What to do with all those EGGS?!

Okay, so Easter is over, and you're left with a bunch of beautifully decorated hard boiled eggs.  If you can only stand to eat so many plain eggs (we love 'em as snacks and lunch items!), here are a couple recipes to help you use them up!  These are my two favorite recipes that utilize hard boiled eggs.  It's a good idea to just pick up these ingredients when you buy your eggs to color, so you'll be ready to use them up after Easter! (which I forgot to do this year...time to run to the grocery store!)

Scotch Eggs

This is a recipe that I got from my mom. (Moms are the best people to get recipes from, right?!)  It's one of those recipes I always loved as a kid, and was afraid to try for my husband when we were newly married for a couple reasons...1) he's a picky eater, and  2) he claimed to "hate" hard boiled eggs.  He was skeptical when he first tried this, but it immediately became one of his favorite meals!

Ingredients:
8 hard boiled eggs, peeled & cooled
1 lb pork sausage
2 raw eggs
6 Tbsp bread crumbs
Can of 8 crescent rolls

Directions:
1) Set oven to 450 degrees.  Mix sausage, raw eggs, and bread crumbs.  Wrap eggs with sausage mixture, covering each egg.  (Covering a slippery egg with slippery meat takes practice to perfect. I sortof mash the egg into a ball of sausage and cup it all in my hands, putting equal pressure around the whole thing so the sausage evenly distributes itself around the egg. Make them a bunch of times and you'll get the hang of it!)

2) Bake meat-wrapped eggs in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet.  Drain.  Cool 10 minutes. Lower oven temp to 375 for next step...

 3) Open package of crescent rolls and separate.  Stretch/flatten each triangle (use rolling pin if you need).  Wrap the cooked egg/sausage ball and seal.

4) Bake in 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes until light brown.  Makes 8; serve warm. I like to sprinkle a little salt on them.  My husband loves to add hot sauce.  The kids love them as-is!

Son-In-Law Eggs

This is one of our favorite recipes from one of my Thai cookbooks.  (We are big fans of Thai food)  Again, it is one of my (formerly self proclaimed hard-boiled-egg-hater) hubby's favorites! But, I'm most proud that my already-set-in-his-ways father-in-law ate this up and took another helping, much to the surprise of his wife who also was certain he HATED hard boiled eggs! This one is a bit time consuming so I save it for more "special" occasions or when I have more time to cook.  I usually serve this along side another Thai recipe, like Chicken Satay.  But, we love it so much, it could be it's own main dish. If you don't ever make Thai food, there will be a couple ingredients you may not have on hand.  Check out your local Asian grocery store for tamarind liquid/sauce/concentrate.  Fish sauce you can usually find at your regular grocery store in the "ethnic" aisle, but like most "ethnic" ingredients, you can get them WAY cheaper at the specialty stores! (Plus they are VERY fun to shop around in!) I get a big tub of dried red chili flakes really cheap there too.  We use it in a lot of dishes!  Anyway, you may Google some substitutes for tamarind, like lime juice or orange juice or whatever, but don't do it.  The real thing is worth getting because it is an important ingredient to get the REAL flavor of many Thai foods.  I use it in my chicken pad thai too.


Ingredients:

Rice:
1 C uncooked rice (however much you'd like to make...we like jasmine rice. If you don't have it on hand, just make some instant rice and it'll be yummy too!)

Tamarind Sauce:
3/4 C tamarind liquid
1/4 C palm sugar (brown sugar works)
1/4 C fish sauce (cut some with soy sauce if fish sauce grosses you out)
1/4 C water
2 tsp coarsely chopped dried red chili flakes
3 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Eggs & Crispy Shallots:
Vegetable Oil to fry eggs
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1/4 C thinly sliced shallots

Directions:
Prepare rice: I just kindof wing it with rice.  I'll start maybe 2 cups of water boiling, then add 1 or 1 1/2 cups rice, and let it cook.  If the water is evaporating and your rice is still not fully cooked, just add a little more at a time until it's to your desired consistency.  Make as much as you want for the people you're feeding...the tamarind sauce on the rice makes it good by itself even without the eggs! The general 1,2,3 rule is that 1 cup dry rice + 2 cups water = 3 cups cooked rice. I love to use jasmine rice...it smells soooo good, and we get a good deal on a huge bag (25 lbs!) at the Asian grocery stores.  If you don't want to fuss with cooking rice, use the instant stuff...it's okay, likely nobody will notice! ;-)

To prepare sauce: Combine ingredients in medium saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.  Lower heat to maintain lively simmer and cook 4-5 minutes.  Transfer to a small bowl to cool.

