Easter and Food

We dyed our eggs Friday night. I got out of work early for Good Friday, so we had a great afternoon together.

I used foods to make our egg dyes. I saw this in a Farmer's Almanac many years ago, and put it in the back of my head. Then, I saw some other people do it last year and told myself I would definitely do it this year.  Anika helped me, and I think it was neat for her to learn too. She loves to help in the kitchen.

I tried grape juice as a dye before, and it was a flop, so I didn't bother again.  I used blueberries (Frozen), carrots, turmeric, Spinach, red cabbage and beets!

The directions said to boil all the veggies in water to get the color to run.  I boiled the spinach and was over that, so I used my juicer for the rest. I added boiling water to the veggies I juiced to make more volume. I put the spice turmeric in a glass and just added boiling water. Then, I added a dab of vinegar to most of the dyes to help set the color. Making the dyes took all of a half hour. Andrew was in the kitchen making dinner while Anika and I did this. Andrew is gone all week so doing ANYTHING together when we are all home is nice...even if its just doing stuff in the kitchen.

WE EAT OUR Easter Eggs! It's a tradition. I remember always making egg salad on Easter after we found all our eggs.  So, for people who don't eat their eggs, this might seem like a silly idea, but its i STILL FUN!!

Her shirt is white, but it has a hole in the front so that's why she wore that shirt. She actually didn't make a mess though. I should have had newspaper down because the turmeric did get on my counter. I had to scrub VERY hard to get it off.  The rest wiped off easy.  She only cracked one egg in the process. She was so gentle putting each egg in the dye.

I have no idea why some of these pics are black and white. That's not on purpose.

We used brown eggs because I cant find white farm or organic eggs around here.  I heard Trader Joe's sells white organic, but we don't have a TJ's.  It all depends on what breed of chicken they come from and I guess the breed that makes white eggs don't do well in cold parts? I don't know- that's what I was told. haha. 

We put all the glasses with eggs and dye in the fridge over night. We told Anika, she would see her eggs in the morning. The next morning, we took the eggs out of the glasses to reveal the colors!! I think letting the eggs sit in the dye for a long time is key to natural dyes.

We put our colored eggs all back in the fridge to wait for Easter.

 

If you are wondering what I did with the dyes after. Well, I was going to bake something with blueberries, but I ran out of time so composted them. I did however add all the others (Veggies and the spice) into my cock pot as a "BROTH"  and then I added the rest of the cut up red cabbage to my crock. I added some other veggies I had in my fridge and then cooked. Voila, I basically made my own veggie broth!

 When the soup itself was done, I added some cooked quinoa and had a hearty meal. Anika and I ate it for a few days. My dad had a big bowl of it.  Andrew wouldn't try it. He doesn't like meals that were not made from a recipe and he hates quinoa.

A filling lunch!  

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Sunday morning, Anika woke up and found her basket. She was not impressed and I don't blame her. I didn't really put much in it! ha. She just had a birthday. I put some books in I had that she has never seen. I put some money in plastic eggs and tossed in some Easter bunny ears and a hat she got last year. She likes putting money in her piggy bank so she was excited to get the money. I also but some Annie's Bunny gummies in the basket. And, she wasn't totally deprived!! She got candy and treats from other sources, don't you worry!

Then, we started the indoor Easter egg hunt.

 

Then, we made smoked salmon eggs benedict. 

YUM. I finally made a decent sauce!  Andrew poached the eggs (I cant) and I made the sauce and Anika supervised. I LOVE EGGS benedict.

 

 

She is getting good using her knife. She ate on her bunny plate.

My Gram and Grampa came over later to visit.  Gram was playing trot trot to Boston with Anika :)

 Its funny, we all call my Gram, Gram, but Anika will call her Grandma or Grammie. All on her own. Its funny.  My mom is Nona and my Mil is Nana.

After nap, we did another hunt OUTSIDE. SAME eggs! haha.

This purple lamb outfit was mine :)

I see one!

 Later we were all inside and Andrew put a bandana on...doesn't usually. He was joking around. I have a whole box of bandannas I used to put on Piri as scarfs.

 

Anika saw him, and she said "Ill be right back" and she went upstairs to her room and came back with this one :)

 

She was so excited to be like daddy!

Then, he put one on her like his and they acted like gangstas and laughed.

 

I did a lot of organizing on Sunday. I found my stethoscope and Anika found a lot of entertainment in that.  "Let me listen to your Hahhht" that's how she says heart :)

My parents stopped by for a visit too, but they had dinner plans. I know, rude!  It was just Andrew, Anika and I this year. Kind of weird, but kind of nice.

 

Then, Andrew's roast was done! He made leg of lamb and roasted kumara, potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots. YUM! That temperature thing was broken.

Anika and I peeled eggs and made the BEST EGG SALAD. LOOK at the color of the eggs after peeling!!?  Glad it was food dye.

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After most of the meat was off the lamb bone (Tuesday), I put the bone and stuff into my crock pot with water. I boiled for 24 hours to make bone broth. I did this with our Thanksgiving turkey bones too. Bone both is SOOOO nutrient rich. Its crazy how amazing bone broth is.  My turkey bone broth smelled kind of rank while cooking. The lamb bones smelled much better. Once the broth was made, I took out the bones and stuff and added butternut squash, carrots, a couple potatoes, onions and spices and now I have a delicious soup for lunch today. I've had eggs and my other crock soup for days, so this is a nice change. 

This pic was yesterday but look at her poku (belly!) in this shirt. The pic made me laugh.

Anika insisted on wearing her Pounamu yesterday. It is a New Zealand green stone carving.  Andrew wears one and she always used to ask him what it was, so it was an early word for her. We got her one when we were in NZ for Xmas. A little one.

I might have posted this already. Sorry if I did.

 

This is a short little clip. I told her to say Happy birthday Nicki for my friend's birthday today.

She said it normal 10 times then when I turned on the camera she all of a sudden had a southern accent or something. LOL.

 

 

 

Another short video. Her telling me "I love you so much" and then after, she shoved me. Sugar and spice.