Oh my goodness… I’ve been so bad about planning and preparing meals this summer. I swear 5 o’clock just pops up out of nowhere and suddenly I find myself in the kitchen scrounging around like a mad woman trying to find something that I can throw together in 20 minutes and call a meal. As a result, there’s been a whole lot of quinoa salad and other one bowl dinners happening around here this summer…
A couple of days ago, Miss G and I had the absolute pleasure of having a morning out at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. together. Besides it genuinely being one of our favourite kid-friendly restaurants in the city {I’ve written about it several times in the past – see here and here}, while there, we got to hang out with fellow blogging friends, sample the delicious brunch menu {yum!}, and learn all about dyeing Easter eggs naturally! Our kind of morning.
I know that it’s sort of hard to believe {even for me!}, but this past weekend I went out for a good 5 hours all by myself {the perks to having a NICU babe – he’ll happily take a bottle!} So what did I do with my time? Well truthfully, I got groceries and did a little bit of shopping, but since I went across the border, it meant Trader Joe’s and Target, which is super exciting in this mom’s books. ☺
Gracen is all about ‘decorating’ for upcoming holidays, which in our house normally means switching out the wreath on our apartment door, changing up the garland that hangs above the large couch in our living room, and maybe adding a few pieces of artwork to the wall above our creative space. So with Easter not too far away, new decorations are needed asap. Our first project, this striped egg art, is very similar to our paper strip handprint art and is very easy while beautiful at the same time.
It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost Easter… {Ummmm, wasn’t it January just a couple of days ago?! I’m certain it was.} Either way, it’s about time Miss G and I get busy with some Easter fun, and we decided we’d start with baking up something delicious in the kitchen along with our friends from Hillary with two Ls {please} and Little Miss Mama. As usual, we started with a totally non-healthy recipe {this one for Rice Krispie Treat Speckled Eggs} and then worked our magic on it to make it sugar-free and more whole foods based. While we concocted a delicious healthier version of rice crispy treats over a year ago {and even formed them into rice crispy treat eggs last Easter}, this time I wanted to try something new.
When I heard about this technique from a fellow Vancouver mama, I almost didn’t believe it was possible. But after doing a little bit of online research, it seemed many people had had great success with it (some inspiration here and here), so I thought we’d give it a go. And while the finished eggs are far from perfect, I think they turned out quite beautifully.
The first part of the project involved thrifting some 100% silk ties. Luckily, the task was an easy one… After scanning the rack at a local thrift store, we had over 30 different options to choose from.
These are the ties we ended up choosing… A black one covered with strawberries, green leaves, and mustard flowers, an intricate paisley{ish}-patterned blue one, and a bold raspberry-coloured polka dotted one. Each had a tag clearly stating that they were made of 100% silk and they were all between $4.99 and $6.99 (though I think they would have been less expensive from a smaller, less popular thrift store).
Before actually dyeing the eggs, the ties needed to be deconstructed first. Using some small scissors, I snipped apart the thread at the back, removed the tags, and removed the innards (saving them for later), and ended up with some nice, big pieces of silk.
With the help of my little lady, I carefully wrapped a small piece of the silk around a raw egg (printed side touching the egg) as tightly and neatly as I could. Next time we attempt these, we’ll definitely do two things differently. First off, we’ll wet the silk in order to have it cling to the egg during the wrapping process, and secondly, we’ll use smaller pieces of silk in order to avoid all of the extra bulkiness and folding we had this time around.
Next, we took the tie innards and wrapped the silk-covered eggs like you would a mummy and secured everything with a generous amount of jute.
While Grae happily helped out for the first couple of silk-wrapped eggs, I must admit, it’s really not the most toddler-friendly process… Decorating eggs with good ol’ fashioned wax crayons was much more Miss G’s style. ☺
With all of the silk-wrapped eggs done, we popped them into a crockpot filled with cool water and about 1/2 a cup of white vinegar, turned it on high, and put the cover on. You could easily do this part of the process on the stove if you prefer, but the key is using a pot that is non-metallic.
As we waited for the water to heat up, we dip dyed Miss G’s wax crayon decorated eggs… Pretty colours, hey?
Once the water reached a good rolling boil (it takes quite a while in a crock pot), we turned the heat down to low and kept it gently boiling while covered for 4 long hours. Then we turned off the heat, and left the pot covered for another 4 hours (talk about patience!)
After nearly 9 hours of waiting, I slowly began unwrapping the layers to discover that the technique had in fact worked (quite well might I add!)
The white wrinkly sort of spots you can see are where the silk wasn’t laying perfectly flat against the egg, but I think it adds a little bit of character. ☺
What I love is how apparent the tiny details are… Even the silk’s texture and the teeny paisley patterns are visible.
Silk dyed eggs will definitely be anEaster tradition in our house from now on. The preparation, anticipation, and surprise are too much fun not to make it one. Now to begin my collection of beautiful silk ties…
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I set up this little creative table for Miss G this morning and she was so over the top excited about it that she could barely contain herself.
It was very simple to set up, but still took too long for Miss G’s likes. All I had to do is cut out a few large egg shapes out of construction paper…
Then cut smaller ones inside, leaving an outline a couple of centimetres thick.
Next I stuck the egg outlines onto some clear contact paper, and trimmed off the excess.
I quickly filled up some little containers with our homemade coloured rice, paper confetti, tissue paper circles, and strips of spring-themed ribbon, and set my impatient little lady loose.
She got started immediately, diving into the pastel ribbons first.
And the messy stuff afterwards. ☺
She immediately completed two of the eggs, and left the third one to a complete a little later. As of now, Miss G’s eggs remain as they were when she finished decorating them, but we may cover her designs with a second sheet of contact paper in order to make them a little easier to store.
♥
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This morning Gracen and I made one of our go-to breakfasts… Eggs in a hole. Except we always make ours with a fun shape instead of a plain old circle and then change the name just a tad. ☺ On this morning’s menu? Hearts in a hole.
I love this breakfast because it’s so easy, but it’s more fun than just plain eggs and toast. Plus Grae gobbles it up every time and all you really need is eggs, bread, a little bit of oil, and a cookie cutter of some sort.
This is really so simple that it doesn’t warrant instruction. Just place the cookie cutter in the middle of the bread…
And really push down.
Then place the bread, along with the cut out in an oiled pan warmed over medium heat and carefully crack the egg into the hole. Because we like our eggs cooked hard, we cover the pan right away.
When the white appears cooked through, flip everything over and let it cook a couple more minutes.
That’s it – breakfast is served. And today, just for fun, we added strawberry hearts too. (This meal may just have to be repeated on Valentine’s Day.)
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