped into chunks, 2 cups of blueberries)

Orange- Yellow Onion Skin ( 2 cups, which is approximately 2 onions worth of skin)

Yellow- Cumin and Turmeric Spice ( 3 tablespoons of either or 1.5 tablespoons of each)

Red- Beets ( 1 Beet chopped into slices

Cream- Coffee Grounds ( 3 tablespoons of fresh grounds)

Step 1: Fill a pot with uncooked eggs and cool/room temperature water. Fill with enough water to completely submerge the eggs.

Step 2: Add a pinch of salt and bring water to a boil. Boil eggs for approximately 12mins or until hardened.

Step 3: Gently set cooked eggs aside and choose the colors of your choice.

Step 4: Bring to boil 4 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and elements for chosen color.

boil for 15-20 min.

Step 5: Strain vegetables from water into a bowl. Let solution cool for 5 min.

Step 6: Place eggs into bowl and let sit for 20-25min. The longer you let the eggs sit in the dye, the more vibrant the color becomes.

Happy Easter!