Easy Dye Free Easter Treat Recipes

Easter is tomorrow and my kids are anticipating dyeing Easter eggs later today, going on an Easter egg hunt to find eggs and special Easter baskets on Sunday.  Later feasting on Easter dinner and the special treats made that are safe for my kids to eat.  These are things that are made without unnecessary added artificial food dyes.  Nothing is worse than a nice celebration to turn into one that is full of aggression, impulsiveness, uncharacteristic behaviors, rage, and all of it followed by low self esteem with a really negative crash.  Hyped up kids is one thing but watching your child dissolve into this picture is completely another.  Thank goodness we realized what was hurting our kids a couple years ago and can now control it by watching what we eat and avoiding petroleum laced fake food.  It has changed our lives. 
I want to share a few easy recipes that we will be enjoying Easter Sunday. 

Easy
Organic Carrot Cake Recipe from Healthy Cake Recipes

1 1/2 cups organic sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs (or egg replacer)

2 cups organic flour

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups organic shredded carrots (about 5 carrots)

1 cup chopped organic walnuts

Mix the sugar and oil. Add the eggs and beat for about a minute. Add everything except the carrots and walnuts and continue mixing. Last, add the veggies and nuts. Bake in a greased baking pan at the temperature of 350 F for about 50 minutes.

You can ice this cake if you wish, but it stands alone well or with a glass of cold or slightly warmed milk. (You can even get organic milk!)

Easier
Candy Nests reposted from Mother Nature Network

1 9-ounce bag of organic chocolate chips, Sunspire Fair Trade Organic and Trader Joes also has their own brand.

1 cup (or more or less, depending on your love of coconut) organic coconut

Organic jelly beans, check your local health food stores, Whole Foods or Trader Joes 

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler on the stove (or put them in a heatproof measuring cup, and set that in a saucepan filled with some water). Or you can microwave them for a minute or two.

2. Add the coconut to taste, and stir together with the chocolate.

3. Take a cookie sheet and cover it with parchment paper. Using a spoon, put a dollop of chocolate-coconut mixture on the parchment.

4. Add three jelly beans in the middle and press them down … like eggs in a nest.

Put in the fridge until they are “set.

Easiest

Seedless Frozen Grapes

Take the grapes off their vines, rinse, place in a bowl and place in the freezer for a few hours.  They will last and last and you can take a few out to snack on anytime.  SO yummy!

What is your easiest natural dye free treat recipe?

Artificial Dye Free Easter Eggs

*Update*  Thank you to Holly for telling me about a dye free Easter egg dye kit.  I found it on Amazon and have listed it under my favorites widget.  It's clickable if you wish to purchase.  LuckyVitamin has the same kit on sale.

Easter is just around the corner and I want to share some easy dye free recipes for my friends who would like to avoid those chemical dye kits sold at the stores.  These kits are super easy to use and very convenient but they are loaded with artificial food dye.  Dyes like red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1.  For many kids even touching these dyes can have negative effects and the dye does leach into the hard boiled egg so you need to know that if you plan on eating them .  When we decided to forgo products with artificial food dye in them, we soon realized it includes these easter egg dye kits. 

Dyeing Easter eggs is a tradition in my home so I had to figure something out.   The colors are not as vibrant as the chemical dye kits are but still as fun, not as messy, (I guess that depends on how you look at it) and there is absolutly no worry about using artificial dyes. 

Here is my list of natural products that can be used to dye Easter eggs this holiday season.  Please share your recipes too!

Pinkish Red - Beet juice and vinegar
Purple Blue - Handful of blueberries
Light Yellow - Dandelions!  If these yellow beauties have sprouted their bright yellow heads in your lawn by Easter time, grab a handful and add some hot water to steep!  Also turmeric will make a pale yellow.
Brown - Coffee or tea
Reddish Orange - Onion skins boiling ( boil the eggs with the onion skin for this effect )
Green - Spinach
Blue - Red Cabbage

Hard boil the eggs and let them cool. For each color, boil 3 cups of water, 2 tsp vinegar and one of the ingredients for 30 minutes.

There are probably dozens of ways to make natural colors and I would love to hear them all!