At Easter time, eggs are handled a great deal more than usual especially when decorating or hiding the eggs in an Easter egg hunt. So, before you begin to decorate your eggs, remember to follow some important safety methods when handling eggs for cooking, decorating or for the Easter egg hunt:

• Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly with hot soapy water and rinse well before handling the eggs at every step including cooking, cooling, dyeing, and hiding them.

• You should be sure and inspect the eggs before purchasing them, making sure they are not dirty or cracked. Dangerous bacteria may enter a cracked egg.

• Store eggs in their original cartons in the refrigerator even after decorating.

• When hiding eggs, consider hiding places carefully. Avoid areas where the eggs might come into contact with pets, wild animals, birds, reptiles, insects, or lawn chemicals.

• Refrigerate your eggs again after they've been hidden and found.

• Discard cracked eggs or eggs that have been out of refrigeration for more than two hours.

• Make sure you find all the eggs you've hidden to eliminate the chances of animals eating spoiled eggs.

Many Easter eggs are decorated using hard-cooked eggs. For the perfect hard-cooked egg, follow these directions. Try to buy your eggs a week or two in advance. Eggs that have been stored in the refrigerator for a week or two will usually peel easily. The fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel.

Whether hard- or soft-cooked, this method is incorrectly called boiled eggs. Although the cooking water must come to a boil, eggs should not be boiled because high temperatures make them tough and rubbery. Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan. Add enough water to come at least one inch above the eggs. Cover and quickly bring just to a boil. Remove pan from heat and let eggs stand 15 minutes. (Adjust the time up or down by about three minutes for each size larger or smaller). Immediately run cold water over the eggs until cool.

A greenish-gray ring may appear around a hard-cooked egg yolk. It's unsightly, but harmless. The ring is caused by a chemical reaction involving sulfur (from the egg white) and iron (from the egg yolk), which naturally react to form ferrous sulfide at the surface of the yolk. The reaction is usually caused by overcooking, but can also be caused by a high amount of iron in the cooking water.

Eliminate the ring by avoiding overcooking and by cooling the eggs quickly after cooking. Run cold water over the just-cooked eggs or place them in ice water (not standing water) until they have completely cooled. Then refrigerate the eggs in their shells until you're ready to use them. Hard-cooked eggs in the shell can be refrigerated up to one week.

When eggs are cool, tap the egg on a hard surface. Thoroughly crackle the shell and roll the egg between your hands to loosen the shell. Start at the large end and peel.

Eggs can be decorated in a variety of ways. For a personal touch on decorating, use wax crayons, magic markers, or paints on your eggshell to create your own design; then coat it with clear nail polish to prevent smearing. To make the shell glisten, use pearl-colored nail polish. For a porcelain finish, apply several coats of diluted school glue.

There is literally no end to the creative possibilities for individual expression on an eggshell. Eggs can be painted or colored with crayons or felt-tipped pens, turned into funny faces, topped with fantastic hats, trimmed with feathers or sequins, or simply dyed in an endless variety of hues. However, you decide to do it, decorating eggs is fun for grown-ups as well as for kids.

You can also decorate your eggs by using natural dyes made from items you may already have in your refrigerator such as beets, spinach leaves, cranberries, blueberries, red cabbage, just to name a few of the possibilities.

Ever See a Plaid Egg?
How about a plaid egg, or a striped one? Just wrap eggs with rubber bands or strips of narrow masking tape before placing them in the dye. Be sure the egg is completely dry before removing the bands.

You can decorate eggs any time of year, with any kind of design you like. Professional artists have used eggs to represent the states. If you don't want to make an egg for your state, you could decorate one in red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July. Or, how about making an egg person into a pilgrim for Thanksgiving? To make a decorated egg to hang on a mobile, Easter tree or Christmas tree, use a lightweight emptied eggshell.

You can also use decorated eggs as a craft project, as a table favor, or "name card" at a birthday party. Or, maybe you might like to start a family tradition by making a special egg for Mom or Dad for Mother's or Father's Day. As you grow up and your talents grow, too, the eggs will probably get better and better every year!

Easter Egg Shell Flowers — Set your Easter table with this lovely centerpiece that works well in a variety of vases. Different size eggs mimic the variety of flower sizes in an actual bouquet. And, remember you can use the contents of these eggs in any recipe where the eggs are thoroughly cooked. Simply remember to keep your eggs refrigerated until ready to use.

Easter Egg Shell Flowers

Eggshell Planters are the perfect springtime craft as nature's own miracle food, the egg, has long been associated with renewal and rebirth. After emptying the eggshells for a recipe, the shells become the planter. These planters can then be filled with herb seeds that, when full grown, will then give your recipes the fresh tastes of spring. Why not pick some springtime favorites to plant like dill and mint or any other fresh family recipe favorites like oregano, basil and rosemary.

To start, you'll need to use empty egg shells. If you will be decorating your eggs first for Easter, follow these steps: prick a tiny hole in the large end of the egg with the tip of a small paring knife. Working slowly chip away the edges until the hole is about the size of a dime. Run the knife down inside the egg to break the yolk membrane, then hold the egg over a bowl and shake until the contents run out. Rinse the inside and turn upside down to drain. (Cover and refrigerate the contents for use in thoroughly cooked egg dishes). If you will be using shells from eggs that have been broken for cooking or baking, be sure to thoroughly rinse the shell halves and turn them upside down to drain.

Next, dye or decorate the eggs as desired. If decorated Easter eggs are going to be used, crack the eggs in half to make planters. If there are kids in the family, they may want to decorate the shell halves to look like faces; when the herbs begin to grow, it will look like hair is sprouting!

Next, you'll need cotton, planting soil and herb seeds. Place cotton, followed by soil on the bottom of each decorated shell half. Add seeds; then place shell halves back in empty egg cartons or on wire rack to keep upright. Water seeds and place near sunlight as recommended on seed package.

Eggshell Confetti Votives

Broken eggshells
Clear glass votive holders
Votive candles (can use battery operated votives)

Here's a clever way to make use of any and all broken eggshells. These sweet votives will certainly give your table a festive look come Easter and beyond. You can use as many or as few eggshells for each holder - taking care to simply leave part of the votive above the shell line. Kids and adults alike with enjoy crushing the shells, and creating their own unique "Eggshell Confetti Votive". Use shells from previous recipes, and spray painting them, or use shells from hard cooked eggs that have already been colored.

Using colored hard-cooked eggshells:
Make sure eggshells are completely dry or place shells on cookie sheet and bake in 250°F oven for 5 - 10 minutes to make sure shells are dry. Break or crush shells into small pieces, either keeping separate by color, or mixing together. Fill each votive holder 1/2 way with crushed dried eggshell pieces. You will always have some white mixed in with the colored pieces since they are only colored on one side. Insert the votive into the middle of the shells, and gently push down into the shells, to support the base and part of the sides with the confetti shells. (For a kid friendly votive, opt for the battery operated votive candles.)

Using broken eggshells (from eggs used in recipes)
Place shells on a cookie sheet and bake in 250°F oven for 5 - 10 minutes to ensure the shells are completely dried. Break or crush eggshells into small pieces. Place on newspaper or other surface and use spray paint or paint with brush to color shells. (You will get varying amounts of paint on each piece which adds depth to the look). There will always be some white from the inside of the shell showing, which is a contrast to the colored shell, unless care is taken to paint both the inside and outside of the shells. Fill each votive holder 1/2 way with the painted shells. Insert a votive candle into the shells, and gently push down, to support the base and part of the sides with the confetti shells. (For a kid friendly version, opt for the battery operated votive candles.)