Something you don't see everyday

Which came first...?

The chicken or the egg?

I took these picture at the annual Run for the Egg at Easter Lake in Des Moines.  There's a kids race after the adults complete their 5 miles around the lake.

The lake was absolutely sparkling this morning!

I wanted to get my picture taken with the Egg.  But the I remembered I'm a grown up :)

Have a happy Easter, my dear friends!

HBin5: Carrot bread

Hello everyone!  I found time this weekend to bake the Carrot Bread for the Healthy Bread in 5 blog club.  I was really curious to try this recipe, since I often bake carrot quick bread and carrot muffins as breakfast treats.  I wondered how the HBin5 version would compare to my favorites.

Once again, the carrot bread was super easy to make, with ingredients I already had in my pantry and refrigerator.  I used a "Cherries and Goldens" dried fruit mix that my husband bought in bulk a while back as an Amazon.com grocery deal.

The carrot bread wasn't as pretty as some of the other HBin5 loaves I've tried.  I had a little trouble forming the "gluten cloak" with all the shredded carrot getting in the way, which may be why the loaf looked a little lumpy coming out of the oven.

Like the other HBin5 recipes, the texture of this bread was wonderful -- very tender and moist.  But I have to admit that the carrot bread was just OK to me.  It didn't have the same sweetness as my other favorite carrot bread and muffin recipes (although that's probably a good thing, health wise).  So in the future, if I'm going to take the time to grate carrots, I'll probably turn to my good ol' morning glory muffins.

But this was still a fun recipe to try.  Please visit Big Black Dog to see how the bread turned out for the other participating bloggers.

Martha Mondays: Silk-dyed Easter eggs

Hello everyone!  I had the opportunity to pick this week's Martha Mondays project.  I thought it would be fun to try one of Martha's wonderful Easter egg creations featured on her Web site.  In particular, I've been wanting to try her famous silk-dyed Easter eggs.  I saw this project featured on her TV show last year, and it looked super easy.  Plus, you don't have to work with the messy dyes.

I cut up an old silk scarf that I never wear anymore.  I wrapped it around the egg, then wrapped a piece of an old white cotton sheet around the silk.  Then I boiled the eggs for 40 minutes, with a little vinegar added to the water.

When the eggs cooled, I unwrapped the silk.  I hoped for the best, but I'm afraid my eggs didn't quite turn out.  Maybe it was the scarf, or maybe I didn't let the eggs simmer long enough. 

I would like to try this project again next year with another silk scarf or tie to see if it would work better.  It's such a simple way to dye eggs.  Thanks to Martha and Me for letting me pick this project this week.