Jello Dyed Easter Eggs {tutorial}

Apparently I don't own food coloring...

...that means, I will be using this technique again... only with a new flavor Jell-O ( that I have had in my pantry going on 2 plus years...) 

P.S. This also smells LOTS better than a regular ol' dye kit. 

Not to mention, a super easy last-minute solution! 

It has happened to ALL of us at some point.

Go to make Easter Eggs and low and behold...you forgot to buy a dye kit...or you happen to be out of food coloring. It just happened to me too. I didn't think it justified a trip to the grocery store and I was about to scrap egg dying all together (a 2 year old wouldn't ever know, right?), but my mommy brain decided making memories was still important, so I looked around my house and spied some Jell-O packs....one already open from making pink popcorn.

hmmmm....

they look pretty colorful, they might work!

TO MIX DYE
1 Package Jell-O
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons vinegar

Mix together.
Heat on stove till Jell-O dissolves.  Ready to dye!

I used one flavor/color- Raspberry, because it was open and I wanted to keep the experience simple for Ellery. If you want multiple colors, warm up a big batch of water & vinegar and  pour into separate bowls.You could then add several tablespoons of various colors to each bowl. I saw a tip once to put an egg in a whisk for smaller children to avoid breaking eggs...

The whisk worked great!!

(Ever is clearly THRILLED by this experience...and yes I know he is in his seat thingy on the table, I don't condone this act, but I was right there, and the table is huge, and his thighs are so chubby it usually takes two of us to pop him out...so ignore it.)

To achieve the "ombre" effect, gradually decrease the time you let the eggs soak in the dye. This happened on accident for us. Elle was patient with the first few eggs, but discovered it was more fun to switch the eggs in and out of the whisk. 

They came out a beautiful coral color! 

One of my favs! 

Using one color ended up working great for us and I love the monochromatic gradient effect!

Elle had so much fun making these!

Don't you think the eggs look super pretty in a vintage egg basket!

So don't fret if you go to dye eggs tonight and realize you don't have the right stuff, I'm sure you have packs of Jell-O stashed away!

Farm Babies

Its spring finally! That means new babies at the farm!

New chicks...

Homemade Ravioli w/ Acorn Squash Filling + Chunky Zucchini Tomato Sauce {recipe}

Ever have one of those nights when you realize you have forgotten to take something out for dinner an hour before it should be served? That happened last night, I had a fabulous lunch with my Mom-in-law and so I was totally not thinking about dinner. Then I remembered that even tho I might not be starved, the hubby would be home soon and he WOULD be!

Eek! What to do??! Well, I happen to have a huge box of summer veggies from my aunt's garden and in that box happened to be be several acorn squash. I actually have never cooked with them and had no idea what they tasted like....so of course I headed over to Pinterest to look for some ideas( I am one of those people that actually make the recipes I pin...shocking!) I came across some ideas for roasted acorn squash and THEN I saw a recipe for ravioli! That was it!

So I broke out our never used, brand new, $5, yard sale pasta maker(...yea, I know...its one of those great deals that we couldn't pass up, but I haven't had the guts to use) and set to work!

I used this great recipe for my Ravioli Dough...I will skip giving my own tutorial since this one is so good! It also shows how to make the ravioli by hand without using a pasta machine, which is handy I think! Since I do have one, I followed the directions on the box...or at least I attempted too. They are all in Italian for the most part! Lol!

I also found this recipe that inspired my filling. She also has a great tutorial and a couple filling options + a sauce! Such a cute blog too! I adapted the recipe for my own use because I didn't have all the ingredients and I obviously didn't have time to make a grocery run.

So here is my recipe for the filling...

Acorn Squash Filling

2 acorn squash

olive oil

1/2 large onion

2 cloves garlic- minced

1 egg

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/4 cup sour cream

salt/pepper

I cut my two acorn squash in half and placed them on a cookie sheet greased with olive oil, salt & pepper. I roasted them at 400 degrees for about 30 mins. While they cooked I worked on my pasta dough and got it in the fridge to rest. I also chopped my onion and garlic and sauteed it until soft. After the squash was cooked I scraped it out of the skin- I did this while it was blazing hot...if you have more time I recommend letting it cool first! I then mashed it with the onion/ garlic mixture and the rest of the ingredients. You could run it thru a food processor, but I didn't mind small bits of onion running throughout the filling. I set aside while I prepped my dough to be filled.

