It’s been a busy week, hasn’t it?  I recently covered Passover Seder and I will talk about the tradition of Easter Eggs.

History of “Easter” eggs:
The ancient Zoroastrians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration, which falls on the Spring equinox. The Nawrooz tradition has existed for at least 2,500 years. The sculptures on the walls of Persepolis show people carrying eggs for Nowrooz to the king. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

At the Jewish Passover Seder, a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water symbolizes the festival sacrifice offered at the Temple in Jerusalem.

There are good grounds for the association between hares (later termed Easter bunnies) and eggs, through folklore confusion between hares’ forms (where they raise their young) and plovers’ nests.

The Legend(s) how the Eggs Became a Christian symbol:
While the origin of Easter eggs can be explained in the symbolic terms described above, a pious legend among followers of Eastern Christianity says that Mary Magdalene was bringing cooked eggs to share with the other women at the tomb of Jesus, and the eggs in her basket miraculously turned brilliant red when she saw the risen Christ.

A different, but not necessarily conflicting legend concerns Mary Magdalene’s efforts to spread the Gospel. According to this tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with “Christ has risen,” whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and stated, “Christ has no more risen than that egg is red.” After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red.

The egg is seen, by followers of Christ, as symbolic of the grave and life renewed or resurrected by breaking out of it. The red supposedly symbolizes the blood of Christ redeeming the world and human redemption through the blood shed in the sacrifice of the crucifixion. The egg itself is a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it.  (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Getting right to it:
Easter eggs have become a long standing traditional in Europe and America.  The Slavic cultures would create meticulously decorated eggs that were a thing of beauty with complex line patterns, geometric patterns, and deep, yet bright, colors.   American have adopted a more commercial decorating with store bought kits that are child-friendly.

Has we move back to the old ways and more eco-friendly traditions, many families are looking for natural dyes to color their eggs this season.  Below are some suggestions and hints on how to color  your eggs using natural, homemade dyes.

Natural Dyes for Eggs (Courtesy of the Minneapolis Star Tribune):
Dyes required a significant about of ingredient to create a richer color. For spices, use 2 tablespoons or more per 4 to 6 cups of water. For solid food, use 4 cups or more of chopped up ingredients (beets, red cabbage and the like).

• Pink/red: fresh beets, pickled beet juice, cranberries, frozen raspberries, red wine, red onion skins

• Tan: yellow onion skins, green tea

• Deep yellow: ground turmeric, curry powder, ground cumin

• Orange: paprika, chili powder

• Purple: hibiscus tea leaves, cranberry juice

• Blue: canned blueberries, red cabbage leaves, red grape juice

• Green: Parlsey

• Grey: blackberries,

• Brown: coffee, black tea

It is true, the home brew is a bit messier than the instant version (but let’s face it, egg dyeing is always messy). Natural dyes take longer to work, so be patient. Their colors may be lighter than the vivid packaged variety.  The longer the egg can sit in the dye bath, the richer the color.

But with natural dyes, you can cook the eggs in the dye as it brews, which saves time and contains the mess a bit.

To get started, place the eggs in a single layer in a non-aluminum pan, and cover them with 1 inch of water and a little vinegar, which helps set the color on the eggs (see recipe above).

To the water, add the ingredients for the dye, pushing them down into the water and among the eggs. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. (If you’re using beverages for the dye, simply simmer the eggs in the liquid. If you’re using a can of blueberry pie filling, simply drop the cooked egg in there.)

Remove the eggs, strain the dye and let it cool. If you want the eggs to be a darker hue, put the dye in a bowl with the eggs and refrigerate for hours or overnight. Or try a second color for the eggs (keep several pots of dye going). The key is to experiment with anything colorful that you can crush and simmer in water for a dye.

If you would like a sheen on the eggs, rub them with vegetable oil. For easy storage, keep the just-dyed eggs in their original cartons.

The dye is only a starting point. You also can dabble with texture and design. For a mottled effect, rub the dyed egg to remove some of the color before it is dry.

For patterns, wrap the egg in onion skins or tiny leaves after it has been colored (but before it dries). For a stipled effect, use a clean sponge and dab at the wet colored egg. For a marbleized look, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the dye and swirl the egg in the color.

Channel your inner child by drawing on the eggs with a wax crayon to create designs (the dye won’t adhere to the wax). Rubber bands also can be used to create designs before you drop eggs in the dye.

From Alice the Cook:
The most important thing is to have fun with your friends and family.  It desn’t matter what your faith or beliefs are.  Holidays are an excellent reason to get together and cherish what we have – love, life, and happiness.

Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day.  There are many tricks and harmless mischief that one can get into using food.  Growing up, I was a very precocious child and was very apt at practical jokes, especially around April 1st.  Below is a small list of some of the food-related pranks I pulled as a child and young adult.  I ask my readers on the various sites such as facebook and twitter to add their own.

• Switching the salt and sugar
• Swapping the water with vinegar or switching the apple juice with apple vinegar
• Super glueing the pickle or jelly jar shut
• Saran wrapping the fridge door so when it opened, the person’s hand could not enter (wrapping inside)
• Completely Saran wrapping very desirable item (cookies, crackers, etc). so tightly that it was difficult to open
• Placing similar desirable item in a zip lock bag (to keep dry), placing it in a water filled bucket and freezing the contents.  The victim will have to break the ice or wait it to melt to get the object.
• Reversing the hot and cold water dispensers in the kitchen sink
• Instead of hard boiling an egg, freezing it and placing the “raw” egg in the fridge, to be mistakenly used as a hard boiled one.  Or, using fake eggs altogether.

The are all pretty harmless practical jokes, but I bet there are those that have even better ones.  Feel free to post as I will be reading the comments.

