Feeding our families

Healthy party food

I have party food on the brain right now as Ari's 8th birthday party is coming up and I need to get a plan for food! We always are trying to strike a balance at parties and gatherings  between keeping the kids eating as healthy as possible and letting them enjoy treats now and then. When we host parties we try and keep the food wholesome, but fun. While we were on the GAPS diet we had a few events to plan for, and found that we could find lots of food that everyone could enjoy that still fit our dietary requirements. It can get interesting when different families have very different food limitations- one gathering I remember from that time had vegan friends, us GAPS folks and friends that keep kosher. I think the only things we could all eat in common was the veggie tray and the coconut creme dessert topping! Now we eat most real foods, but members of the family still avoid cow milk and wheat (to avoid sore bellies!) so that is reflected in the kinds of food we choose for parties.


Some healthy party foods we enjoy:
- fruit kabobs 
- organic popcorn (we like it with butter and nutritional yeast)
- goat cheese and grain-free or rice crackers
- dips such as hummus, or olive tapanade
- local, grass-fed salami or sausage
- veggie tray with homemade yogurt/mayo dip
- chicken skewers
- olives and pickles
- watermelon
- punch made with juice and bubbly water and berries
- grain or gluten-free cupcakes or cake
- homemade goat milk or coconut icecream

for treats for goodie bags and such we usually stick with dark chocolate and the odd health-food store treat like maple candies or organic jelly beans. Sometimes we just buy a few nice bars of dark chocolate and some fancy foil wrappers from the kitchen store and wrap the squares up individually to make them go farther and seem more like a treat. We have made our own candies too, though for parties we tend to purchase things so the to-do list doesn't get out of hand.

 Ari has requested chocolate cake for his party (and we made him a chocolate cake on his real birthday too- lucky boy!) and I am going to use this delicious recipe for gluten free quinoa chocolate cake that I got from a friend who brings it to gatherings (much to my children's delight as they are used to having to forgo most cakes and party treats because of the wheat.) It is moist and rich and delicious and doesn't taste like quinoa at all. Just plain chocolate goodness. It makes great cupcakes too.

Chocolate Quinoa Birthday Cake

Ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa (cooled)

1/3 cup milk 

4 whole eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup butter (melted and cooled)

1 cup date sugar or rapura

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt 

 In a blender, mix eggs, milk and vanilla and blend to combine.

Add the quinoa and the melted butter and then blend until smooth. 

Mix cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together until well-combined.

Divide the batter between two greased pans and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool. 

frost and enjoy!

Enjoy a visit to the kitchen's of the other mamas in this blog series: 

Melanie from Our Ash Grove

Renee, from Heirloom Seasons
 
Melody, from Bespoke
 
Jules, from A Little Crafty Nest
 

 Sarah, from Our Island Home
 
Tonya, from Joyful Living

 
Heather, from Shivaya Naturals
 

Oh hello there! Somehow another month has past us by- these days have been going by so quickly, full of activity and spring. Willa has started crawling in earnest now, and things got a little busier around here with all that she is able to get into and explore- though it is great fun to have a busy little one crawling around our feet again! The snow is gone and we've had days of sun and of rain, but we are all so thrilled to be outside much of the days again. Today we did a big yard clean up and Ari took his homeschool work to the picnic table and Willa crawled on the grass and ripped up dandelions and watched the birds and Dori cooked down some imaginary maple sap into imaginary syrup in the playhouse and we soaked up the sun. Ah spring, how we love you!