Pink "play-doh"

Play-doh. Every kid loves it, every Mom gets stuck cleaning bits of it out of the carpet. My daughter could play with the stuff for hours, and her new favorite thing is to make lots of different sized "snakes" out of it. Her introduction to this childhood staple started as an impulse buy I made from Toys'R'Us. The original few containers I bought have now gotten slightly dried out, and the colors have all been blended together by the creative mind of my toddler and her partner-in-crime, aka Daddy. That is, whatever hasn't been smashed into the carpet or eaten by the dogs. In other words, we could use some new dough. I remembered that Mommypotamus had posted a great blog on DIY play-doh, and I had a lone beet in the fridge that never made it to my beet brownies, so the timing was perfect. I used her recipe and it turned out AWESOME!

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup of naturally colored water OR 1 cup water and natural food coloring
few drops essential oil of lavender (can't hurt to calm a nearly three-year-old down if possible)

Homemade play-doh with natural dyes!

     

  I almost used my beloved sea salt until I remembered I had Morton's salt (containing GMO corn, a fact which I was only recently made aware of) so used that instead. This was also a great way to use up the all-purpose flour I bought before making the switch to gluten-free flours.

Boil your sliced beets in 2 cups of filtered water for about 15 minutes. Drain the beets and save the colored water which should measure 1 cup. I was able to throw the cooked beets onto a salad for lunch. Win win!

Measure & mix the flour, salt, and cream of tarter in a pot. Pour in the olive oil and colored water. Stir, stir, stir.

Your arm will start hurting. It's worth it, I promise.

 

It will get a little gloppy after all the water is added, but keep stirring. After it seems mostly blended, put the pot over med-low heat. Continue stirring until it starts pulling away from the sides and forms a ball.

How gorgeous is this color?? Completely from nature. Amazing.

 Stored in, of course, a mason jar.