To fry eggs & crispy shallots: Heat about 3 inches of vegetable oil in a medium skillet or wok over medium heat to frying temperatures.  Carefully lower eggs into oil and fry until golden brown and crisp all over, 5-7 minutes.  Removed and drain on paper towels.  Scatter shallots into the skillet and fry 1-2 minutes, until browned but not burned.  Remove and drain on paper towels.

To serve: halve eggs lengthwise and arrange on a serving platter of cooked rice (Something with sides works best to contain the sauce, but large enough to spread out the eggs so they look pretty!).  Pour sauce over eggs and sprinkle with crispy shallots, chili flakes, and cilantro, and serve warm or at room temperature.

DIY Spring Decoration

Since we've moved to a house that has a mantel above the fireplace, I've been having fun figuring out how to decorate it for holidays.  The Valentine's decor was taken down a while ago and I've just finished decorating it for spring!  Well, maybe.  I keep tweaking it.  But here's what I have so far.

I wanted to do something new for Easter, mainly because I didn't have a mantel before and didn't have anything that seemed to fit it well.  I also didn't want to spend a lot of money, if any at all.  So, I dug into what I had, repurposed a few things, made a couple small purchases, and ended up with this little hybrid of my "egg collection" and some real, live grass!

 Originally I wanted to get some fake grass, but dang, that stuff is expensive.  So, instead I looked around the house for some long, narrow containers to use as planters.  I landed on these two drawer organizer things I had gotten at a garage sale for $0.50 cents last summer.  I filled them with potting soil and grass seed from the garage, watered them, set them in the window sill, and a week later I had grass.  Once it sprouted, it really grew fast!

 I took some green construction paper from my studio and folded it to make these covers to hide the ugly manilla containers.

Then I rolled up some masking tape into loops and used it to stick some of this miniature white fence along the front. You can find this at craft stores or any store where they have little village decorations.  I had some on hand from my Department 56 stuff (and more from my mom, who freelances for Dept 56 painting buildings!).

 The only thing I purchased brand new was a box of these feather butterflies.  I had aspirations to make a garland of butterflies that didn't work out quite as well as planned...well, it's still in the works.  I got a package of them for 40% off with a Michael's coupon. I wrapped the wire around a wood skewer to get a "spring" shape, and shorten the wire without having to cut it, and stuck 'em in the grass.

 The letters I made out of foam core.  I found an image of grass using Google Images, masked out the letters in Photoshop, printed them on sticky-back label paper, slapped it on a piece of foam core, and cut them out with an X-acto knife.  Then I spray painted some bamboo skewers silver, stuck the pointy ends into the foam core, and trimmed them to the height I wanted.  Voila! Free but effective.  (Well, free because I already had this stuff around)

 I've never really found a great way to display my egg collection, until this year.  They looked so underwhelming, tiny and short, along the long, horizontal mantel. But, the wheels began spinning when my 3 year old broke apart one of my old Junk Mail Gems craft show display pieces. Good ideas can come from breaking stuff!  I noticed that the old brass candlesticks that I had painted silver, worked perfectly to hold an egg and give it height on a pedestal.  So, I went to work recycling my already recycled displays, giving the candlesticks a fresh coat of silver paint, and using them to hold my eggs.

I tend to get a little spray-happy with my silver paint.  I've used it to bring so many dated, brass decor items into this century.  I didn't stop at the candlesticks...I picked up 4 little ceramic rabbits at the thrift store for $0.39 cents each, and painted them as well.  I think my new bionic bunnies add a little extra Easter-y flare without being too cheesy and literal.

 Overall I'm pretty happy with it...not bad for about $7!  The candle sticks (and 1 bud vase) really helped the little eggs fill the space both vertically and horizontally, and I love having something "alive" as part of the decoration.  Spraying all of the pieces silver helped tie all of the different silhouettes together.

I'll probably re-position things a million times between now and Easter, but then that's half the fun.  I'm pretty sure my husband thinks I'm crazy when he sees me fiddling with my eggs AGAIN.  But, hey, that's the price you pay when you marry an artist and designer.  The wall sculpture above it I actually made 7 or 8 years ago for our living room (copying one that I saw for hundreds of dollars at a furniture store)...it's the color scheme of our carpet.  But, it matches well with the spring colors!

