"EasterEggs" news and stories

Beige hummus, be gone. And borscht, there's a new player in Beetville. Using beets instead of chickpeas makes this Middle Eastern dish intensely purple-red, and the best eye candy of an appetizer we've seen in a long time. Plus, it's earthy and delicious, according to beet lover and blogger elanaspantry, who photographed this hummus, and simplyrecipes, whose recipe calls for the usual suspects -- tahini, lemon juice and zest, garlic and cumin.

One word of advice when it comes to peeling roasted beets: Wear rubber gloves unless you want your fingers to look as if you've dipped them in a vat of red dye. However (fun fact alert), you can use the beet juice to dye Easter eggs (let them sit in the juice overnight).

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

They're cheesy, cheap and classic. What are talking about? Casseroles, of course! In this brand-new series food writer and blogger Emily Farris, author of "Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven" crafts tasty new casseroles exclusively for Slashfood readers. Green Eggs and Ham is her premier dish -- just in time for Easter.

As a kid, I never understood why Easter dinner was called "dinner" if it happened at noon. Luckily, one of the great things about being an adult is that we can make our own rules and name our own meals. And because I still can't bring myself to call a meal that happens that early "dinner," this year I'm hosting Easter brunch.

Am I making a 10-pound ham and scrambling three-dozen eggs while my guests drink free-flowing mimosas? Nope, this thing is happening potluck style. Like most people I know, I can't afford to host lavish brunches (not to mention dinners!), but wanted my meal to incorporate the different elements of Easter and, well, be a little brunch-y. So green eggs and ham it was, with eggs, ham, spinach, biscuits and my favorite thing in the world: cheese.

After a bit of experimentation, I wound up with a sort-of upside-down quiche with a biscuit crust, and who wouldn't go crazy for that? Although it'd be a wonderful meal for Easter brunch or supper, it's also a great way to use up that leftover Easter ham. Regardless, it's the sort of thing that would make Dr. Seuss -- or the Easter Bunny -- proud.

Just as April showers bring May flowers, so do the hard-boiled eggs that arrive via Passover seder or an Easter egg hunt bring us, well, a lot of hard-boiled eggs. What to do with them all?

Many of those who celebrate Easter open a lunch box the first Monday thereafter to be confronted with a big scoop of egg salad. And while that's always an option -- as is the Cobb Salad that centers many an April luncheon -- there are recipes out there beyond the standards. So hide your eggs and eat them too.

First, though, safety is critical. According to the USDA, Easter eggs are safe to eat after the hunt provided you follow a few basic guidelines: Use food-safe coloring to dye the eggs and refrigerate them within two hours of boiling them. Boiling an egg removes a protective coating that occurs naturally on the shell, which leaves the shell vulnerable to bacteria. After the hunt, discard any eggs whose shells have cracked or that nestled in a bacteria-friendly environment such as dirt, hay or anywhere accessible to pets. Don't keep hard-boiled eggs away from the fridge for longer than two hours and use them within seven days of boiling them.

Beyond the jump is a delicious recipe for using those safely-handled eggs. (Hint: It's a salad, but it's not egg salad).

Easter is almost upon us -- the wonderful holiday for excellent sweets and a proliferation of dyed, hard-boiled eggs. But rather than direct you to chemicals and pricey little packages to color your eggs this year, check out the video above, courtesy of Curbly.

They've taken a natural approach to egg coloring and offer some excellent techniques for getting both simple and fancy looking eggs with a mixture of all-natural ingredients -- many of which you can find in your kitchen. They might not be the dynamic, pastel colors that you can get from a box, but I love the great effects they get with simple additions like vegetable oil, wax and PVC tape. The video outlines just how they do it, and you can check out a text version here.

If you have any other all-natural color suggestions, please leave them in the comments below. Happy coloring!

Easter, both the mainstream and Orthodox ones have come and gone, leaving behind honest-to-God Spring (at least where I am. I hear tell that it's already Summer in some places). However, when I spotted this picture in the Slashfood Flickr pool, the colors and patterns caught my attention and spoke to me.

When I was growing up, my mom had a bowl of wooden eggs that were carved and painted. I loved to play with them, but wasn't allowed particularly often, as they were old and the paint was a bit flaky. They looked just like these Easter eggs.

Thanks Andreea, for adding your image to the pool and for giving me a brief trip in my childhood memories.

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