Make Delicious Organic Food Coloring

Naturally Lovely Holiday Food

My winter holidays are delightfully enhanced by my housemates, a young mom with a 9 year old boy and a 10 year old girl. It was fun to watch them decorate their tree with kitten-proof ornaments and see the kittens patiently removing them over and over and over…. It was super fun to help the kids make gifts for their mom so she would be happily surprised. One of the things I found a bit difficult as a newly single mom was figuring out how my kids could find gifts for me without my direct help. My solution was to open a temporary charge account at a friend’s shop and let them choose whatever they fancied (the source of many of my favorite pins and earrings to this day).

Since I had a generous supply of dried herbs and flowers on hand, we made several lovely treats. We started by mixing up two kinds of holiday tea (recipes below), with each child choosing the herbs and blending them by hand. We ended up with Rosemary Rose and Lavender Lemon, both of which are pleasantly fragrant and flavorful. We also stuffed small cotton drawstring bags with herbs to make sweet dream herbal pillow sachets, combining soothing hops and chamomile with lavender and rose petals. Finally we created special blends of bath salts by lacing coarse sea salt with dried herbs and essential oils.

Clever Organic Food Coloring

The family also baked holiday cookies and decorated them with beautiful icing. Since Stephi does not use artificial coloring, she was pondering how to make naturally colored icings. After some experimenting, she came up with utterly tasty coloring by combining raspberry juice and beet juice, which turns icing a rosy, soft red. For the green, she used fresh mint (recipes below) pureed with flavorless rice oil then stirred into the icing base to make a gentle green that toned perfectly with the red. Yum! Cleverest of all, she then made a fabulous salad with the leftover raspberry, beet, and mint pulps which was a splendid treat in itself. Here’s how she did it:

Butter Cream Frosting

1/3 cup organic butter, at room temperature
3 cups organic confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
2 teaspoons pure organic vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons organic cream

Cream butter and sugar, then stir in vanilla adding cream to desired consistency. If coloring will be added, make base mixture a bit stiffer than usual, take some out to color, then thin the remainder with cream until spreadable. Makes about 1-3/4 cups.

Organic Rosy Red Food Coloring

1 cup raspberries (frozen works fine)
1 small red beet, scrubbed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons rice oil

In a blender or food processor, puree raspberries and beets with rice oil. Put pulp in a fine mesh strainer and press gently to release juices. Let drain completely, then add liquid to icing base to desired tint. Save pulp for use in another recipe.

Organic Gentle Green Food Coloring

1-1/2 cups fresh mint leaves
1 organic lime, zest finely grated
2 tablespoons rice oil

In a blender or food processor, puree mint and lime zest with rice oil. Put pulp in a fine mesh strainer and press gently to release juices. Let drain completely, then add liquid to icing base to desired tint. Save pulp for use in another recipe.

Cabbage Salad With Raspberry Beet Dressing

4 cups Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
1 organic grapefruit, peeled and chopped
1 sweet carrot, scrubbed and julienned
1 tablespoon pomegranate vinegar
1 cup Raspberry Beet Dressing (see below)
2 tablespoons fresh basil, shredded

Combine first 4 ingredients and toss. Let stand 20 minutes, add dressing, toss and serve, garnished with basil. Serves 4.

For The Dressing

Use the pulp from making food colorings or make the dressing fresh this way.

Raspberry Beet Dressing

Left over pulp from food coloring OR:
1 cup raspberries (frozen works fine)
1 small red beet, scrubbed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 organic lime, juiced, zest finely grated
1/4 cup virgin olive oil

In a blender or food processor, puree raspberries, beet, mint, salt, and lime peel with 1 tablespoon lime juice and the olive oil. Makes about 1 cup. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Holiday Herbal Tea Blends

Rosemary Rose Tea

2 cups dried chamomile flowers
1 cup cleaned, dried rosehips
1/2 cup dried rose petals
1/4 cup dried rosemary
1/4 cup dried peppermint
1/4 cup dried chopped orange peel

Combine all ingredients well and store in a tightly sealed glass jar. Makes about 4 cups. To brew, use 1 tablespoon per cup plus one for the pot, cover with boiling water, steep for 10-15 minutes. Strain into cups and add honey to taste.

Lavender Lemon Tea

2 cups dried chamomile flowers
1 cup cleaned, dried rosehips
1/2 cup dried lavender
1/4 cup dried lemon thyme
1/4 cup dried spearmint
1/4 cup dried chopped lemon peel

Combine all ingredients well and store in a tightly sealed glass jar. Makes about 4 cups. To brew, use 1 tablespoon per cup plus one for the pot, cover with boiling water, steep for 10-15 minutes. Strain into cups and add honey to taste.

Sweet Dream Pillow Sachets

1 cup dried hops (cut and sifted)
1 cup dried chamomile flowers
1/2 cup dried rose petals
1/2 cup dried lavender

Combine all ingredients well and use to fill small cotton draw-string bags. Place under pillow for sound sleep and pleasant dreams.

Herbal Bath Salts

2 cups coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon dried rose petals
1 tablespoon dried lavender
1 tablespoon dried lemon thyme
1 tablespoon dried orange peel
2-3 drop pure rose OR orange oil

In a blender, combine 1/4 cup salt with next 3 ingredients and grind to a fine meal. Blend with remaining salt, add rose or orange oil and store in a tightly sealed glass jar. Makes about 2 cups. To use, add 1/4 cup to hot bath water and bliss out.