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Stage Cakes and a Synthetic Dye-Free Adventure

This post is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays Cake Challenge.

Back in the spring I took several cake decorating classes in order to pick up a few tips for making the boy’s birthday cakes.  One class I took was called “Stage Cakes.”  Basically, you build a stage out of cake and then build a scene.  I made a Monster Truck cake since I have a house full of testosterone!  I have made a few since then including one that I made this weekend for Mike’s grandpa’s 86th birthday.

One of the unintended consequences for me while taking my cake decorating classes, was the affect the food dyes had on me.  Using such a high volume of concentrated food color gels (and the resulting stains on my hands and cutting boards, of which the black will NOT come off), really made me start think about how safe they are in the long term.

Many kiddos cannot tolerate food dyes and I read a disturbing article on the blue dominoes website that most food dyes contain lead, mercury and arsenic (I’m sure the amounts are minute, but with synthetic food dyes being in so many foods, one has to wonder about the cumulative effect.  Kind of like with gluten, 20 ppm may be deemed “safe” at the moment, but is that 20 ppm per meal, per day, what?).

Red No. 3 has been linked to breast cancer.  I also read an FDA Public Health Advisory on Blue No. 1 which really expressed to me that there is not enough research to support the safety of synthetic food dyes.  I used to take the approach of  “everything in moderation,” but that was before I realized that synthetic food dyes are in EVERYTHING!  There are the obvious products like Koolaid, brightly colored cereals, candies, colored yogurts, etc. but it is also in things that one would not necessarily think of, like pickles, salmon, orange peels, vitamins, children’s medications and the list goes on and on.  I used to think I was doing well by limiting added food coloring to special occasions like birthday cakes but I didn’t realize how often my kids were still consuming them.

So, I have decided to challenge myself and my family to go synthetic dye-free for the next 3 months.  One, I want to see if we can do it; but more importantly, I like to walk in other people’s shoes for a while and want to teach my boys to do the same.  I think it is not only a great way to feel compassion for others, but I think it is a great way to learn about and implement new ideas.  I also want to see if removing the dyes will help with Luke’s eczema.

Over the past few months I have been experimenting with natural food colors derived from fruits and vegetables.  I have purchased a few and I have even tried to color icing with vegetable powders.  I have had two problems with this.  One, the overall color effect was too pastel to impress my kids (namely my 6 year old son), who is subjected to seeing his friends’ brilliantly colored birthday cakes, etc.  Natural Red colorings usually end up pink which would be fine for a girl (or Luke, he loves pink), but Sam would put me out to pasture.  Two, when using vegetable powders, the icing tends to develop a strong vegetable flavor over time.  Spinach flavored icing put me on Sam’s ” bad list” for about a week.

An idea occurred to me during my cake decorating classes from all the extra accents used to decorate cakes, namely toys.  Why not ice a cake with naturally white or chocolate icing and embellish with non-food items that can add a pop of bright color without being edible?  I also got the tip from my instructors that you do not need to limit yourself to specialty cake decorations, you can put pretty much anything on a cake!  I have since been collecting trinkets from craft stores, dollar bins, you name it, to use for decorating cakes and cupcakes.

I tried this out for the first time over the weekend.  Mike’s grandpa was turning 86 and I wanted to personalize the cake to his interest, namely woodworking.  I decided I would try and make a replica of his garage, complete with a workbench, pegboard, etc.  During a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, I discovered the doll house/miniatures section.  I found all sorts of little decorations that I could use on this stage cake.  I also bought a flat piece of wood (I am sure there is a specific name, but I’m no Bob Vila and if I ask my husband, he will laugh at me ).  I painted it to look like a peg board then attached miniature tools with a hot glue gun.  I used the same approach to make a replica of his work bench.  For some added flair, I embedded a few mini battery-operated lights, called “Celebration Lights” that I found in the wedding section at Michael’s Craft Store.

The following photos are of the cake that Sam, Luke and I decorated (Luke’s main contribution are all the holes in the icing from his repeated “taste testings”).