We still have over a month until Easter, but spring starts in just a few days!  It's not too late to get out an interesting container and plant your own green grass...see what you can come up with for a little "live" decor!

Easter Eggs that "WOW!"

 I've got the spring itch really bad this year.  So bad that a couple days ago I planted some grass seed in a little planter in hopes of seeing some green soon.  Well, okay, I figured it might be a cool "live" Easter decoration...I'll post pics if it turns out.  Maybe it's the fact that we've had record snowfall this year, or because we've barely had any above-freezing stretches all winter...or maybe it's because we just moved to a lake and I am dying to see rippling water overtake the snow and ice.  Whatever the reason, I've already put out my Easter decorations even though it's not until the end of April!

So, in an effort to get you all thinking warm, green thoughts of spring and Easter, I'm posting some cool Easter egg decorating techniques today!

Silk Tie Eggs

This looks like such an awesome technique, I can't wait to try it!  It utilizes silk ties, so it's a great way to clean the unwanted ties out the closets of the men in your life, or a fun thing to shop for the next time you go to the thrift store.  Last time I was at Goodwill I picked up several with "silver" tags, which were 50% off that day, and now I'm counting down until egg coloring time! I'll be sure to post photos of my process and let you know if it works.

After coming across this on the web, I thought I'd surf a little more and see what other unique egg decorating ideas I could find.  Here are a few that stood out...

Onion-Dyed Nature Eggs

While you're raiding the closet for ties, grab an old pair of nylons and try these great eggs too!  The link says to use onion skins and boil the eggs for 2 hours to get this look.  I wonder if you could do the same with regular egg dye?  I was wondering how I'd find leaves like this in Minnesota, being that everything green is still buried under feet of snow.  But, I do have a little fern in the house I might try.

Lace Eggs

Leave it to Martha Stewart to come up with some beautiful Easter eggs.  Check out her lace eggs here. Pretty!!

Marbled Eggs

 My mom always used to make these really pretty marbled eggs with special dye that came in little glass bottles with rabbit-head-shaped caps on them.  She'd fill a glass bowl with water, then drip the dye into the water.  The dye floated on top, and she'd swirl the egg around while lowering it, then pull it out.  The dye was kindof oily and sticky.  They seem to have disappeared from the market...she's been unable to find them and after Googling it, it seems that many other people are having the same problem.  But, I was able to find this tutorial to make them yourself with ingredients on hand.  So, Mom, give this one a try and let me know how it turns out!

Easter Basket Gift Ideas for Babies, Toddlers, & Adults

What do you put in an infant's basket, especially when they can't eat anything? I didn't want the Easter bunny to fill my 10 week old's basket with stuffed bunnies and plastic eggs that would end up in a garage sale later.  So, I suggested he get the new Boon Squirt spoon, and a couple of snack traps, which I knew he would be able to use soon. 







The Squirt is even kindof egg shaped and comes in springy colors so it will look great in his basket!  The Easter bunny got him the monkey cuddle toy, although the lamb is pretty cute and a great animal for Easter time too.

You can always do clothes, too.  Here are a few cute options for a little girl:


A cute bunny pillow good for boys or girls:




My 2-yr-old loves those little finger puppet books, and last year got the Little Bunny Finger Puppet Book in his basket:


If you like to crochet like I do and would like to help the Easter bunny out by making something yourself to put in your little one's basket, these bunny blankies are simple to make.  I blogged about them a while back on my Junk Mail Gems blog...the pattern is free from Lion Brand Yarn.

 My 2-year-old son is a big fan of the "Max and Ruby" cartoon, so rather than get him a generic stuffed bunny for his basket, I called up the Easter bunny and suggested he get this cute set of beanies among other goodies:


In my opinion, toddlers can never have too many bubbles or too much play-doh.  Little jars of bubbles work great for "basket stuffers," and Play-Doh even has a nice set of pastel colors.
 


How about some fun ideas for grown-ups? 

Here are a couple cute bunny shaped products from Alessi, their Bunny & Carrot paper towel holder and "Magic" toothpick holder:


For your anime and vinyl figure fans, check out Kid Robot's "Dunny" and "Smorkin' Labbits" figurines!


 Just in case your cell phone isn't cute and cuddly enough, here's a solution :