Weird Request--Blue Food Ideas!

[gobluem82]

I'm not exactly sure why my sister wanted the blue theme--she's calling it "Smurf Night". Maybe it's because no one ended up eating any of my "Moroccan Night" dishes last time (except me!) I just hope we aren't going to have to wear those stupid hats, ha ha.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions; please keep them coming. My personal favorite is the blue margaritas! We'll probably decide on a menu this weekend, so I'll let you know.

Thanks again!

[Beth H]

When Heinz foods decided to market a ketchup for kids, they polled children to see what color most appealed to them. The first choice? Blue. So, Heinz tested blue ketchup (along with the green). While blue was the most popular among testers, it had some unfortunate (but not harmful side effects) -- evidently the blue was not absorbed by the kids' bodies. To avoid problems, Heinz decided to make the green ketchup instead. A good friend of mine works for Heinz, and the talk of blue foods made me think of the ketchup. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Gail]

Sure you want to do this?? If so, I hope you'll go with natural suggestions rather than dying your food blue.

Case in point: Many years ago, when my nephew was of preschool age, his aunt (me) got the notion to "surprise" him by making green eggs and ham for breakfast. Out came the food coloring, which took quite a bit to get a proper hue. The resulting eggs (1) looked gross and (2) tasted about the same.(3) My nephew paid absolutely zero attention to the meal I was gagging over. Moral: too much food coloring does BAD stuff to flavors. And I believe there was a reason why Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, chose not to provide us many blue edibles.

Now, I understand that "modern" food coloring dyes--particularly the powdered form-- are supposedly not as gross tasting as those made twenty something years ago, but from where I sit, that dark-colored icing on cakes seems to be just as disgusting as those long ago eggs.

...just my thoughts, for what they're worth.

[funnybone]

When my kids drink blue kool-aid, or even have any yogurt that is blue (such as Trix or Gogurt), their stool is flourescent green. I guess it is something in the dye. Just be forewarned, it you eat too much blue.

[Shirley Panek]

Maybe you could have a "blue plate special" - something homey and/or diner-like (meatloaf and mashed potatoes, etc.). This way you don't have to have blue food, but you will still keep up with the theme.

Shirley

[lorilei]

If alcohol is appropriate, why not pick up BLUE MOON beer? Or BLUE MOON wine?

They do sell BLUE cornmeal from blue corn -- use this to make blue corn muffins or fritters. They're a fun addition to any meal.

Play "BLUES" at dinnertime. Or collect songs with "BLUE" in the title to play.

Serve Bleu cheese potatoes or enchiladas made with Blue Crab. How about making blueberry cobbler for dessert? Decorate the table with blue bells, and put a sign on the door that says "Just Blue INN" http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

I'd also encourage you to "go natural". Blue Curacao is about as artificial blue as I'd want to venture. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif But that's just me...

[Beth]

I agree with the natural approach...in addition to the ides above: a blue cheese dip with blue corn tortilla chips, the blueberry basalmic vinegar, blue potatoes or blue corn polenta, a bottle of wine in a blue bottle (or I have one with blue flowers on the label), blueberry chocolate chip cookies (a favorite at a blueberry farm we used to go to). There's blue popcorn for the movie after, to go with the blue M&M's (sold in some stores by individual color, try Albertson's or a candy store).

I don't think you have to send everyone to the dentist for a cleaning to have a blue theme! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Beth (edited 03-14-2001).]

[Karen M]

I just typed in "blue" in the recipe search at foodtv.com and saw these recipes that looked interesting:

BLUE CORN TORTILLA CRUSTED RED SNAPPER WITH POBLANO VINAIGRETTE AND SWEET ONION-CORN RELISH

BLUE CORN TORTILLA CRUSTED CRAB CAKE IN SPICY CARROT-MANGO BROTH AND MANGO-GREEN ONION RELISH

WALNUT AND BLUE CHEESE-COATED GRAPES

BLUE CORN FRIED CHICKEN WITH ANCHO HONEY AND BUTTERMILK-BACON SMASHED POTATOES

I've also had smoked bluefish pate at a restaurant here and it was very good.

Good Luck!

[Jen]

ebobbitt - who says margaritas aren't a main dish?!? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif

[gobluem82]

My sister comes out to visit a couple of times each year, and we have a "theme night" dinner tradition. Usually it's based on a country's cuisine, but this time the suggestion (not mine!!) was "blue food night". Any ideas, aside from blueberry muffins and blue Jello?? I'm at a loss for what to serve as a main dish. I know all of you are so creative; hopefully you can give me some ideas!

[donleyk]

Just a quick thought... what about a casserole with a corn bread topping and adding blue food coloring... There aren't too many blue foods out there!

[kentgirl]

I don't know if the dish really has to be the color blue....but if not, how about preparing blue hake?

[ebobbitt]

It's not a main dish but there's always blue margaritas!

[echolaine]

Most health food stores and some grocery stores carry blue tortilla chips - great for an appetizer or to top a Southwestern Casserole. Blue curacao makes drinks interesting (Blue Hawaiis or margaritas). Have fun!

