Nice pile of red candy

Well, the parties seem to have gone well and the kids all loved their cupcakes. Now I've got a big pile of candy they brought home. Ben was pretty disappointed that he couldn't have any of it. He got over it when I pulled out the candy I keep at home and let him have his choice of several things after dinner. I used to eat some of the contraband dye myself, but I learned my lesson the last time I ate the red licorice (VERY GRUMPY RESULTS) Sometimes I just throw it out and don't think twice. Today I think I'll have Ed take it to work and let his co-workers have whatever they want.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to see if there is any news about the food dye bill being discussed in Maryland. While looking for that, I came across the site for The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. It has a lot of information about the food dye issue as well as the mercury found in the HFCS and the specific amounts.

Bring on the red, we're all set

We are ready for 3 different dye-free Valentine's Day Parties. I baked cup cakes for 2 of my kids' parties. Since Alex needs to stay off wheat, I baked his cupcakes too and froze a bunch for later. I'll just send in his own cupcake and the rest of the class can have whatever overload of color some other parent sends in. I still remember his kindergarten party with the florescent pink and dark red inches of frosting on the cup cakes. It stained everything from their teeth to their fingernails and every item of clothing in between. It was pretty gross.

Here is what I used to make my cupcakes.

So far Alex loved the wheat free cupcake from the Pamela's mix. I cup up the red licorice and put it on top for decoration. It does have wheat, so it's still not ideal for the gluten free crowd. But it gave the cup cakes a nice bit of strawberry flavor. I'm thinking of sending in extra candy in their lunch boxes so they won't be as tempted to eat the candy hearts. Does anyone actually like those anyway?

Sometimes dye free is a hassle

It seems so often that little things come up that should be easy but somehow seem harder when you try to stay dye-free. This week it was that party at day care. I really do have to say I am blessed by the wonderful daycare for my kids. My kids only go 2 days a week since I work part time. And luckily my kids can go year round for summer camp, and for preschool and after school too. That way I only have one place to train the staff about keeping all 3 of my kids dye free. Well, school is another story.

But this week it was the party for my boys who played piano and cello in the day care talent show. The director let me know last Thursday that they would be having ice cream sundaes for a special snack today. I was appreciative of the notice. That let me pack rice ice cream for my GFCF boy. I also supplied dye free sprinkles (look for the clown bottle, I think it's called Mr. Sprinkles). I obsessively checked the ice cream and chocolate sauce myself to make sure there there were no dyes in either product. So it was extra planning and stress to make sure I remembered the extra items early this morning. I had to spend a few minutes looking over the ingredient labels in the day care kitchen. But all in all it worked out great. My boys had a treat like everyone else, but one that meets our family's food requirements. I'm sharing this so you can get ideas on how communicating with others helps you keep things normal for the kids, but without the draw-backs of dye induced behavior.

Tomorrow I'll embark on another dye-free baking frenzy to get ready for Valentine's Day parties.

more articles on food dye legislation

I'm interested to see what happens in Maryland this Wednesday, Feb 11 when they begin to discuss proposed bills to put warning labels on products with food dyes and to ban them from schools and day cares by 2012. How come it's not at all surprising that the giants of the food industry are against further food labeling and that it sounds like they're in the pockets of the politicians? Here are some links I found:

Maryland considers ban on food dyes
Foes of food labeling
Food dye is worry for 1 in 3

I started a new group on parentcenter.com

I just started a new discussion group called avoiding artificial food dyes on Parentcenter.com. My blog automatically posts to the journal entries, there was some recent discussion about food dyes and so it seemed like a good way to get the word out. Babycenter and Parentcenter users can get more information about food dyes and the problems they cause at my blog.

great news

I hadn't been to CPSI's site for a while and just happened to check it out today. I was excited to see a new article just out today indicating that Maryland may ban food dyes. check it out here.

wondering about pimentos

I'm curious about how pimentos get their color. I found one mention of pimentos being dyed at this link. There is no mention of dye on the label. But I've found other foods sometimes fail to reveal their true ingredients as well. I started wondering because Lindsey is suddenly a mess again. Lots of yelling, trying to hit, and spit. It's all the usual stuff she does when dye exposed. I was pretty grumpy and worn out with it last night. Then it dawned on me. I made olive bites for the Superbowl and Lindsey munched on at least a dozen olives Sunday. She wanted more Monday. If there is dye in there it would sure explain a lot. So I'm wondering if anyone knows where pimentos get their color.