Natural Easter Egg Dyes

We made our own dyes for Easter Eggs this year. We boiled red cabbage for blue eggs, beets for pink eggs, and spinach and turmeric for yellow/light green eggs. We stirred in a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar, and let the eggs soak. Some eggs took the dye better than others. I thought they were really pretty. Messy to make, but pretty, nonetheless.

The egg on the upper right has a leaf pattern on it. J brought me a leaf, which I got damp and stuck to the egg. I wrapped a stocking around it and twisted it until it was really tight, and then secured it with a rubber band. I let it sit in the dye overnight without disturbing it. I like the way it turned out, and would like to try more next year with a darker colored dye.

Thanksgiving GFCF Pumpkin Cake

We had signed up to serve Thanksgiving dinner at a local church today, but, because we were sick, we weren't sure if it was going to happen or not. One thing I learned this week while Nick was out of commission is that, realistically, serving Thanksgiving dinner for three or four hours is not something that I'm physically capable of doing right now. In retrospect, I'm not even sure what made me think I could do it, except that it was just something that I really wanted to do.

Nick woke up feeling better today. My sister had signed up, too, so he went with her and took Nate and JJ, while I stayed home with GracieGirl and E.

While they were gone, I divided my time between playing with GracieGirl and E, and cooking. I wasn't going to do much this year, and I didn't do as much as past years. I cooked up some yams and made one of those yucky casseroles with the marshmallows. I also made a pumpkin cake from Karina's Kitchen. I followed the recipe except that I used a different GF flour blend and I added 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum just because I've never made any GF baked goods without it! It was nice and moist (always a bonus with GF) and everyone loved it. Of course, as soon as I mixed it up, I realized I'd made it with eggs, so I had to make a second recipe (which I cut in half) for E, using Egg Replacer.