Since the time I was young, I have always had a hard time letting go of holidays. The anticipation leading up to Christmas, or Easter, or my birthday was so great, that once the date had come and gone, I would go into what my family called a “post-party depression.” I was the kid that would stand in the front yard weeping as my dad hauled our dried-up Christmas tree out to the curb, and the one who would leave Valentine’s Day cards taped to my wall well into summer, and the one that wouldn’t eat my carefully dyed Easter eggs, instead hiding them in my room until they began to smell. Now that I’m older (and only slightly wiser), I’ve gotten better at boxing up our holidays and storing them away until the next year, but I can see that my daughter has inherited my sentimentality. Our Christmas tree (which we never got around to disposing of – oops) is stashed in a corner of our backyard behind the tool shed. Every so often when she’s playing outside, my toddler will wander over to “visit” the tree and offer some encouraging words about its possible return to the living room where it once stood proud. So as Easter approaches, it dawned on me that I may have some difficulty getting her to relinquish the eggs she so happily dyed and decorated last week. Being 2½, she has absolutely no reason. There’s not a snowball’s chance that I’ll be able to explain the concept of “rotting eggs” in a way that she will either a) understand, or b) give a crap about. Again, she’s 2½. So that’s when I put my thinking cap on. How could I preserve her eggs a little longer without sacrificing a dozen perfectly good hardboiled-beauties and still keep my sanity? The answer was so obvious it almost smacked me in the face; deviled eggs! But not just any deviled eggs, dyed deviled eggs. And so yesterday morning when my toddler woke up, she found that not only did the Easter Bunny leave her a fun basket of gifts, he magically transformed her Easter eggs into a colorful lunchtime treat! (I’m hoping this trick works for a couple more years, but probably not!) Anyway, here’s how I did it…

Deviled Easter Eggs

Makes 12

• 6 eggs
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• food coloring (red, blue, green)

In a medium saucepan set over high heat, place eggs in a single layer and cover with 2 inches of water. Once water begins to boil, set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove saucepan from heat and place in the sink. Run cold water over the eggs for 1-2 minutes.

Crack egg shells and carefully peel under cool running water. Gently dry with paper towels. Slice the eggs in half lengthwise, removing yolks and placing in a medium bowl. Place the whites on a serving platter. Mash the yolks into a fine crumble using a fork. Add mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt, and mix well. If the mixture is lumpy, use a hand blender to beat the chunks out.

Divide mixture into 5 separate bowls. To the first bowl add 1 drop of red food coloring and mix well, this will be your pink filling. To the second bowl add 2 drops of blue food coloring, and to the third bowl add 1 drop of green food coloring (these will be your blue and green fillings, obviously). The fourth bowl is a little trickier because purple is a hard color to make when you’re starting with a yellow base. I recommend using 1 drop of blue and 1 drop of red, mixing, then adding more of whichever color you need to make it look purple (which will inevitably look grayish, but oh well). Don’t do anything to the fifth bowl because that will be your yellow filling.

Evenly divide the five fillings into egg whites, alternating colors. An easy way to do this is to fill a small sandwich bag with a couple spoonfuls of filling, then cut the tip off one corner of the bag and squeeze the filling into the whites – kind of like you would icing from a pastry bag.

Bonus: thess deviled eggs are so colorful that they don’t need a garnish! Serve eggs immediately, or refrigerate (covered) for up to 1 day.