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Have you seen the May 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living, their "Our First Color Issue"? The Spectrum of Sweetness article inspired me to write about learning about color with food. So this week and next, I’ll be picking family-friendly recipes, books, and activities around colors.

White Food
This month, FamilyFun.com featured April Fools’ Prank Food recipes for dishes that look like one thing, but taste like another. This recipe is white (pastry and pudding) with added dashes of color.

Chicken Not-Pie
Bigger kids can help with assembly and younger children can chop up the candy.

Ingredients:

1. 1 (4 1/2-inch) aluminum foil potpie tin 1 refrigerated piecrust (most 15-ounce packages contain 2 crusts, enough for 6 of our pies)
2. Aluminum foil
3. 1 egg (makes enough for 6 pies)
4. 2 tablespoons water
5. 1 (3.4-ounce) box instant vanilla or white-chocolate pudding (1 box makes enough for 3 pies)
6. 1 yellow and 2 orange Starburst candies
7. 1 green Chewy Jolly Rancher candy or green Tootsie Roll candy (we found the green Starburst candies to be too pale)
8. 1 banana (makes enough for 6 pies)
9. 1 to 2 dried apple rings or a 4-ounce bar of white chocolate (1 bar is enough for 6 pies)

Directions:

1. Bake the crust: Heat the oven to 450°. Unroll or unfold a piecrust on your work surface. Using the upside-down potpie tin as a guide, cut a circle of dough about 1/2 inch larger than the tin. (If you’re making more than one potpie, simply cut another circle from the dough. Reroll the scraps to cut out a third.) Crumple a piece of aluminum foil into a 1 1/2-inch ball and set it in the potpie tin. Cover it with a layer of foil to create a smooth mound, then lay the circle of dough on top. (A)
2. Now press the tines of a fork around the edge of the dough to crimp it, then use the fork to gently poke a few holes in the crust. (B)
3. Beat the egg with the water, then brush the mixture over the dough.
4. Set the pie tin on a baking sheet and bake the crust for about 10 minutes. Let it cool completely.
5. Make the filling: Prepare the pudding according to the package directions and refrigerate until serving time.
6. Create the faux chicken and vegetables: To make the Starburst or Tootsie Roll candies easier to work with, place them unwrapped on a paper plate and warm them in the microwave just until they’re slightly softened, about 12 to 15 seconds. (The Jolly Rancher candies will soften from the warmth of your hands.) Once you’ve shaped them, lay the candies on waxed paper or a paper plate, set apart from each other so they won’t stick together.
7. Corn kernels: Roll the yellow candy between your hands or on a clean work surface to create a 4-inch-long rope, then use kitchen shears or a sharp knife to cut the rope into 1/4-inch pieces. With your fingers, form each piece into a kernel by flattening one end and pinching the other.
8. Chicken: Use kitchen shears or a knife to cut the apple rings into 1/2-inch-wide pieces. If you’re using white chocolate, chop or break it into roughly 1/2-inch-wide pieces.
9. Peas: Roll the green candy into a 5-inch-long rope. Cut the rope into 1/4-inch pieces, then roll each piece into a ball.
10. Potatoes: Peel the banana, slice off three 1/4-inch-thick pieces, then cut each piece into small cubes.
11. Cubed carrots: Cut each orange candy into 4 squares.
12. Assemble the pie: Just before serving time, spoon about 2/3 cup of the pudding into the pie tin.
13. Add the candies and the fruit to the pudding, then set the piecrust on top.

Colorful Books
My family’s favorite book on color for toddlers and preschoolers is Dr. Seuss’s My Many Colored Days Board Book. Each color is assigned a mood, lending itself to dramatic reading of such lines as:

On Purple Days, I’m sad.
I groan.
I drag my tail.
I walk alone.

More colorful books:

• A Color of His Own - Elephants are gray. Pigs are pink. Only the chameleon has no color of his own. He is purple like the heather, yellow like a lemon, even black and orange striped like a tiger! When another chameleon suggests they travel together, he learns that companionship is more important than having a color of his own. Children will learn about friendship and color in this book.
• White Rabbit’s Color Book - One inquisitive hop, and splash goes White Rabbit into a bucket of yellowpaint. Soon the little rabbit is jumping from bucket to bucket and learning all about colors and how they mix.
• For our older kids, the Jack London classic, White Fang (6 to 8 grades). It’s a story of a wolf-dog who endures great cruelty before he comes to know human kindness.

What’s your favorite book about color?

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