Lil Elle was fascinated by ravioli process!

It was so easy using the pasta machine! I am now dreaming up other recipes to make homemade noodles for! yummy! My hubby helped me fill the ravioli and seal them up. We don't have any fancy tools for cutting them so we just used a knife and fork. Since they aren't perfect I'm calling them "rustic"...that's a get out of jail free card at our house!

At this point we realized we hadn't even thought of a sauce...oopsy! I guess I got a little too involved with the pasta making process..luckily for me, I married a cooker husband! He whipped up a quick sauce that was seriously perfect with the ravioli. He really doesn't measure anything and normally can't even remember what he did, but this time he was kind enough to write it down for me!

Here's his recipe for an easy sauce!

Chunky Zucchini Tomato Sauce

1/2 onion- chopped

1/2 bulb garlic ( five or six cloves)- chopped

1/2 large zucchini or 1 small- cubed

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 tbl dried basil

1/4 cup white wine ( we actually used a moscato, because it was all we had)

salt and pepper

olive oil

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add dried basil, salt & pepper. Add cubed zucchini and saute until it just starts to soften. Deglaze pan with wine and add can of tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer while you cook up the ravioli!

SO YUMMY! This was a perfect combo...slightly sweet from the squash, yet hearty and filling! Not to mention a totally vegetarian meal...which wasn't intentional, but still so good! We couldn't stop gushing at our kitchen brilliance and our superb teamwork! If only you could have smelled our house! I hope you try this recipe...and if you do let me know what you think!!!!

One Pan Egg Bake {breakfast}

Not every morning am I quite this ambitious {the last 12 weeks have been mostly cereal}, but this morning I was up before the little one so I had some time to put something really yummy together.
This is my first time writing up a recipe...I'm usually a dash of this-sprinkle of that, kind of cook. The great thing is that this recipe should be really flexible and easy to mix up with whatever ingredients you have on hand!

ONE PAN EGG BAKE

Ingredients:

2-3 tbsp- Bacon grease( or olive oil )- enough to cover bottom of skillet
2 cups- Frozen Hash browns
Salt/pepper
6 -eggs
1 tbsp -water
1 cup -fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup -Parmesan cheese

So I love cooking in a cast iron skillet- this pretty little number was one I got for the hubs at Christmas! They are great to use because they distribute the heat evenly, are practically nonstick and can go from stove top to oven!

To get started, first preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then melt some bacon grease in the skillet over medium heat. I used enough to make sure there was a thin even layer covering the bottom of the pan- 2-3 tbsp. This is a crucial step to help the hash browns form a crust. No bacon grease?? If you don't have bacon grease just lying around like I do, this is a good time to cook up some bacon to use in the bake or to eat on the side. See, problem solved! (you can also substitute olive oil or butter if you want!) After the grease was heated thoroughly I added my hash browns. I added enough to cover the pan in a thin layer- 2 cups. I spread them out quickly with a wooden spoon, sprinkled them with salt and pepper and then I STOPPED touching them! Yes...I said stop...as in put down the wooden spoon! You want them to form a nice brown crust! Playing with them will just create a gloppy mess...trust me...I have had this happen.

This is a great time to put together your egg mixture. I used a combo of duck and chicken eggs this morning- 2 duck and 2 chicken. This is approx 5-6 eggs. This step I would use at least one egg per person you are feeding, plus an additional egg for good measure. I beat my eggs in a small bowl with a Tbsp of water. I like using water to loosen up the egg a bit to make it easier to pour. Salt and pepper your eggs at this point. I also took this time to chop up some fresh spinach and get out my Parmesan cheese.

When I could see that my hash browns were starting to be very brown, I poured in half the egg mixture. It should spread on its own, try to not to disturb the hash browns. I evenly sprinkled on the chopped fresh spinach, followed by the last half of the egg mixture. Last I topped the whole thing with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese! Stick the pan in the the oven for about 20 mins, or until the eggs have set and the cheese has browned.

After removing it from the oven I let it sit for a few minutes to let everything relax a bit. Now its time to slice and serve!  Its that easy! You can add almost any ingredient you could think of. Get creative...if you would put it in an omelet you can put it in this bake!

Hope you try this recipe! Maybe this weekend would be a good time! I would love to hear what variations you come up with so feel free to come back and comment! I might just feature your concoction on my blog!!

{Amber}