The black bottom border is ribbon.  The top part of the cake represented one of H.G.’s favorite places to go and spend the afternoon with his late wife (Mike’s grandma), up in the Sandia Mountains.  I made the “H” and “G,” as well as the “86″ out of chocolate.  I did this free hand, which is why they are not even; I will use a mold next time so they come out smooth.  I did paint the chocolate with edible gold dust.

Inside the wheel barrel, we added melted chocolate and cake crumbs to make it look like a pile of dirt.

The cake was a big hit, especially with Sam and Luke!  This gives me a lot of hope that their upcoming birthday cakes can be free of synthetic dyes and they will still think they are cool!

Luke really wants a Jungle Junction birthday cake and I am fretting a bit because they do not make any toys for that show yet.  My friend Kristen, who made the Star Wars party invitations for Sam and her son’s co-party last year, is working on designing some Ellyvan and Zooter invitations for Luke’s party.  I am thinking that I could laminate a few of those and prop them on the cake somehow.  Or, maybe even use some Aroma Dough to make the characters and that way Luke won’t be tempted to eat them (okay, who am I kidding? Luke requested a bowl of Aroma Dough for a snack once!).

See why I am beginning to panic, how does one accomplish that ↑↑ without using chemical dyes and with zero toys on the market??

That’s okay, I am up for the challenge and where there is a will…   (and a good bottle of wine), there is a WAY!

(have any idea’s for me?)

I will get the photo tutorial up for building the stage cake within the next few days, it is really easy to do!

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Did anyone else happen to see the Dr. Oz show yesterday? It was on in the background as I was writing the post for the blue dominoes Safe Art Finger paint review and giveaway (don’t forget to enter for your chance to win a 4-pack of gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, peanut and tree nut-free, fish and shellfish-free finger paint that is also free of lead, heavy metals, Bromine, Touelene and Bisphenol-A). Dr. Oz had a segment titled “Three Dangerous Food Toxins,” where he highlighted the levels of Mercury, Bisphenol-A (or BPA) and pesticides in our foods. The show cited a recent study that estimates, “90% of us have measurable levels of BPA in our blood stream.” The BPA is coming not only from clear, hard plastics (like Polycarbonate) but in many canned foods. Consumer Reports recently tested 19 name brand canned foods and “nearly all of them contained some level of BPA.” They also noted that “canned organic foods did not always have lower levels of BPA than the non-organic brands.” I especially love this one: they “even found the chemical in some products in cans that were labeled BPA-free!”

Whaaa?!?

Oprah is doing a show today (1/27/10) titled, “Before You Grocery Shop Again: Food 101 With Michael Pollan.” Set your DVR (or VCR )!

Anyway, onward and upward…

I actually got to meet one of my readers who lives in the Albuquerque area (and who also went to The Ohio State University, GO BUCKS! Seriously, what are the odds??) this past weekend at the local GIG (Gluten Intolerance Group) bi-monthly potluck. Renee brought the following Quinoa Salad and OMG, it was soooo good! I did not get to have much at the potluck because as usual, I was late and it was almost gone when I got there! Renee kindly sent me the recipe so I could make more at home and also share the recipe with everyone.

Renee got the following recipe from Inca Organics.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

2 cups Quinoa, cooked in 4 cups of water as directed (I used a blend of two varieties of Quinoa, see below)

2 cups lightly cooked Green Peas

1/2 large Red Onion, diced

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Green Bell Pepper, diced

1/2 c sliced pitted Black Olives (I used Kalamata Olives)

1 cup Golden Raisins

1/4 cup fresh Parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh Dill, chopped

1/4 cup Pine Nuts, toasted

1/2 cup Vinaigrette (See Below)

Vinaigrette

Whisk all ingredients together:

1/8 c Balsamic Vinegar

1/8 c White Wine Vinegar

1/4 c Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 cloves Garlic

1/2-1 tsp Salt to taste (I used Kosher Salt)

1/4-1/2 tsp Pepper to taste

• Cook quinoa according to directions. Fluff with fork and cool.

• Cook peas (I cooked mine in a pot of boiling water for 1 minute, then immediately put in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process, this will prevent your peas from turning an undesirable green color) and cool.

• When quinoa is cool, mix all ingredients together.

