Using vegetables, fruits and natural products to make colorful eggs this Easter

The stores are stacked with Easter egg dyes and every year as a parent, you are targeted by every brand there is! You get home, set up all the messy dyes and maybe more often than not, the dyes don't meet your expectation. Or that of your child.

This year, forget about the drugstore dyes and turn to your very own refrigerator.  There’s a way to make colorful Easter eggs from the most natural stuff on earth.   It’s a great way to teach your children about natural remedies and it's usually a pretty fun experience.

To begin, decide which ingredients you need to create the colors you wish to dye your Easter eggs:

• Pale Red --- red onion skins
• Pink --- fresh beet juice
• Light Purple --- violet blossoms
• Tan or Orange --- Yellow onion skins
• Light Yellow --- Ground turmeric 2 tsp
• Pale green --- Spinach leaves
• Green-gold --- Yellow Delicious apple peels
• Blue --- red cabbage leaves
• Deep Blue --- grape juice
• Gray Blue --- frozen blueberries
• Beige to brown --- strong instant coffee 2 tbsp

Now that you have the ingredients, just follow this process and you will have colorful Easter Eggs dyed in no time. 100% natural.

1. Put eggs in a single layer in a pan.  Pour water in pan until eggs are covered.

2. Add 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar. The more eggs you are dying at one time, the more vinegar/dye product you will need.

3. Add the natural dye appropriate to the color you want your eggs to be.

4. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Let sit overnight. Be sure to keep lightly covered and out of the reach of children.
Note: Overnight storage will allow for darker, richer colors.

6. Remove the substance you used to color the eggs. Dry completely.  Decorate!! 

Before you know it, your eggs have been dyed. Let them dry completely before adding your own decorations.