April 9 is National Unicorn Day – but you can enjoy these magical unicorn recipes any day of the year. We’ve picked some sweet and some savory, who says unicorns can’t have some spice? What’s life without whimsy?
Colorful Unicorn Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound of noodles
- 4 large zip-top bags
- food coloring drops
- water
Optional Star Puffs:
- puff pastry sheets
- small star cookie cutter
- edible gold star sprinkles
Instructions:
1. Cook the noodles to an al dente stage. Remove them from the heat, drain, and rinse with cold water.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of water + food coloring to each zip-top bag.
Note: amount of food coloring used will vary by type; regular grocery store food coloring will require around 15-20 drops. Stronger formulas like Color Right or gel food coloring may only require 2-3 drops.
3. Divide the pasta evenly among the food coloring bags.
4. Zip the top of each bag closed and shake the bags until all of the noodles are well-coated with color.
5. Let the noodles sit for 15 minutes to soak up the color (or more if you think they need it). Next, use a colander to rinse the noodles with cold water, one color at a time. Store the pasta colors separately until you’re ready to serve them.
6. When ready to serve, toss all of the noodle colors together with butter & parmesean or your favorite clear/translucent pasta sauce.
7. Serve with star puffs made from puff pastry sheets + a star-shaped cookie cutter. For extra sparkle, sprinkle the puffs with edible gold stars if you’re feeling extra fancy!
Creamy, Dreamy Unicorn Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 8 slices of bread
- Butter
- 4 slices of unicorn milk cheese (or provolone cheese if your store is out of unicorn cheese)
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- Food dye
Instructions
- Butter one side of each slice of bread and set aside.
- Divide the shredded cheese into four bowls and add a couple drops of food coloring: yellow to one, red to one, blue to another, and red and blue to make purple in the 4th. Stir the food dye into the cheese.
- Cut the slices of provolone in half and place one on each slice of bread – on the unbuttered side. Sprinkle 1-2 Tablespoons of the colored cheese in “lines” or strips on top of 4 of those slices, overtop of the provolone, in the order of ROYGBIV (mix the red and yellow to make orange, yellow and blue to make green).
- Sandwich a slice of bread with provolone over the shredded cheese and place in a frying pan over medium heat.
- Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes, and then flip.
- Remove to a plate and serve. For extra fun, don’t fully cut the sandwich, so folks can tear it apart and see the lovely, cheesy rainbow.
Sweet Unicorn Dip
Ingredients
- 12 oz cream cheese or vegan cream cheese
- 1 cup yogurt (nondairy works too)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup sugar of choice, or monk fruit for sugar-free
- food coloring OR a pinch turmeric acai powder, spirulina, and blue spirulina
Instructions
- Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Blend all ingredients except the colors until smooth. Although a blender, food processor, or hand blender will yield smoothest results, you can mix by hand.
- Divide among four little dishes and stir a different coloring into each dish. (Be very light-handed if using turmeric and spirulina, as these flavors are strong and a little goes a long way.)
- Drop spoonfuls of each color into a serving bowl, alternating colors. Then swirl colors together with a spoon – don’t over mix.
- Serve with graham crackers or fruit
- Leftovers can be covered and refrigerated up to three days.
Savory Unicorn Hummus
Ingredients
For the Hummus
- Two 15-oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 0.5 c tahini
- Juice of a lemon
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- Generous grind of black pepper
- Drizzle of water or olive oil as needed
- 0.5 tsp blue spirulina
- 2 tsp pink pitaya powder
For Garnishing
- Drizzle of olive oil
- Pine nuts
- Black and/or white sesame seeds
Directions
- In a food processor, combine the chick peas, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Process for several minutes until a smooth, creamy consistency develops, scraping down the sides as needed. If you have trouble getting a smooth hummus, add a little splash of water or olive oil. Repeat as needed.
- Divide the hummus in half and put it in two separate mixing bowls.
- Add blue spirulina to one and pink pitaya powder to the other. Add the coloring agents gradually so that you can see how the color is developing; you can always add more if you want a darker color.
- Take about a quarter of each color and mix them together in a third bowl so that you create a small amount of purple hummus.
- Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl, with the pink on one side, the blue on the other side, and the purple between. Smooth them out to create an even surface, then swirl them together to partially blend the colors.
- Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, some pine nuts, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
- Serve with pita, crackers, veggies or whatever you enjoy with your hummus.