• Toss with vinaigrette.

• Taste and add more salt if desired.

For more on: Ancient Brand Quinoa

Health benefits of: Phosphorus

For more on: Country of Origin (COO)

blue dominoes Safe Art Finger Paint Review (and Giveaway!)

I am so UNBELIEVABLY excited about this!!! A while back I had the opportunity to try out blue dominoes Safe Art Activity Dough which is not only gluten-free, but is also free of the top 8 allergens, including wheat and soy! We loved the play dough, especially Sam, who built a whole battle scene with the dough (he is very big on battles!).

What I really appreciate, especially as the mother of a child with celiac disease (oh okay, it also eases the paranoia due to my new obsession with ingredient labels and “Frankenfood” Documentaries! ) is that blue dominoes puts all of the ingredients they use right on the label! They give me the facts straight up so I can make my own decision on whether or not to use the product. It is frustrating as all get-out to try and get art supply ingredients from other companies. I have made a new pledge to myself to support companies that make my life easier!

Blue Dominoes Safe Art also takes it a step further by telling me what is NOT in their products too, (which is exceptionally important to me considering a good portion of it will undoubtedly end up in Luke’s mouth!) :

Finger Paints are made with all Natural Ingredients that are free of Lead, Heavy Metals, Bromine, Toluene and Bisphenol-A

Green from start to finish:  Eco-friendly, BPA 
and phthalate free packaging

What the heck is a phthalate???

And BPA?? (I remember when I first heard about this and Luke was still on a bottle, an Avent bottle to be specific, which contained BPA at the time. It is a real @!%?! to get a baby to change bottles!! Just a quick FYI: I got the following off the Phillips website:

The Philips AVENT Airflex reusable bottle is made from polycarbonate and therefore contains BPA. This product is no longer sold in the United States and Canada. Philips offers two BPA-free reusable bottles in its Infant Feeding line.

I received the following press release and a complimentary sample of the new finger paints from Debbie Lindgren, one of the co-founders of blue dominoes, (BTW, I highly recommend reading how the name blue dominoes came to be. I am 110% in agreement with their philosophy, in fact, it is the same approach I take with my own blog. I want to highlight the key points that reflect my personal views as well because I could not have said it better myself! ) :

We incorporated the word dominoes to demonstrate how unique each of our paths to healing is and what works for one person may not work for another.

Further, some people even stack dominoes in a line and then knock the first domino over and watch the rest of the dominoes fall into place. This is also the mindset behind using the word dominoes because often times getting on the right path and seeing the domino effect leads us to breaking down those barriers; just as the initial domino caused the momentum to keep going and extend to the other domino blocks.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS!
ECO-FRIENDLY, GLUTEN-FREE, ALL-NATURAL FINGER PAINTS ARE HERE!

No harmful chemicals, free of the eight most common allergens and thoroughly tested – perfect for all the little children in your life!

January 11, 2010 – San Diego, CA –  Finger painting is a wonderful and therapeutic way for people, particularly children to express themselves and have fun. However, if children are sensitive to the ingredients being used in some finger paints such as: gluten, wheat, toluene, synthetic chemicals and dyes – they cannot participate in the activity and that is NOT fun.

Bluedominoes Safe Art™ Finger Paints are made from food grade ingredients, free of the eight most common allergens including gluten, wheat
and soy, made with all natural colors, laboratory-tested to be free of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic and is free of chemicals
such as toluene. In addition, the Finger Paints have been certified by the Celiac Sprue Association and accepted by the Feingold association assuring the products are free of gluten and do not use artificial colors.

Debbie Lindgren and Linda Manaster founded bluedominoes after Lindgren’s younger son reacted to art supplies being used in his Kindergarten class.  “His teacher realized he reacted to art supplies with yellow and red pigments particularly modeling products and paints.  We together took steps to make his environment and those of the other children in the classroom safer by identifying and providing alternative options,” states Lindgren, who brought in her own formulations for the classroom.  Lindgren and Manaster eventually assembled an expert team who aid in the identification of ingredients and product development.  The team previously developed Safe Art™ Activity Dough, which was recognized in Dr. Toy’s Best Picks Children’s Products – 2009, and was selected as Most Innovative Product by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“Since children are tempted to taste art supply products, we felt it was necessary to use food grade ingredients in our art supply products aimed at younger children.  In addition, toxins such as toluene and lead are both absorbed through the skin as well as through ingestion, so we took steps to use ingredients that do not contain these substances and to have our products independently tested by highly respected U.S. laboratories.”  Though not legally required, bluedominoes lists all of its Safe Art™ Finger Paints ingredients on the package.

