Dying Easter Eggs

Easter is coming up and I’m really tempted to dye some eggs, they always look so pretty. I haven’t done that since I was little. We often bought kits to dye eggs but I did recall my mother mixing up a batch using food dye. With a quick google search I found the following recipe:

For colorfast egg dyes, mix 7-8 drops of food coloring into 1 cup of hot water. Stir in 1/4 cup vinegar. Let them dry thoroughly between coats of dye.

I haven’t tried these but here are some recommendation for natural dyes that I’ve found online:

Boil ingredients in water with a tablespoon of vinegar until the desired shade is reached. Strain to remove solids.
Yellow: Yellow onion skins or ground turmeric
Orange: Same as yellow, with added beet juice
Pink: Cranberry juice concentrate
Red: Beets or paprika
Blue: Canned blueberries, red cabbage or grape juice concentrate
Green: Spinach and/or kale
Brown: Strong brewed coffee or tea (although I'm not sure why you would dye eggs brown since they often come that colour)

I’ve heard that the onion skins work really well for a yellow colour, a bit of a side note, but apparently using a whole, un-pealed onion to make chicken broth produces a really nice yellow-y stock.

I am also seriously considering making this Easter Egg Bread:
Image from Allrecipes.com, http://allrecipes.com/Cook/13263181/Photo.aspx?photoID=207651, accessed April 20, 2011.

Recipe found here.

Doesn’t it look pretty?

I do have two dinners to go to. This might be a nice thing to bring. What do you think?

Is it rude to bring bread even if they have said that I don’t need to bring anything?