#dye-free

[thevegancauldron]

Dye-free, vegan rainbow cake.

[thevegancauldron]

Dye free, vegan cake. Banana spinach and strawberry themed!

[techcenters]

Experience the Luxury of Natural Body Care with Native Body Wash

When it comes to body care, many of us are used to reaching for products that are packed with chemicals and synthetic ingredients. But did you know that these ingredients can actually be harsh on your skin and leave it feeling dry and irritated? That’s why more and more people are turning to natural body care products, like Native Body Wash. Native Body Wash is a line of natural body washes that…

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[dazzlinglatte]

Movie Review/Dye-Free Food Videos

I was having problems filming/editing the movie review/dye-free food videos for this month, so they'll be replaced with blog posts. I tried really hard to get things working, but I just couldn’t. These were the only ones I didn’t film in advance. I did have fun writing the blog posts though and the posts will go up on the same days the videos would have.

[mamabelly]

A Fast Bear Lunch

We were running late this morning and so I had very little time for lunches. It only took me about two minutes total to put together this lunch!

I packed Pretzel Goldfish, an organic applesauce, a strawberry yogurt cereal bar and a sunflower seed spread sandwich in bear shape. I used a cookie cutter to make the bear bread and added candy eyes and a chocolate covered sunflower seed for his face. The eyes contain a small amount of food color but my son does not eat them so this is still safe for him!

[mamabelly]

First Day of School 2012/2013

We started school :)

Everybody was very excited for their first day and I wanted to make sure they had some healthy lunches to fuel them through the first exciting day!

For my First Grader I packed sunflower seeds in a cute dog silicone cup, sliced mini peppers decorated with a crayon pick, four mini sandwiches with Sunbutter spread, a high protein power bar and a lunchbox note wishing him luck :)

For my Second Grader I packed brokkoli, carrots, sliced orange and yellow peppers with ranch dip in a small bottle and decorated with a crayon pick, four mini Sunbutter and jelly sandwiches, strawberries with blueberries and of course a little note :)

And my fifth grader requested brokkoli, carrots and orange peppers with ranch dip which I decorated with a crayon pick, crackers, a roll with ham and cheese, a small treat and the lunch note was tucked into his lunch bag :)

I hope everyone had a good start on their first day!

Things I used to make this lunch:

[nymcupcakes]

Week Thirty-Five: REAL Red Velvet Cupcake (Dye-Free)

This week feels like Déjà vu. That’s because this week I revisited the cupcake from my very first week. The Red Velvet Cupcake. If you have forgotten my stance on Red Velvet Cake, let me remind you of my position as said in week one…

“Red Velvet; the two words that have become my baking hell. This particular cupcake flavor haunts me. It is my baking Moby Dick. No matter how hard I try I can never get it right; they are always too hard, too dry or just plain gross. I have tried numerous cook book recipes and, no matter how closely I follow, always end up with something wrong. But not this time! I wasn’t going to let this cupcake beat me.”

That pretty much sums up my feelings. Now, I figured for my first week that the recipe I found was good. However, something didn’t settle right with me. You see, before taking it on I decided to do some research behind Red Velvet to try to figure out why so many people like it. Though I didn’t find out the truth behind it’s allure to so many (besides my conspiracy that some dark overlord has brainwashed a large part of the society to believe it is the superior so that bakers like me would suffer trying to bake them), I was able to find out some interesting history about it! Red Velvet became popular during the Second World War (a perfect time for a dark overlord. Just saying…) when supplies were hard to come by. So they used beets in baking which gave that signature red color! My last Red Velvet cupcake I did I made with  red food dye. I can’t shake the feeling that I cheated and used dye. So I decided to redo the cupcakes and keep with tradition by using beets instead to give it the red color.

Now, I think that these cupcakes do have the distinct after taste of beets. I didn’t know if that was psychological though, due to the fact I knew it had beets in it. So I did what any baker would do. I did an experiment. Let’s just say my brother learned the hard way not to blindly accept cupcakes from me. Only after he ate my cupcake did I tell him it was made with beets instead of red food dye. Apparently he didn't taste it! So the jury is out still. However, it’s all worth it to have authentic dye-free cupcakes!

REAL Red Velvet Cupcak

2-3 large beets

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp vinegar

1 cup butter

8 oz cream cheese

2 1/3 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your cupcake tins

Cut off ends of beets. Fully submerge in a pot of water and allow to cook. 

When a fork can go in them, drain the water and peel the beets. Then, using a food processor, puree beets with lemon juice. mix in he vinegar and set aside to cool.

Cream together cutter, cream cheese and sugar. Then add in the eggs, one at a time, s well as the vanilla.

In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder and cocoa. In two portions, add to the butttery mixture.

Gently fold in the beets then equally divide into the cupcake liners.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3/4 cup butter

8 oz cream cheese

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

4-5 cups confectioners sugar

Cream together butter, cream cheese, almond extract and vanilla.

Slowly add confectioners sugar until desired thickness.

[sweetsolemnity]

Organic Strawberry Twists. No colour dye. Jesus Christ these are so good. And they won't kill me. :D