So Very Kool (Aid)

I’ve noticed several examples of coloring eggs using Koolaid, and I really wanted to try it. I love the smell of vinegar in mixed in regular Paas egg dye…I’m immediately mentally back in my mom’s kitchen, coloring eggs with my brother and her. We often travel for Easter, though, and it’s hard to color eggs in our hotel room, even ones with a kitchenette, when you have to take vinegar along on your vacation.

With Kool-aid, you just mix a packet of non-sweetened powder with 2/3 cup water in a coffee cup, and, Bob’s your uncle, your dye is ready! The packets are 20 cents each, so it’s about the same cost as regular dye tablets. I wasn’t able to find as many colors, and I read that grape winds up gray, so I’m mixing blue and cherry to make it. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I wanted a vase filled with eggs in graduated shades to use as a centerpiece. First, I blew out 36 eggs. I know, it’s a ton. I only did 18 at first, but that wasn’t enough to fill my vase. Actually, I’m using my trifle bowl. See?

My GI came home as I was starting the second 18 eggs, so I was happy to share the experience with him. I poked the holes and scrambled the insides, and he blew out most of them. I tell you this in case he reads this post and expects credit.

As you can kind of see, it’s half “strawberry” eggs and half “lemon-lime.” To get the graduated effect, I left 6 eggs in for a minute and a half, 6 for 30 seconds, and the last 6 I just dipped in to cover, then immediately out.

The lemon-lime ones are most noticeable graduated, but they’re both pretty.

I colored the strawberry ones using my fingers to submerge the eggs. Apparently Kool-aid is quite strongly colored…it took many, many hand-washings to get it off my fingers. I felt really virtuous that my kids have never had it (at least not at our house), so I’m not responsible for turning their intestines weird colors.

With the green, I used the tines of a fork to submerge the eggs, and my fingers were glad of it.

And what to do with all those blown out insides? I made a yummy Roasted Vegetable Frittata with some. It’s adapted (a bit) from Ina Garten’s How Easy Is That? cookbook. I love her recipes. I’ve never made anything from her that wasn’t superb.

Roasted Vegetable Frittata
1 small zucchini, cut into 1-inch slices–halved (aiming for bite-sized pieces)
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and 1-1/2 inch dice
1/2 red onion, 1-1/2 inch dice
3 Tbsp good olive oil, for drizzling
1/2 tsp. each salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
9 large eggs
3/4 cup fat-free half-and-half or whole milk
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter
1 green onion, diced

1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
–Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray and spread zucchini, red pepper, and red onion on it. Drizzle with oil and toss to coat. Roast 425°F for 15 minutes; add the garlic and roast for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and lower heat to 350°F.
–In a medium bowl, whisked the eggs, half-and-half, Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
–In a large oven-proof skillet, melt the butter and cook green onion for 1 minute.Add roasted vegetable, cook for a minute, then pour the egg mixture over the veggie mixture. Cook on stovetop, without stirring for 2 minutes, then pop it right back into the oven for 20 minutes, until the frittata was nice and puffed up. Sprinkle cheddar (or whatever kind of cheese you have on hand) to the top, bake for another 3 minutes until the cheese was melted. Serve hot. This served all of us, with a lunch leftover.

We had it with ciabatta cinnamon toast and cut-up strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and pineapple.

To make the cinnamon toast, I mixed 1/2 cup softened butter with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon. Then I split some ciabatta rolls from Costco and cut them diagonally, spread them with the butter mix, and baked them at 350 for 8 minutes. Lastly, I broiled them for about 2 minutes, until the top was crunchy.

I know this sounds like an involved meal, but it took less than hour, even roasting the veggies. Most of that was not hands on time, either. I spent about 5 minutes prepping the veggies, 5 minutes mixing the eggs and sauteing the green onions, and 10 minutes on the bread and fruit. So 20 min of hands on time isn’t bad for such a satisfying dinner!

An egg is roughly 1/4 cup. I blew mine into an 8-cup measuring cup/bowl, then just measured out the amount I needed for each recipe. I also made an Asparagus Sourdough Strata from King Arthur Flour and Blueberry Stuffed French Toast and put them in the freezer for some future breakfasts or dinners. Then I had to go take some ibuprofen to get rid of the massive egg-blowing induced headache!