The incredible, dyeable egg

The egg, I fear, has been maligned.

I grew up hearing that egg yolks were the root of all culinary evil.  Oh, the cholesterol! Oh, the fat! Beware the omelet, for your veins will solidify.

And while it's true that eating scads of anything will affect your body negatively, these studies neglected to recognize eating in moderation.  Well, that, and the fact that the majority of an egg's nutrients are in the yolk.

Let me tell you a secret.  Since I started this weight loss journey in January, I have been eating about an egg a day.  The whole egg.  White AND yolk.  I've upped my exercise, and lowered my overall fat and calorie intake, but the egg has been by my side (and my insides, heh) all along.  My cholesterol level has come down quite a bit, and I'm down a little over 41 pounds.  When used in moderation, eggs are a great source of vitamins, protein, healthy lipids, and tastiness.

And to celebrate the egg (and the upcoming holiday in which they star) I'll be sharing a pair of egg-centric entries with you. 

Today we'll start with my tutorial for an easy-as-quiche (that's egg pie, right?) dye technique.  If you like it, let me know if you try it with your family (or your sugar-centric bacchanal pals) this weekend!

I've always admired the Czech kraslice eggs of my heritage - especially after my sister took a class and made some herself.  They're so intricate and beautiful, but if it's not your hobby, who has time?

Photographed by Flickr user ppaces

So last year when Martha Stewart Living recommended a dye method for patterned eggs, I fell in love.  Especially because it's so simple. Other than boiled eggs and dye (we use PAAS, because what is better?) there's only one real ingredient: electrical tape.

Available at any hardware story. Probably most grocery stores. ~$3.99 per roll.

The magic of electrical tape is that it sticks, and thus blocks the dye, and then unsticks without any unsightly goo left behind.  It can go directly on a white egg, or it can go on an already-dyed egg, to create multiple colors.  And it can be snipped to make shapes!

My favorite snipped-shape use of electrical tape creates a "cracked egg" pattern.

Snip triangles from a piece of electrical tape that is long enough to wrap around one egg.
Press the tape down carefully - I usually scratch it with a fingernail to seal it.
Notice those triangles all over my hands? I'll use them later for another cool design.

Dip the egg cracked-tape side-down into a color of your choice.
You can use the little metal dipper doohickey, but I find that my
fingers have more control. Though I end up with dyed tips.

It's half a cracked egg! (And a turquoise fingernail.)
Only leave the egg in until it's a shade lighter than you want it.
Leave the egg to dry completely before you remove the tape.
Then dip the whole, untaped egg in the same color dye, for a shorter period of time than before.

Wha-la!

I usually do them in a couple of different colors.
(In part because I need more triangles for a different design!)

I place the extra triangles on a plain white egg.

Then I dye the egg, usually in a bold color to help with contrast.

I peel off the triangles and...

Ta-da! Stained-glass confetti egg!

There are all kinds of patterns you can try! Including this double-square variation.
Simply cut out a series of squares, overlap them, and dip once in a darker color.

After the egg is fully dry, pull off only the top square, and dip in the same (or a lighter) color.

Once you pull off the final square, you have a dainty mod egg!

You can even use stripes of tape to create a precise multi-toned egg.

As in the "cracked" variation, dip, dry and peel.

It's best to go from dark to light, and remember to dye the first colors
lighter than you want them. (They'll go through a series of baths.)

Stripey! And all done through the magic of tape removal.

 

Of course, who says you have to remove the tape?
Smiley egg compliments of my darling husband.

And now that you have an excess of boiled eggs in the fridge, check in here tomorrow for a recipe I've been developing to swap for a favorite devilishly high-calorie but delicious Easter dish.   It's gonna be l'egg-and.... wait for it... dairy.

As far as food and exercise, this week has been terrific so far.  Here's part 3 of my week-long food log series.  I love hearing what you're eating, too, so don't forget to share!


Wednesday 4/19/11 - total 1420 calories
Breakfast: 1/2 cup fat free greek yogurt, 1/2 cup strawberries, 1 egg "fried" in Pam, 1 low carb tortilla, tb fat free sour cream, 1 fat free Kraft single (I know, I know. Pasteurized cheese food-like substance. But I love me a cheesy breakfast burrito and enjoy it infrequently.)
Lunch: 1 veggie burger sandwich (2 slices light whole wheat bread, 1 Morningstar Farms veggie patty, 1 wedge Laughing Cow cheese, 4 pickle slices, 1 tsp Veganaise), 1 potato sliced and oven-baked as "fries," 2 tb ketchup, 6 oz fresh pineapple
Afternoon Snack: 1 egg. I was checking the ones I'd boiled for last night's dye-fest!
Dinner: 2 cups roasted cauliflower with 1 oz goat cheese, 1 pear, 1 wrap sandwich (low-carb tortilla, 1 tsp veganaise, 2 cherry tomatoes, 2 oz grilled chicken, 1 oz brie)
Beverages: 64 oz water, 8 oz skim milk

Have a beautiful day, everyone, and take care of you!

The empty cake dome

Here's a truth about me: I love cake domes.  I love cake domes almost more than I love cake. (And you know I love cake.)  We have just one, a streamlined modern-shaped one from Crate & Barrel, and we keep it out on the retro refurbished dresser we use as a sideboard.  But we don't frequently store baked goods in it, especially since we don't eat a lot of dessert lately. (And when we do, we purchase in single-servings, or bake and freeze, so the dome doesn't get a lot of use.)

Something about that empty cake dome made me feel a tad melancholy.  I don't generally feel down about the changes we've been making, so I wanted to do a little something for that empty cake dome that brightened my mood whenever I looked at it.  And I didn't want that little something to involve fake food of any kind.  The last thing anyone needs is a pretend cake staring at you, daring you to eat real cake. (Heh, that kind of reminds me of a short film I wrote.  Perhaps I'll post an excerpt of it for you tomorrow!)

Fortunately, a recent blog post on The Idea Room caught my eye, and I knew right away I'd found my cake dome decoration.  Paper pomanders!  So I made a pair in purple and yellow, to reflect our sideboard color scheme.  Here's my step-by-step:

These are all of the supplies needed.  Easy-peasy.

Pair up two of the punched flowers, aligning them so they alternate petals.  Attach them to the ball with a corsage pin.

Fluff up the petals to make the flowers more dimensional.

Repeat in a row around the diameter, and then follow with parallel rows for flowers, until you cover the whole ball.

Here are the finished pomanders, in their cake-dome-home!

I think they turned out well, but I would recommend using a punch with a fuller/rounder petal, and pins with more petite heads.

We had a pomander at our wedding (carried by our darling flower girl Julia) and now every time I pass the cake dome, I think of her and our very happy wedding day.

Hurrah for leftover supplies!  I have enough for two more pomanders, so if any of you are interested, I can make one for two of you (or two for one of you.)  First-come, first-served, so if you want one, post a comment here or on Facebook.  If only one person wants a pomander, I will make two for you.  If more than one person is interested, I will make one pomander for the first two people who request it.  We can talk color preference after I announce the winners.

In other news, I made it through Day 2 of #100DayChipQuest with all three rules met, hurrah!  The second day was much easier. I think that the rule-breaking rebellious part of me that was rearing up has been soothed - for now, anyway!