Easter Experiment

Before Easter gets too far behind us, I wanted to write about an Easter experiment that we conducted this year.

In keeping with our dietary habit of avoiding artificial colors because of their link to allergic reactions and ADHD, I decided it would be fun to try to dye our eggs naturally.  It's something that I've wanted to do for years.  In fact I posted about it way back in 2010, but never made it a reality.

Because we weren't going to have a table full of rainbow colored cups, I tried to still keep it fun for my 9 and 4 1/2 year old by turning it into a science experiment.  I had found an article in Natural Awakenings that recommended we add natural ingredients when boiling the eggs.  Using their suggested foods/ingredients, we pulled out every pot in the house, added water, the ingredients and vinegar and commenced boiling.  Know that saying that a watched pot never boils?  Well, it's true.

It's Easter Sunday afternoon, and instead of enjoying a relaxing activity with my family, I find myself slaving over a hot stove...all by myself.  Some would call that a failed experiment and stop there.  Still needing hard-boiled eggs for breakfast the next morning, and being somewhat curious, I (notice the singular tense) completed the experiment.  I could call it a success in that the eggs were cooked, some had color and we weren't promoting the use of artificial colors.  Just as easy, I could call it a failure, and for obvious reasons.

In order from left to right, we used frozen blueberries for blue/purple, frozen spinach for green, cherry juice for red, paprika for orange and turmeric for yellow.  I'm not giving up though.  The yellow eggs were gorgeous, and with the right ingredients and amount, this could be a viable option.  The eggs absorbed the nutrients from the spinach, blueberries and cherry juices making that a bonus, and all of the water and ingredients used to boil the eggs got used to water the outside plants.  So, maybe not a complete failed experiment.

Good Tip for Candy Treats

My youngest son is in preschool with a little girl that has a peanut allergy.  This last Friday, their class had an Easter Egg hunt.  Parents were asked to bring in a dozen plastic eggs filled with treats.  The note home to the parents reminded us that there was a child in the class with a peanut allergy and asked that we be mindful of the type of treats that we put in the eggs.

On the way home, I let my son open the plastic eggs that he had found during the hunt to see what treats they held.  Guess what was in one of the eggs?  A miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  Seriously?? There were several hard candies in some of the eggs, some questionable, but there is no question about the safety of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  Was that a busy mom that just didn't think or an irritated mom that was making a statement.  Given that I know all the parents, I'm going to choose to believe it was a busy mom.  Regardless, I made a call to the mom of the little girl giving her a head's up of what he found in one of his plastic eggs.  I told her I felt her pain.  Abigail is all the time bringing home unsafe treats from school and birthday parties.  As a second grader, she knows that she's not allowed to eat anything until we look at the treats together.

I was reading through a copy of Family Fun yesterday and came across a really good tip that had been submitted by a reader whose son had several severe food allergies.  She found a really large jar and put lines around it at several places.  Each line had a dollar value associated with it.  When her son received treats that he couldn't eat, he'd drop it in the jar.  When the candy reached one of the lines, he could choose to keep saving or turn it into cash to then spend on something he wanted.

I have 2 one gallon bags full of candy that my kids have received from various parties and holiday events.  It's not all unsafe, I just limit the amount of candy my kids can eat.  Not only the amount though, but the type.  I'd rather they have something that I've provided that is either organic or that does not contain artificial sweeteners and dyes.  I might try this tip and make a treat trade-in jar for our house as well.  In the meantime, does anybody know what to do with all that candy?

Easter Treats

I'm having a hard time finding Easter treats that both meet my health standards and that are safe for Abigail's peanut allergy.  I'm sure I could find items to order off the internet, but I feel like those items come at a premium plus the additional shipping charges.  Having had luck at World Market with the Sun Cups in the past, I thought it was worth stopping in to see if they had any Easter candy.  They did.

I found these Marshmallow Easter Eggs made by Rose Manufacturing in Ireland.  The allergen information lists dairy and soy only, and they're labeled gluten free. There was no label for peanut/tree nut cross-contamination which appears to be a World Market requirement, and because they are made in the UK, there was a good chance that they didn't contain GMO ingredients. At $1.99 for a pack of 6 individually wrapped eggs, I thought it was worth the chance.  I couldn't find anything about the product on their website, so I e-mailed the company.  Here's their response:

Thanks for purchasing our products. I hope you enjoy them. Our manufacturing facility is a nut free environment with the exception of Coconut used on site. All raw materials used on site are GMO free. Hope this puts your mind at rest and have a nice Easter.

I haven't had a chance to try them yet so I can't guarantee the taste.  However, considering they each just contain 7 grams of sugar, are made without GMO ingredients, have no artificial colors or flavors, are gluten free and are made in a nut free environment, they're going in the Easter baskets.  I went back today and bought a few more packs.  My sister has Celiac Disease so they're going in her basket as well.

I'll have to do a taste test later this weekend.  I'll add a post note with the results so check back.

Easter Eggs

I just finished boiling eggs so that the kids can dye them tomorrow.  I purchased the PAAS kit just like last year and the year before.  This year though, I didn't really want to.  Now that I read all food ingredients and am avoiding artificial colors, I at least, hesitated before throwing the box in my cart.  I rationalized my purchase with the thought that we peel the eggs before we eat them.

Let's see, Yellow #5, maltodextrin, Red #3, cellulose gum, Yellow #6, Blue #1, Blue #2, Red #40, magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide, etc.  Good stuff right?  Try buying Easter candy without all those colors too!

In my search for a recipe for the perfect hard-boiled egg (yes, I need a recipe..I only make them once a year), I came across an article on how to make natural egg dyes.  Too late for this year, and I may not even try it next year (after all, we do peel the eggs), but I thought it was pretty cool.  If we used the dyeing as well as shopping for the foods that produce the colors as a learning experience, it might be fun.

According to the site, you simply bring the food stuff with water to a boil and then let simmer for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on the food and desired color. This process does take some time. For deep colors, the eggs should remain in the color overnight.  Not something that my 2 and 7 year old would wait around for.  And the foods to use?  The article gives a reference to foods and the colors they produce.  Some of them include coffee, blueberries, red grape juice, red wine, spinach leaves, carrots.  See where this could be fun with older kids?  I think they'd enjoy picking out the food and then seeing what colors they can produce.  Even sounds like a good science experiment.

To all of you that are going to be dyeing eggs this weekend...have fun!  My kids usually come away with really stained fingers.  Perfect match for those new Easter outfits for church! At least, I've learned to move the whole process outside on the deck.

Easter Blessings from my family to yours!

Follow-up to Post:

Here's a few pictures of our Easter egg dyeing adventures.  Abigail's fingers aren't too bad this year, and we tried something new using rubber bands to make stripes on our eggs.  The effect was pretty neat.