natural egg dyes - success and failures

 This year, I wanted to give natural egg dyes a try. I read tons of recipes online that used a variety of different fruits, vegetables and spices. None of these sites, however, had any actual examples of dyed eggs (except one, which was a super done up mag photo - i question it's authenticity). It seemed people loved posting recipes for natural egg dyes, but no one actually bothered to post the eggs. Did they suck? Did the recipes work? I tried seven this year. Here are the successful attempts (all of these were left in for about 20 minutes, except for the cabbage, which was left in the dye for an hour):

 As for our not so successful attempts: carrots (for orange) did nothing, spinach (for green) - nada, cranberries - nope. Next year I think I will get some dollar store paprika for orange (I thought about it this year, but didn't want to run out and definitely didn't want to use our good Penzey's stuff for egg dyes). I'd also like to try and mix maybe the turmeric and the red cabbage to see if I can get a green egg out of it. And possibly, although only if I can find inexpensive frozen berries, raspberries for a more red-pink.

For now though, I'm happy with our little egg experiment. I think they are cute, pastel, soft colors and don't have any weird ingredients. It was kind of interesting though in that they didn't come out in the same colors they dried:

blueberries: these came out more purple, and as they dried they turned this deeper blue hue.

turmeric: they came out more gold, but once dried ended up as a nice, soft yellow


red cabbage: this surprised me the most. it came out much more purple and dried this lovely robin's egg blue.


beets: came out pink, as i imagined. the eggs i pulled out quickly dried more slight purple pink. the ones i left longer in the dye, assuming i would get a darker, more vibrant pink, ended up drying a reddish-brown.

Heavenly Strawberry Ice Cream

This past weekend we stopped to do some shopping at the local farmer's market and guess what they had?!

Strawberries!!!!

Yep, here in Florida it's Strawberry Season! Sorry, Northerners, but early crops one of the few luxury's we have here before it gets sooo hot. Don't worry, when all you guys are going on and on about your fab gardens, I'm reminded that things don't grow so well in sand and that even palm trees look dead in 95F, full sun with 1000% humidity. Which of course, meant that I had to get a half flat while they lasted.

Because, of course, there are so many things you can do with strawberries - like Strawberry Ice Cream!

I never actually was that fond of this flavor as a kid. God forbid someone got Neapolitan - I would have to meticulously scrape the sides so I could get all the chocolate, or eat the vanilla with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. But that pink stuff in the middle. No way.

As luck would have it, my taste buds did a turn around and gosh darn it, strawberry is a pretty good flavor. Probably one of my favorites now, so I was very excited to give this a shot.

I used the basic Ice Cream recipe that I used back when I made the vanilla ice cream, but with a few tweaks.

Strawberry Ice Cream (with Almond Milk)

Ingredients
2 1/2 c almond milk (I prefer the Original to the Vanilla for this recipe since it has less sugar)
1 1/2 c heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar 
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise 
1 recipe strawberry puree*

Freeze the ice cream mixing bowl (at least 24 hours prior).

Bring the almond milk, cream and vanilla bean to just a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat as soon as it begins to simmer.
In a mixing bowl (or mixer), whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whisk until it is combined. The consistency should be thick enough so that the mixture forms a ribbon when you lift the whisk out of the bowl.

Once the eggs and sugar are combined, add in the cream/milk mixture slowly, tempering the eggs so as not to cook them. Continue to add the milk mixture to the eggs, stirring to combine as you go. Once all the milk has been added return the entire mixture to the saucepan and reheat over medium low heat until 170-175 F. This is a necessary step to ensure that the eggs are cooked (and salmonella is killed) before being made into ice cream. Continue to cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. 

Cool the mixture until it is room temperature and then let cool overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.

Remove the vanilla bean from the custard mixture. 
Pour the mixture into the the ice cream mixing bowl and turn on the mixer (or ice cream machine). Churn for 15 to 20 minutes.

At the 15 to 20 minute mark, when the ice cream has frozen and begins to look like, well, ice cream (soft serve, really), add in the strawberry puree. This should mix throughout and continue to churn, allowing the strawberry mix to be incorporated and the ice cream to become about double it's original size.

*Strawberry Puree

Ingredients:
2 pints strawberries
6 tbsp sugar
juice of 1 lemon.

Place the ingredients in a food processor and pulse. I left some chunks in mine so that I would have some in the ice cream. For a smoother ice cream, puree completely. Adjust the sugar and acid to taste, keeping in mind that the ice cream base is rather sweet.

For how-to photos and more instructions, go to my original Almond Milk Ice Cream post.

**Stay tuned next week - I have a treat in store for you!**

It's my Birthday and I'll Pie if I want to!

Me and pie have had a love affair for quite some time. I love the variety that can be found in pies. I suppose one could argue cake can be equally interesting, but I usually find cakes (especially with icing) to be too sweet for my taste. So, if I had the choice, I would choose pie every time. Which is why, on my birthday, my mom would make me this amazing French Silk Pie instead of birthday cake.

