Wednesday, March 24, 2010

We don't need no stinkin' colored eggs!

Beigey pink, brown, green and cream

Who needs colored Easter eggs when these beauties are being laid every day?
We are getting between 7 and 10 eggs a day...more than enough for ourselves and a few friends we bless them with.

Not that I am against coloring eggs, cause I have fond memories of writing on the hard boiled eggs with that magic crayon they put in the kits, then coloring them with my kids.

Nowadays tho, there are many alternative dyes, and one only has to google "natural dyes for Easter eggs" or some such thing, and you will come up with everything you ever need to know about it!

I LOVE Google.

Homemade Ranch Dressing and Mayonnaise

I spent some time with Michelle from "She Looketh Welll" last week and she passed on her recipe for homemade mayo and ranch dressing/dip.
With eggs being prolific right now, and their "yellows" more orange than ever, I thought today would be a perfect day to try it.

I have made homemade mayo before, but was just OK with the results.
Turns out I needed to double the yolks to get it as thick as I wanted it.
THIS stuff is amazing!
And it really could not be easier.
Here's Michelle's recipe....

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE

2-4 egg yolks (farm fresh eggs, please!) ...I used 4
1/2 teas. dry mustard
1-2 TBL lemon juice (Costco has wonderful bottled organic lemon juice...cheap!!!)
3 teas. rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar (something mild)
dash of onion and garlic powder
1 teas. sea salt

3/4 cup oil...(Michelle uses half olive oil and half sunflower oil)

Combine everything but the oil in food processor or blender (I use my trusty Cuisinart)
Mix till creamy....1 min. or less
Now slowly add the oil while running the processor until very thick.
With a blender or processor this goes very quickly.
You can also do this by hand, whisking the oil in a teensy bit at a time till it starts to emulsify then adding a bit faster as it has thickened.
Put in a mason jar and refrigerate.

I actually doubled this recipe as I wanted a jar of mayo AND a jar of dressing.

Michelle says this lasts approximately 2 weeks in the fridge. She says you can add a couple Tabl. of whey to extend the life of it and make it lacto-fermented. If you do this let it sit out for about 7 hours before refrigerating.
She also likes to add a teensy amt. of maple syrup (maybe 1 teas.?) to round out the flavor.
I didn't have any so I skipped this step.

Seasoning for the ranch dip/dressing:

2 TBL salt
2 TBL dill
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/2 cup dried parsley

Mix together and store in mason jar

To made dressing/dip:

1 cup homemade mayo
1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream (I used my homemade yogurt)
1 1/2 to 2 TBL dip mix

Combine!

Michelle says you can kick this up a notch by adding fresh cilantro, parsley, dill, basil, or jalapeno.
Also perhaps a bit of cayenne.

This stuff is SO good, I can hardly wait to have a salad tonight!
Hmmm....
Maybe I WON'T wait!
Lunch?

xoxo,
Cindy


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19 comments:

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Nothing is more beautiful than natures own colors. Those are gorgeous.
Still...I do love to see yellow, and pink and blue...and...

Still...those are so perfect...and I could never get the dye as perfect as nature.

God bless,

Mona

Faith said...

Hey Cyn,

Does that actually end up being mild, like mayo, or is it more like a Miracle Whip type thing, with all those tangy things in there?

I've always wanted to tackle my own condiments, and never have.

~Faith

Farmgirl Cyn said...

Faith...It is a bit on the tangy side, but nothing like Miracle Whip. You could use much less of the tangy stuff, then taste and see how you like it. You can always adjust add more. This is incredibly fresh tasting and like no mayo I have ever had before!

Cindy

Unknown said...

Oooo, nice blog, Cyn! Why haven't I been here sooner? Must remedy that and come back often.
Thanks for a great comment over at Homestead Revival. I loved those links you gave me!

Tami said...

Beautiful eggs!! Thanks for the recipes...thinking I will need to try them out, nothing like fresh foods!!

Homemaker Ang said...

I can testify that the recipes from Michelle are DELISH!

Tonya said...

I keep meaning to blog about my homemade mayo...love it! Love the ranch idea.

Unknown said...

This is amazing!!!love the recipes. I am getting my own eggs too. We only have 5 chickens. Not enough. Although we just got chicks.
Frenchy

Unknown said...

color me jealous. oh how i wish we had space for chickens...
one day...hopefully

savvycityfarmer said...

maybe we'll build a coop vs. a greenhouse .... nah!

I'll just order me up some of yur' eggs

Anonymous said...

After much begging and whining on my part, DH finally agreed to let me get a few chickens. I am so excited! I have had the same problem with mayo before. I am going to try this recipe soon.

Melodie said...

Oh Yum! Being from Texas,maybe all southerners do it too, we will eat ranch dressing on ANYTHING! Actually food is just an excuse to eat ranch dressing!

Dianna said...

Thanks for sharing your recipes with us! They look yummy...and these days who wants to settle for bottled dressings when we can have the benefit from making our own!

Sandra said...

We are getting 10-12 eggs a day too and they are pretty! I have tried making mayonnaise before, but it didn't turn out. I'm going to give this recipe a try.

Camille said...

How fabulous Cindy! You must be so pleased with your chickens! AND how great is that ~ two jars of HOMEMADE dressings!! I will bookmark these recipes...it's something I really want to do. Thanks so much for spelling it all out for us! Thanks to Michelle for her great recipes too...I really appreciate her! :)

Have a lovely day!
Blessings,
Camille

Linda Stubbs said...

Your eggs are just beautiful! I loved seeing all your colors. I am hoping to get some new chickens called Cuckoo Maran. They are suppose to be dark brown.

Thank you for the recipes! It will be nice to try them out.

Blessings, Linda

KathyB. said...

I was just thinking the same about my eggs.Beige, white and green..who needs to dye them?

I think I will try to make the homemade mayo recipe. I have always thought about making it but with my abundance of eggs there is no excuse to "just do it " .

Kathleen Grace said...

Love those blue/green eggs! My Aracauna hens lay those and I plan to use those for Easter decor. Thanks for the mayo and dressing recipe too!

Katie Zeller said...

We only get brown eggs here - sometimes (often) still with feathers attached. When I'm in the US and see white eggs they just look so weird! (And, yes, I know, it's all up to the chickens)