Earlier this week, my family grilled up chicken for our family dinner.  A friend joined us and it was very tasty.  Looking into my fridge, I was thinking what I could make for dinner tonight using the left over chicken: two drumsticks and a breast. In this tight economy, people are using every resource they have to stretch their dollar.  When I lived alone, I was able to make five dinners from one whole chicken.  I would cut it up into wings, drumsticks, thighs, breasts, and back.  Each breast was a meal in itself (2), the wings made a light dinner (1),  and the drumsticks and thighs were combined for other dinners (2).  I would save the back of the chicken.  Once I had two of them, I would stew the backs to make chicken stock that could be made into soup, stew, pilaf, or risotto.
I would even debone the backs for some additional meat to add into the stock. But, many times, eating leftover chicken time and time again can get boring.  There are several suggestions on the Web regarding left over recipes, but I thought I would post a pair of my favorites.

Chicken and Black Bean Stew (modified)

Ingredients:
Precooked chicken
1 cup of chicken stock
3 TB olive oil
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed 3 times
1 lb of carrots, cubed
1/2 lb green beans, cleaned, stemmed, and cut into 1 inch length
2 lbs of red potatoes, cubed
1 small onion or 1 leek, rough chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of chili powder (I prefer chipotle or ancho powder)
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of fresh ground pepper
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cut up the leftover chicken into pieces.  In a large pot, begin heating the oil.  Once heated, add the chicken to brown slightly, stirring occasionally and add the leeks or onions and the garlic.  Add enough water to cover the chicken.  While continuing to stir, add the black beans and carrots.  Continue to stir and simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the potatoes, stock, and the cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, and black pepper.  stir once to blend and cover the pot to continue to cook (about 15 minutes).  Stir and check the tenderness of the potatoes.  At this point, add the green beans and salt to the mixture and continue cooking for another 5-7 minutes.  Keep in mind, potatoes will often absorb the salt, so you should continue to taste the dish.

The  potatoes will thicken the dish turning it into a stew.  I really enjoyed serving this dish over rice.  Other items may be added to this recipe.  Stewed tomatoes may often be added giving this dish a “chili” like appearance.

Asian Chicken Soup

One of my family’s favorite recipes for the sick is my Asian influenced Chicken Noodle/Vegetable Soup.  The secret to this recipe is baby/young ginger root that can be acquired at various Asian markets.  It is sweeter than standard ginger and contains vitamins C, B6, B12, A, antioxidants, and beta carotene.  It’s tasty too.

1 quart chicken stock leftover chicken, deboned.
2 medium sized carrots
2 cloves of garlic
2 pieces of baby ginger, minced or sliced
1/2 cup of pea pods
1/4 cup of green onions, diced
1/4 cup of shelled edemade/ soybeans
Rice noodles or rice
Salt or pepper to taste

optional ingredients: red peppers, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, baby corn, mushrooms, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, cabbage, and cilantro.

Saute the chicken in a separate pan to slightly brown it before adding it to the broth.  Add the sliced up the carrots, baby ginger, green onions, and garlic.  Add these vegetables with the chicken and then add to the broth.  Keep the soup on a low simmer.

Add the noodles or rice and continue cooking until almost done.  Add the pea pods and the soybeans and any other green vegetables.  The rice or noodles should be done, but the green vegetables should be served el dente – cooked, yet crisp.  Season with salt and black pepper. This dish can become more colorful with the use of the optional vegetables and ingredients as well.  If it doesn’t cure you, it will certainly taste good and make you feel better.

Cast Iron has been used for several centuries in providing meals to others.  Ideally, they were to be used and handed down to the offspring, who would hand it down to their offspring.  If “hand me down” cast iron is not available, finding used well-seasoned cast iron at garage sales and/or estate sales are the best way to go.  Cast Iron pots include fry pans, griddles, dutch ovens, cauldrons, sauce pots, and grills in all different sizes. 

Cast iron cookware, in my humble opinion, is great.  Once seasoned, cooks can use less oil and they are easy to clean and maintain.  Sometimes, it is difficult to buy used cast iron and it becomes necessary to buy new (pre-seasoned) cookware.  Pre-seasoned does not mean it is seasoned as it should be.  Things will still stick to the “pre-seasoned” new cookware.  Below are some steps I can offer on how to season your own cast iron cookware.  Remember: Pot lids need to be seasoned as well.

1.  If you have a fire pit or barbecue pit, that is ideal.  The heat is intense, but it will get the job done efficiently without smoking up your house.

A.  If you are a vegetarian or vegan, use olive oil.  This will take longer (about 10 times) as the fats will take longer to caramelize.

B.  If you eat meat, use lard.  Three seasonings should do the trick.

2.  Using the fire pit or barbecue, coat the interior and exterior of the pot with oil/lard and put onto the fire.  The oils may catch fire and this is expected.  After 10 minutes, turn the pot over so the inside may be done as well; after 10 minutes, pull off of the heat.

3.  Coat again and repeat (3 times for lard or 10 times for olive oil)

4.  Once cool after the final firing, wash with water and cloth only.  Do not scrub your pot and do not use soap.  After you use it for cooking, only light scrubbing with a cloth or natural fiber scrubber with water should be used.  You don’t want to remove the carbons that have been used to season  your pot.

If you are one of the unfortunate people who do not have access to fire and can only use a stove, I will warn you that this can be a smelling and messy project.

Preheat the oven for 450 degrees.  Once hot, coat your pot in the oil of your choice (olive oil or lard).  Keep in the oven for 45 minutes and pull out to re-coat the pot.  Repeat for steps 3 and 4, skipping steps 1 and 2.