By complying with rigorous standards, bluedominoes Safe Art™ products are the first to receive certification from the Celiac Sprue Association and acceptance by the Feingold Association. Bluedominoes has a complete line of Safe Art™ products in the pipeline, and the company is committed to the same level of purity, safety and integrity for all of its products. All bluedominoes Safe Art™ products are developed in San Diego, and all of its patent-pending formulas are manufactured in the USA.  Products can be ordered by visiting www.bluedominoes.com.

About bluedominoes, inc:  bluedominoes, with its highly informative website and safe children’s art supply products, is the go-to resource for parents and teachers to keep their children safe and the Safe Art™ brand manufacturer that parents and teachers trust. For more information about bluedominoes green children’s art supplies, including our award-winning Safe Art™ Activity Dough and trusted resources to keep your family safe, visit www.bluedominoes.com.

bluedominoes, inc.  PO Box 3559, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067

Toll-Free 858.759.7435 www.bluedominoes.com

Now for the fun!

blue dominoes Safe Art Finger Paint Giveaway

Debbie has graciously offered to giveaway (one) 4-pack of finger paints to one of my fabulous readers! WOO-HOO!

**In order to be eligible for the giveaway you are going to have to do a few small things (it will be painless, I promise!):

First, (so I can keep track of the entries and get to know you a bit in the process ):

Leave a comment to this post telling me what it means to you to know there is a company out there like blue dominoes making Safe Art supplies like finger paints (and play dough) for our kiddos AND volunteering to put the ingredients right on the package label. (My hope is that maybe other art supply companies will read this, read our thoughts on the subject and follow blue dominoes lead by making their ingredients available on their product labels!).

Second, do at least one (or all!) of the following three things (fellow bloggers, please see below):

• If you have a Twitter account, sign-up to follow @bluedominoes (you can follow me too if you want! @adventuresgfmom). Once you start following @bluedominoes, “tweet” about this contest and include a link to this post in your tweet (I highly recommend using Tinyurl). Be sure to include @bluedominoes and @adventuresgfmom in your tweet. Please include any hashtags to community groups you participate in, like #GF, etc.

and/or

• In case you are a Twitter holdout (like I was up until a couple of months ago), you can become a “fan” of blue dominoes Safe Art Supplies on Facebook. Please send me an email at heidikelly13@gmail.com once you have done this.

and/or

• If you do not use Twitter or Facebook, you can subscribe to the bluedominoes ENewletter (upper right corner of their web page). I signed up, and have found it to be a great source of information regarding things like What’s In Your School’s Cleaning Supplies? and Artificial Food and Cosmetic Coloring – A Hidden Source of Toxic Metals (Which reminds me, I need to start trying out natural food colorings, or better yet, learn how to make my own, since I go through such a large volume during my cake decorating courses… and I have one beginning in a couple of weeks! Any suggestions??). Please send me an email at heidikelly13@gmail.com once you have done this.

For bloggers...

There is a teeny tiny little extra in order for you to enter:

Please mention this giveaway (and include a link to this post) in one of your blog posts (thank you kindly).

You have until 5pm Pacific time (8pm Eastern) this coming Friday, January, 29, 2010 to enter. I will then use a Random Number Generator to “pick” the winner. Your comment’s place in line will be your number; for example: if you are the third comment, your number is 3. I will do a post Friday evening announcing the winner. You will need to send me an email with your mailing address by Sunday evening (1/31/10) or I will pick a new winner on Monday, February 1, 2010.

One entry per person please.

blue dominoes is also going to offer a 10% discount on all first time orders until February 28, 2010. Use the coupon code GFMOM at checkout.