But sadly, this is the first year in 27 years that I haven't been home for my birthday. Which meant I was not getting a mom made pie or dad made dinner.  So I did what every woman with a birthday induced chocolate craving would do, and I got the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 lb. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 squares baker's chocolate
2 tsp. vanilla
1 precooked pie shell
4 pasturized eggs

Suprisingly, I had everything on hand. Plus, it's such and easy and foolproof recipe, I promise you can't screw it up.

Start out by making and cooking the pie shell. It will need to be cooled before you can add the batter, so chill in the fridge or let cool on the counter to room temperature before starting your batter. I'm still working out the kinks of pie crust making, so mine was a little misshappen, but I assure you, it did not affect the flavor. I also kept my crust a bit thicker since I like it, especially with this pie.

Once the crust is cooled, cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.

Once it is creamed, add the melted (but cooled!) chocolate and the vanilla extract.

Once they are thoroughly mixed together, add one egg at a time and after each egg is added, beat for 5 minutes on medium.

This allows the egg to smooth and lighten the sugar-butter mixture. Once the eggs are added and beaten, your batter is ready to pour into the cooled pie shell. I used one large pie shell and one smaller one that was just for me. Because it's my birthday and I know Nick will eat half of every slice I get for myself, even though he "doesn't like pie." *eyeroll* :)

 

Cover and refrigerate. My mom recommends letting it set in the fridge overnight, but she told me that 2 hours is the true minimum - she must know how impatient I am when it comes to pie.

Hope you all had a great 2010 and I wish you an even better 2011!

Thanksgiving ReMix - Pumpkin Spice French Toast with Cranberry Sauce

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was wonderful and delicious.

How is your leftover situation? Of course, we have plenty. We had a neighbor over for dinner, but the three of us barely put a dent in our 15 pound turkey. We also had extra of the our side dishes - green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and my favorite, cranberry sauce. Really, after the three of us went back for seconds it still looked as though we hadn't sat down to eat.

This week (and maybe next) I'll be posting some of the ways we used up some of our leftovers. The first leftover meal we had was breakfast. We made these french toast with the leftover french bread that we had made for the stuffing, so it was sufficiently stale - not so great for leftover turkey sandwiches, but perfect for next-day french toast. It tastes sort of like a spicy jelly donut. Yum. 

Pumpkin Spice French Toast with Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
3 eggs, well beaten
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp water
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg)
1/2 loaf leftover bread
2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp leftover cranberry sauce (recipe below)

To make the custard mixture, mix the eggs, milk and water together in a wide, shallow bowl. Add about 1/4 tsp of the pumpkin pie spice. I usually find that it floats on the top of the custard, so I add it in batches after each group of bread is soaked so that each piece gets a bit.

Soak each side of the bread in the sauce for a few minutes so that it has time to absorb the custard. If using fresh bread, it will absorb quickly, so leave in the mixture for a few seconds.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Remove the bread from the custard mixture and hold above the bowl with a slotted spatula or fork for a few seconds to allow the non-absorbed custard to drain off. Add a pat of butter to the pan and spread around the pan. Place the bread in the pan and allow to get brown and crispy. Flip to the other side when the first side has good color.

Place the cooked toasts in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes. This allows the outside to get crispy while the inside stays nice and custardy. Serve with maple syrup, a dollop of cranberry sauce and powdered sugar.

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
3 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup water
1 orange, zested
1/2 orange, juiced
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground allspice
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp grated gingeroot

Mix the cranberries, sugar and water in a saucepot over medium heat. Stir to mix the sugar and water and wait for the cranberries to pop. Continue to heat, stirring occasionally, until all the berries pop. Add the orange zest, orange juice and spices. Continue to simmer until the mixture forms a syrup like consistency. Remove from the heat and chill.

Devilishly Good Eggs

I love Alton Brown. I learn a lot of cooking basics by watching his show. We love deviled eggs and once we tried his recipe, there was no turning back. It is the best recipe for deviled eggs I've tried, and so good, I don't think I will be trying anymore.

I usually mess with recipes, but the only thing we have ever changed was adding paprika to the top instead of pink pepper. It's delicious.

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled eggs, cooled and peeled
1 teaspoon whole pink peppercorns, divided
1/2 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon whole green peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon caper liquid
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch sugar

Slice the eggs in half from top to bottom. Scoop the yolks into a medium mixing bowl and lay the whites aside.

Place all of the peppercorns, except 1/2 teaspoon of the pink peppercorns, into a spice grinder and process until ground well. Add the ground peppers, caper liquid, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and sugar to the egg yolks and using a fork, stir to thoroughly combine.

Place the mixture into a zip-top plastic bag and cut a small hole at one of the corners. Pipe the mixture into each of the white halves.Coarsely grind the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of pink peppercorns and use to garnish the top of each egg.

Another tip I learned from Alton is to lay your eggs on their side for a day or so before boiling them. It centers the yolk, so whenever you are filling them, the hole is centered and more stable.