Weekly Recipe: Dyed Eggs For Easter

Not your traditional recipe today, but the instructions for dying eggs for Easter. My chickens are on strike because of the hot weather, so we had to use store bought eggs. Boo. We used hard boiled eggs because of the toddler element, but blown eggs can also be dyed.

When the eggs were cooled, the girls and I decorated them with crayon.

Then I mixed together half a cup of water, a tablespoon of vinegar and 20 drops of food colouring (no blue colouring, because that ended up poured into my carpet a month or so ago *curse*). Half of the eggs went into the dye intact, whilst the girls crushed the shells of the other half. We let them sit in the dye for about three hours, turning the eggs occasionally to get even dye.

The solid eggs had a beautiful strong colour.

When we peeled the shell off the cracked eggs, they had a lovely marbled finish, which would have been even stronger if we'd left them in the dye overnight.

Have a great Easter break!

Art Meets Science On Etsy

Monday to Wednesday, I am a molecular viologist working at a pharmaceutical company. Thursday to Sunday, I am a crafter (and I'm always supermum!). To bring the two parts of my life together, I've been working on some microbial notice boards, a couple of which I previewed earlier this month. Turns out that mixing art and science is actually pretty common. Here are some other geeky artists on Etsy.

U Plus Me Equals Chemistry by Fluid Ink Fine Letterpress of Australia.

Anatomical Lungs Cufflinks by Anatomy Art.

Double Helix Counted Cross Stitch Pattern by Charlotte Alexander.

Pelvis Brass Brooch by Your Organ Grinder.

Wallet Coffee Molecule by Sharlzndollz.

Toddler Cooking: Bird Feeders

I was walking the dogs and saw that the neighbours had a bird feeder in the front yard and lots of Rainbow Lorikeets on it. "I want that for my garden," I thought. So I came home, bought some seed and looked up some recipes for making bird feeders - in my memory, there was one that went solid and involved honey, but I couldn't find it. So we tried out some others.

(1) Peanut butter bird feeders

Peanut butter bird feeders were really easy to make. I got the support from a roll of wrapping paper (toilet rolls would work too), cut it up and smeared the segments with peanut butter. Then the girls rolled them in bird seed and let them dry overnight. The next day, I put string through the rolls so that we could hang the feeders.

(2) Gelatin bird feeders

I made up gelatin in hot water, using the directions on the tin, and then the girls mixed bird seed through when the water cooled a little. The girls then picked cookie cutters and we sprayed them with oil and put them on a baking tray. They spooned the seed into the cutters and let the mixture dry overnight. Turns out that I should have been more strict on the cookie cutter choices, because only the chunky ones worked well, the others just fell to bits. I threaded string through the surviving shapes.

(3) Corn syrup bird feeders

The girls mixed together 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup water and then I mixed in 3 tablespoons of corn syrup. The girls then mixed in 4 cups of bird seed and we patted it out on some grease-proof paper. Then I picked out chunky cutters and let the girls press them into the seed mix. We let it set overnight. These were by far the sturdiest feeders and I wrapped the string around them.

We hung the feeders out in the front garden, away from the dogs. And waited for the birds to come. They didn't, but the possums came in abundance and had a fantastic time leaping off the trees to steal the feeders. The possums thought that the peanut butter ones were the best, but ate them all over a few days. Might have to come up with an ingenious possum deterring plan!

Weekly Recipe: Pork and Sauerkraut

I like to buy things in supermarkets and grocery stores that I don't usually buy or don't know what they are. This week I bought kippers, because I couldn't remember if I like them (I do, it turns out). A few weeks ago it was sauerkraut. We had some pork mid loin chops this week and I thought that they would work well with the sauerkraut, so I found this recipe online.

In my casserole dish, I sautéed the pork in a little oil to seal it and then set it aside.

Then I added a chopped onion, a chopped apple, a jar of sauerkraut (about 300 g), 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard and 1 teaspoon caraway seeds and sautéed until soft. I slipped the pork pieces underneath, added a little more water and simmered with the lid on for about 10 minutes since the pork wasn't very thick.

  
Meanwhile, I peeled four small potatoes and cut them into wedges, which I then put over the top of the mixture.

I put the lid back on and went out to take the washing off the line. When I came back, the potatoes were cooked and the bottom of the mixture was burnt, so it must be ready! I served this with baby beetroot.

Toddler Art: Pom Poms

We do lots of painting and stickers, but don't experiment with sticking things down much. I got some pompoms to go in gift bags for Miss 2's birthday party and thought that we could incorporate these into some art. I watered down some PVA glue for the girls to paint with (it's a fine line between too gluggy to paint and too watery to hold the pompoms).

Miss 2 liked sticking on the pompoms. Miss 2.5 liked painting. Everyone was happy!

March: New Notice Boards

New listings coming up this March. Available at my madeit and Etsy stores over the coming weeks.

Weekly Recipe: Prawn Kebabs

More of a simple meal idea this week. These are kebabs of prawns, marinated in treacle, coriander and lemon juice, with watermelon and peach threaded on as well. Cooked on the barbecue and served with barbecued corn, rice and salad greens.