Valentines Day Candy Debacle

Another year, another valentines day. You might know by know that food holidays are not one favorites. I’m not a fan of schools, preschools or daycares having food themed parties that are centered around, candy, junk food and chemical and dye filled foods. Why can’t kids make hearts out of salt dough and decorate them with glitter and sparkly things? Why can’t they make valentines day cards and practice their writing skills? Why do we have to celebrate with red dyed frosting and insane amounts of sugar and processed foods full of things not even an adult can pronounce?

Here is a great explanation about why you should never feed your child food dye from TheHealthychild.org

This blog post I wrote explains how some foods can cause behavior problems and health issues in children

This is an article I wrote for Fox News interviewing Dr. Randy Naidoo, a pediatrician, about how food can increase and cause ADHD and behavior problems in children.

Annabelles preschool is of course doing a cookie decorating party with parents bringing cookies, sprinkles and frosting. One brave soul with a child with food allergies is bringing a fruit salad. My inital reaction was that I’ll just keep her home that day, invite one of her friends over and they can make their own valentines day arts and crafts. After venting my frustrations with a group of like-minded moms I was reminded that I won’t be able to keep her home for every single party, and then i thought… yes I can. But really, that’s not cool. So my only option is to make something I’m OK with her eating, making enough to share and getting her excited about it. So here we go.

I’m not a baker, and gluten free baking is even more frustrating with the super sticky dough so as much as I like to stay away from mixes I make exceptions for baking. Here’s what I’ll be working with. We’ll be making organic, gluten free sugar cookies using a Pure Pantry mix and dairy free frosting using Pamelas vanilla frosting mix with coconut oil instead of butter. Still loaded with sugar but so much better than the alternative.

And then there’s the food dye and the sprinkles because everything has to be pink and red for valentines day. Luckily there are alternatives, food coloring and sprinkles  made from natural vegetable extracts that cost about 10 times as much as the stuff filled with junk. And you can even make your own dyes using fruits. I happen to have some frozen organic cherries on hand so i’ll blend them in the food processor and mix some into some of the sugar cookie dough and some into the frosting as well as using the ridiculously overpriced natural food dye I bought.

If you’re scrambling to think of healthy red and pink snack ideas to take to your childs school on Friday here are some great ideas from around the web. Some are so fabulous you’ll want to use them year round.

:12 all natural pink and red recipes that are still a treat

Valentines Day Snacks from 100 days of Real Food

Healthy Valentines Day Desserts

Have a happy and healthy valentines day filled with love, friendship and food that won’t kill ya!