[Leanne]

Blue cheese - You could use that in a variety of ways.
Maybe cheesecake made with blueberries in it or a puree on top of it.

Blackberries are kind-of blue in color too.

Maybe a blackberry or blueberry balsamic chicken as opposed to the CL raspberry version.

You could add blue food coloring to bread dough (and other things) - although I'm not sure that I could stomach that!

I just saw it - The blue tortilla chip suggestion is a great idea too.


[This message has been edited by Leanne (edited 03-14-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Leanne (edited 03-14-2001).]

[laughsandlaughs]

You could make blue enchiladas....lightly brush the corn tortillas with a mixture of 1/4 c. water and 1T. blue food coloring before frying them (or dipping in sauce to soften). You could make with a traditional white cheese sauce or even drop some food coloring into that too! Disturbing, but hey, it's not my theme.

Also don't forget about blue corn chips and blue/purple potato chips. You can also make your own really bright blue corn chips using the method described above (we do them green for St. Patty's Day) and then frying or baking.

I'll keep thinking, but other than making other white sauces and adding blue food coloring (white lasagna, white sauce for baked potato bar, etc) I don't have any great ideas off the top of my head.


[This message has been edited by laughsandlaughs (edited 03-14-2001).]

[andrea]

this will be tricky since most blue foods turn purple when cooked...

blue tortilla enchiladas with a cream sauce (dyed blue?)

[tovie]

Can you still find blue cornmeal and/or tortilla chips anywhere? Was popular for a while but I haven't seen any recently. I've had some nice Mexican dishes made with that (i.e., make your own tortillas with the blue cornmeal for tacos or enchiladas or something like that, or tamale pie, etc.)

[kentgirl]

Here's a link you might find interesting... http://starbulletin.com/97/07/02/features/story1.html

If you scroll to the bottom, there's a link for "blue recipes".

[This message has been edited by kentgirl (edited 03-14-2001).]

[djoygirl]

I was also going to suggest the blue margaritas. In any case, they're yummy!
You could probably dye any type of pasta blue, by adding some food coloring to the water you boil it in.
This is quite an interesting topic; let us know how things turn out!

[laughsandlaughs]

Don't forget the gingerbread cake on the cover of the March issue with the yummy blueberry topping. I'm curious, why did she want a blue theme?

[Leanne]

Blue m&m's too - save the other colors for a later date!

[Star]

Just had to respond to say that for my fifth birthday party I had a blue cake. Needless to say, nonone had seconds!
Diona

[Sara Emily]

I'm afraid that any HELPFUL suggestions I might have for you have already been made by ingenious members of our CL BB family! Just a true bit of trivia though - The late, great Alfred Hitchcock used to like to SHOCK his guests at his parties, as well as in his movies. On one occasion, he had his caterers provide a gorgeous array of foods, but use blu food coloring in each dish, since blue is supposed to be the most calming, but LEAST APPRETIZING color for foods. It created quite a sensation and not much food was consumed!

[alice*]

Last night we had blue potatoes for a side dish. I'm not sure exactly what they are called but they are dark blueish purple on the outside and blue all the way through! This opens up numbers of possibilities if you like potato dishes. Let us know the results! This is very interesting.

[SueK]

My first thought was the dark blue "Blue's Clues" applesauce that my daughter eats!

[laughsandlaughs]

GOBLUE...how'd it turn out, the blue night?

[Chef Cindy]

It looks like I missed your blue food night. I came across a blue food on accident one day. I had a head of red cabbage I needed to use up, so I made a stir fry with it. To my surprise it turned blue. It looked a bit strange but tasted like the green stuff..... There is something unnatural about blue food...

[Chef Cindy]

Julie O, I didn't use any acid that I can recall, but I did use a cast iron pan. I have never cooked red cabbage before and just figured that was the color it turned when heat was applied. You have me curious now. Maybe I will try it again.

[foodiedelite]

I know someone that used to dye their deviled eggs. Works well for Easter, the whites were just placed in food dye for a few seconds. However, at the two parties this individual brought her dyed deviled eggs--she ended up taking a lot of them back home. They went over well with the kids.

I'm with most everyone else on this board--
not a big fan of dye. Lorilei had some great ideas--and the blue corn tortilla's would be as far as I'd venture with the blue entree.

[LGBurns]

Chef Cindy: your blue "red" cabbage is due to the fact that cast-iron is "reactive" meaning it causes a chemical reaction with food. From JulieO's post, I am guessing that the chemical reaction is in some way acidic. This is why some recipes call for cooking in a "non-reactive" pan.

[Julie O]

To Chef Cindy--

Did you have a strong acid or base in your pot? I assume probably acid, such as vinegar. Red cabbage is used as a pH indicator by teachers & scientists who love to do science activities with kids. It can turn a whole range of colors depending on how acidic or basic the solution is. Very cool stuff, but not fun to eat when it's blue!!