A "Very Hungry Caterpillar" Birthday

What a fabulous birthday! You see, my Tickle doesn't really talk yet. Please don't worry, we take her to see a wonderful pediatrician and she is not neglected. She will speak, but for now, she can't really tell us what she wants for her birthday meal and cake.

We spent weeks coming up with ideas and seeing what her reaction would be. She is quite communicative, even if she doesn't use words. Nothing really struck her fancy UNTIL we mentioned the Very Hungry Caterpillar. It happens to be one of her very favorite books, and we all love to read it to her.

So, after she excitedly signed caterpillar, letting out various squeals and chirps, we KNEW that she would be pleased with this cake:

Okay, so the face is kind of droopy. And I had to take the picture fast. The icing was getting too warm by the time I put on the eyes so they are not quite even. But Tickle didn't care. She was thrilled.

The cake itself is a Honey Vanilla Pound Cake baked in a bundt pan. It turned out very tasty even though I tweaked the recipe (of course!). The eyes and mouth are chocolate chips and the antennae and feet are cut from an all-fruit leather (Stretch Island Fruit Company). However, the icing is not made from wholesome ingredients. And, as you can see, it contains food coloring, which is something we stay away from for the most part. But, in all my brain-racking, I think this was Tickle's first food coloring. And, if we go another two years before she has it again, I think we'll be okay.

For her meal, I tried to stick with the Caterpillar theme. I made these cucumber boats to look like caterpillars:

They are filled with a chopped salad made of tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, parsley and feta cheese. I should have used smaller olives for the eyes, but I didn't think ahead on that one. And the antennae are carrot matchsticks. Yes, my kids love this kind of food.

Then, I wanted to make something for the caterpillars to eat, so I made these lettuce wraps. They are just a green lettuce leaf with brown mustard, thinly sliced white cheddar cheese, and preservative-free turkey wrapped up.

I had to have something to fill up my guests, so I made this cold tortellini salad:

We all ate clementines too -- just because they are Tickle's favorite, but the hungry caterpillar ate fruit too.

By the way, if you have not entered my really awesome giveaway, please do so today! You could win an eco-friendly toy for your child with a value up to $50. There are fabulous toys to choose from!

Smiles,

On Tweaking Recipes

It's tough to find good, whole foods recipes. Every once in a while I will find a really useful cookbook. But, it seems like most of the recipes I run across contain ingredients that I am trying to avoid... ingredients that are fractionated, over-processed or man-made.

My overarching principle in selecting and preparing food for my family is to "eat what God made as close to how He made it as possible." In doing so, I serve my family foods that are specially designed with rich nutrients in exact combination with other supporting nutritive factors that are exactly how our bodies need to be fueled. (For more on this topic, read the book What The Bible Says About Healthy Living: Three Biblical Principles that Will Change Your Diet and Improve Your Health by Dr. Rex Russell M.D.)

So what happens on a birthday celebration when my son wants a Coonskin Cap Cake? There is no whole foods recipe out there for that! But, with a little kitchen ingenuity, any basic recipe can be tweaked to fit my health principles. For this one, I started with a Basic Chocolate Cake recipe from a Southern Living cookbook, one that you can tell from the photo is well-worn.

When tweaking a recipe, I take a look at the ingredient list and see what needs to be substituted... things like whole grains for white flour, natural sweeteners for white sugar. Or, for a meal recipe, I will often have to make a from-scratch sauce to substitute for a canned product. If these things seem daunting to you, I recommend just taking an adventurous leap. You may be surprised how quick you learn. And, if you are just starting out, you may want to use 1/2 white flour, 1/2 whole grain as a transition step.

I often substitute applesauce for 1/2 of the butter or oil in a recipe, or I substitute plain yogurt for all sorts of creamy ingredients. I even make yogurt cheese to substitute for cream cheese. I hope to post about a surprisingly healthy and tasty egg substitute very soon. I like to use unsweetened cocoa or unsweetened baking squares instead of melted chocolate chips so that I can add my own choice of sweetener.

So, back to the cake... I melted 4 squares of unsweetened chocolate in a saucepan and set it aside... just like the recipe said. I creamed the 1/2 cup of butter with 2 cups of sucanat instead of sugar, then added the 2 eggs one at a time just like the recipe said. I mixed the melted chocolate into the creamed mixture... just like the recipe said.

Just a side note: I find that darker cakes are more adaptable than light cakes. Carrot cake, Apple Cake, Chocolate Cake, Spice Cakes... they are generally a bit more dense and there are more flavors to cover the more noticeable flavors of honey, maple syrup or sucanat. There is even a Hummingbird Cake in this same cookbook that is a perfect tweaking recipe... it contains carrots, apples, pineapple and nuts.

Next, the recipe called for mixing together 2 cups of flour (I used my freshly ground winter white wheat berries), 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda and 3/4 tsp.salt. I use aluminum-free baking powder, found in the health food section of my grocery store, and sea salt. Also, if you are using honey instead of sucanat, you will want to increase the baking soda by 1/4 tsp. for every cup of honey.

