Valentine’s Day Treats Without the Red Dye

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to make fun crafts and enjoy special treats with your kids. When I think Valentine’s day, I think hearts, cupid, and pink and red. Unfortunately, if you have a child sensitive to red dye, a lot of recipes are out.

I wanted to think beyond cookies and cupcakes and try new things, so I looked to something that would make tasty, but less indulgent pink, red and Valentine’s inspired treats…strawberries!

My grocery store had 1 pound packages of strawberries on sale, buy one get one free. Knowing what fruit monsters my kids are, I bought 4 (good thing I did!)

The first new recipe I tried was Strawberry Bruschetta.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz baguette from the bakery
• 8 oz of cream cheese
• 1T honey
• 2 cups of strawberries, sliced
• 1/4 cup 100% fruit spread (like Smucker’s simply fruit or Polaner all fruit.)

Directions:

• Slice the baguette into approximately 24, 1/4″ thick slices.
• Bake on a cookie sheet until slightly crisp (don’t worry about it being too hard for your kids to eat, the toppings soften it up)
• While bread is in the oven, place the cream cheese in a bowl. Microwave for a few seconds to soften and make stirrable/spreadable if necessary. Add honey and stir to combine.
• Remove bread from oven, spread cream cheese mixture on each slice and top with strawberries.
• Place fruit spread in a small bowl & microwave 15 or so seconds until liquified (careful, it may be hot!) Brush the top of each piece of bruschetta with the fruit spread, allowing it to cover the strawberries and cream cheese. Don’t worry if it drips down the side of the bread, it makes it yummy!

I also made this using puff pastry (cut into heart shapes) in place of the bread.

These tasted just like a fruit/cream cheese pastry from the bakery! Even my husband loves these (both versions) and this isn’t his kind of treat. Serve as a snack or a dessert!

For breakfast, a healthy and fun Valentine’s Day treat is a pink smoothie!

We used strawberries, bananas and milk, but we make our smoothies differently each time depending on what we have. You can experiment with yogurt (Greek yogurt adds creaminess & tons of protein), even a dash of orange juice or some applesauce. We add other fruits too, but keep it mostly strawberries & light/white ingredients to make it pink!

Another recipe I tried was Strawberry Mousse. Based on the ingredients and taste/texture, I’d call this more of a strawberry fluff. It reminded me a lot of the middle layer of 1-2-3 Jello (any other old people people who remember the 80′s remember that?)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• 1 packet unflavored gelatin
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 cups heavy cream

Directions:

• Place 1/3 cup of water in a heatproof cup, like a pyrex measuring cup. (If you don’t have one, use the top of a real or makeshift double boiler. See my makeshift double boiler in my Suzy Q recipe!)
• Sprinkle the gelatin on the water, then allow to sit (don’t stir!) for about 5 minutes, until the water is absorbed.
• While you’re waiting, wash, hull and puree strawberries in a blender or food processor, then place in a medium bowl.
• Add the sugar and lemon juice and stir.
• When the gelatin has absorbed the water, place the heatproof cup in a pan of just simmering water (or over simmering water in your double boiler) just until it is completely liquid again.
• Remove from heat & allow to cool slightly, but don’t allow it to “set.”
• Stir the gelatin into the strawberry mixture and allow to cool slightly (again, don’t let it cool so much that it gels so you can’t stir it!)
• Place the heavy cream in a bowl and beat with a hand mixer until stiff peaks are just starting to form (don’t overbeat.)
• Fold whipped cream into strawberry mixture and refrigerate until set.

Reduce the amount of gelatin to give it more of a whipped cream texture and less of a gelatin texture. This will make it more of a stabilized whipped cream, and it will start to separate if not consumed the same day!

Everyone thought this was yummy! It wasn’t to sweet or too heavy.

Naturally, everything tastes better when it’s heart shaped! Cut bread with a cookie cutter for heart shaped toast or PB&J with strawberry or raspberry jelly!

Do you have any Valentine’s Day traditions? Do you have any special treats planned?

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