Ace of Cakes

Today Max requested a Bakugon shaped cake for his Bakugon themed birthday party. I pondered how this would be possible and thought of Ace of Cakes (awesome TV show) and fondant. Then wondered if fondant was allergen free. Apparently it is just sugar and water. Then I found this recipe for fondant. And now I am pondering if I can really make a Bakugon cake ala Ace of Cakes. Hmmm. What a challenge. Problem is I will be coming off of 5 1/2 weeks of an intense teacher training course. Will I be up for a challenge the end of July?

Birthday Planning

Max is always planning his birthday party. He switches themes on a weekly basis. After a viewing of Toy Story he suggested a space theme and said we could serve the special cheeseless pizza I make for Max and Owen. I laughed and wondered out loud if other children would like cheeseless pizza. Max said "Why wouldn't they?" I replied that most kids were used to only eating their pizza with cheese and I wondered what they would think of pizza without cheese. Max simply said "Well, if they don't like it they can just bring their own." There was no malice or sarcasm in what he said, just a statement. Because this is what he knows; when you go to a party you bring your own food! Makes me ponder what he has learned about hospitality.

Puts a whole new face on BYOB or should I say BYOP!

PS. Speaking of cheese, wish us luck. Milk challenge tomorrow!

Birthday Cupcakes

Owen's 3rd birthday was Sunday. We had a party at The Little Gym complete with these darn cute cupcakes.

I used the Chocolate Cake and Choclate Frosting recipes from the What's to Eat Cookbook - the milk-egg-nut free cookbook. The frosting recipe is my favorite though I never realized until I had to make frosting as often as I do that it is really just margarine and sugar. Can you think of anything worse for you?

I am feeling a little guilty though. After all Max got an Ice Bat cake for his party. If I was a Mommy-who-was-on-top-of-things, I would have made a giant cake in the shape of Scoop or Muck from Bob the Builder but lately I am a Mom-just-getting-by.

I have a new favorite cupcake recipe book though. 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World' If you want something fancier this is the book for you. I have made the Oreo Cupcakes, The Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupackes with Fresh Berries and Chocolate Cherry Creme Cupcakes. All delicious.

Multitude of Events Equals Multitudes of Substitutions

Okay, so I'm exaggerating but we do have a lot of outside the home events to attend this weekend. Today I have been running through the mental list of things I need to bake, buy or otherwise get together.

Here's the list:
Saturday afternoon birthday party: The mother is keeping it simple (Bless her!) She is serving fruit, juice and cookies. Note to self: Bake cookies

Saturday evening auction and dinner at Max's school, kids are going to onsite child care (only $30 after paying $80 last week for a sitter this is a steal.): They are serving the kids ice cream and were going to serve goldfish crackers but changed to teddy grahams. Note to self: Buy Tufutti Ice Cream (Chocolate) and send along own ice cream scooper (so my kids don't get cross-contaminated ice cream).

Sunday Newcomers Welcome Luncheon at our church: croissant sandwiches and sliced wraps (from Costco), potato salad and cole slaw (Safeway deli), brownie bites (Costco), Country Time lemonade and sparkling water. Glad she gave me a complete list but this requires I bring along complete lunches for Max and Owen. To make it simple I'll pack: Turkey wraps, Pillsbury crescent rolls (Note to self: buy Crescent Rolls), Carrot slaw (grated carrots) and the cookies I will have already baked.

Why the list? I titled this blog "Everyday with Food Allergies" because I wanted other people to see the preparation that happens for events that people without food allergies don't have to think twice about. I also want to say that a year ago I probably would have only done the birthday party and skipped the school dinner and church luncheon all together. But I can't keep us all shut away in a house. We need to build a community, make friends and get involved. Unfortunately this often involves events with food. So we will just need to learn to deal. Bring our own food. Watch carefully. And carry an Epi-pen (or two or three).

Solstice Party Post Mortem

The food was not as good as I had hoped. The "Yummy" Vegan Spinach Dip (it's actual title) was not yummy. Some kind people said it was good but I would never make it again. And now I have a whole can of Nutritional Yeast Flakes. What do I do with Nutritional Yeast Flakes?

The Solar Candy tasted like rinds of citrus fruits (which is truly what it was.)

The lamb, I thought, was underdone. But I had left David in charge of cooking the lamb. I aslo forgot to put out the mint jelly. David commented we should rethink the "lamb on the solstice" tradition.

The fudge didn't set up and was too mushy.

The only real hit I had was the lentil soup. I got this recipe from the internet years ago so someone deserves credit for this tasty concoction.

Solstice Soup
1 cup of brown lentils
2 litres of water
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 cup each of grated carrot, parsnip, pumpkin or root vegetable of choice (I used carrot, parsnip and potato)
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 tsp powdered chicken stock (Note: I used 2 litres of vege broth and omited the chicken stock)
1 1/2 cup of peeled roasted garlic tomatoes (I used a can of plain diced tomatos)
2 cups of chopped silver beet or spinach or other greens of preference (I used spinach)
More water as required

Soak a cup of brown lentils in 2 litres of water (or stock) while you are gathering and preparing the other ingredients.

Put olive oil (or butter) in a large capacity saucepan, add chopped onion and saute. Then add the crushed garlic, the celery, and the grated vegetables. Cook together for a few minutes. Then add the lentils and the liquid they are soaking in.

Crush coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle and add those, plus the whole cumin seeds, the garam masala, the powdered chicken stock and the sugar.

After about 15 minutes add tomatoes.

Cook for about 30-40 minutes in total, adding more liquid if necessary.

For the last five minutes of cooking, add the greens.

Test for flavour, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot with crusty french bread.

The Wassail and Spiced Mulled Wine was also a hit as well as the hummus (Whole Foods)