Birthday party time!

The party was so much fun! Here are some eats and decor from the big day. Nick is two today! Happy Birthday to my lil guy!

happy birthday baby boy!

party spread

close up of the cars and "2" graham crackers. I used tahini in place of PB

vegan chocolate cake
This turned out really well

cake before decorating

white bean hummus

chicken breaded w/ carrot, butternut squash, flax and breadcrumbs

To make this, I had my mom cut up chicken cubes and then we dipped them in one egg, about 1/2 cup milk and 2 veggie cubes of butternut squash puree (Kara eats this now) all mixed together and 1 veggie cube of carrot. Then we dipped that in equal amounts (say 1/2 c each) of a mixture of whole wheat breadcrumbs and flax seed and pan fried it.

 

each box car decor

macaroons and brownies

made into 2s

Nick was pumped about this cake!

Nick eating

close up of the engine

cake centerpiece

blowing out the candle

lots of fun toys!

Everything turned out great. At the last minute I was thinking everything was maybe too healthy but that is how I wanted it to be. The cake was the trial #3 complete with full fat/sugar icing (just never had the time to try out a better recipe). Then I made a chocolate cake for some of the cars because I started feeling like the cake was not going to be that good for people that don't want/like healthy cake. The chocolate cake was vegan and I cut out alot of sugar since the icing was so sweet. It was very easy too.  The cars had tons of icing and sweets on top - pirouline cookies, pretzels, m & m's, reeses, licorice. It was fun to decorate the train.  My mom and mother in law helped with the engine which became Thomas at the last minute. The face was not all that great but Nick didn't mind!

For food we had child friendly finger foods:
veggies and dip
fruit
pita chips and white bean hummus
chicken and honey mustard
tomato pie - store bought
cheese and crackers
graham crackers

German Chocolate Cake - vegan adapted from Raising Vegetarian Children
1 c sugar
1 1/2 c white flour
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
2 c water
1/4 c agave nectar
6 T coconut oil
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Mix all dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Let it sit about 15-20 minutes. Spray an 8 x 8 pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

**thank you Kate and Angela for the great child friendly healthy recipes!
I recently found Kate's blog and LOVE it!!  Check it out!