In a separate bowl, the recipe called for 3/4 cup of buttermilk, 1 tsp. of real vanilla, and 3/4 cup of water. I prefer not to buy the buttermilk from the store because of the added ingredients, so I used homemade plain yogurt (my dependable standby). Also, it is worth the extra expense to buy real vanilla rather than a chemical tasting like vanilla... did you know that it is one of the same chemicals used in antifreeze for your car? Interesting, huh!

Just like the recipe said, I alternately added in the flour mixture and the liquid mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Then I poured the batter into a big Pyrex bowl. Because I was baking in an nontraditional container, I had to keep my eye out for when it was done. Actually, I pulled it out and thought it was done, only to put it back in again for a while. Rule of thumb, be flexible while you're recipe tweaking, especially with a first time recipe.

So, while the cake was baking, I made the icing. I used a recipe from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions which was already healthy, but needed to be adjusted for my use. Her recipe for Cream Cheese Icing called for 2 cups of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of butter, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla and 1/2 - 3/4 cup of honey.

I creamed the softened cream cheese until it had no lumps, added the softened butter, the vanilla and the full amount of honey (because I planned to add unsweetened chocolate). Then, I added 1/2 a jar of fruit sweetened marmalade (for the orange kick). It was totally yummy! For each of the shades of brown, I added a different amount of melted chocolate to achieve the right color.

So then I had to put the cake together. I trimmed the upside down hemisphere so that it was the cylindrical shape of a coonskin cap. I cut the cylinder in 1/2 horizontally and spread a layer of icing in between the layers. Then, I used the two trimmed parts, each a semicircle, staggered to make the shape of the tail. Make sense?

I spread the shades of brown in a mottled pattern all over the cap, making sure to leave distinct dark rings on the tail. Then, I made an uneven toothpick comb and tousled up "hair." My husband snapped this shot of my concentration face.

For a final picture of the cake, check out yesterday's post. And, here is what my kids were doing on the other side of the counter... it's blurry, but isn't it a fun picture?

I'll post more about tweaking recipes, but I hope this gives you an idea of where to start. And, I hope it gives you a confidence that you can do it too! The mistakes are part of the adventure, remember?

Greetings and Birthdays!

Hi again! It is nice to be back... although I might have to come back by degrees. We have had a fantastic start to our school year, but I have grown accustomed to keeping my computer turned off. I'm still deliberating over how I'll fit computer time into our very full days.

The break has been very good. I have spent a lot of time just being with my kids, of course. But, I have also spent time just being creative in the kitchen, which I have missed. When my day is cram-packed, my kitchen time doesn't allow for much piddling. But I love to piddle because that is when I strike upon those really great, do-overable recipes... like on Sunday afternoon when Rainbow and I decided to make a Blueberry Cake, or like when I had enough time to make homemade soaked flatbreads to go with our homemade Gyro Meat and Tzatziki Sauce. These new "inventions" don't happen when I am in a hurry.

While I was away, Spiderman had a perfect birthday celebration too. Here is the spread he chose: (You can read here about our birthday tradition where the birthday kid picks the meal and dessert.)

Grilled Cheddar Burgers, Non-GMO Cornchips with fresh Guacamole, Watermelon, Cherries, Olives, and Crackers with Cucumber Dip (which was supposed to be an appetizer, but everyone was having too much fun to munch while I cooked).

And here is his Coonskin Cap Cake. Yep, he's been reading a few too many frontiersmen biographies.

This cake is a Chocolate Cake with Orange Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing, made in four shades of brown. The next time I post, I'll tell you how a Basic Chocolate Cake recipe from a Southern Living cookbook turned into this healthy, "whole foods" birthday cake. It's really not that hard to tweak recipes, you know ;-)

Just for fun, here are Spiderman's two previous birthday cakes. The first is a Moon Cake complete with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and the second is a Sword in the Stone Cake. In case you can't read the sign, it says: "Whoever Pulls Forth This Sword From The Stone Is Worthy To Turn Six." Those are my husband's talented calligraphy and sword-making skills, by the way... I just do cakes.

See you soon!

Your Basic White Sauce, ETC

I'll start with the Etc. part today and then get to the Basic White Sauce. By the way, don't forget to enter your name in the Free Book Drawing.

Yesterday was Witzy's birthday... and we pulled off a fabulous celebration. I say "pulled off" because my life has been so scattered over the last few months, that I left a lot of the details until the very last minute. Thankfully, everything came together. She felt very, very loved... which is what every little girl needs, right?

As is our family custom, the birthday girl got to pick her meals for the day. She chose granola with milk for breakfast (of all wonderful things she could have thought up!) with organic valencia oranges on the side, and an egg of course. For lunch, she wanted cheese sandwiches, popcorn and FruitABu's, which are 100% fruit leathers, a very special treat. (Don't you love how she's keeping things simple?) For supper, she wanted homemade Macaroni and Cheese and Steamed Broccoli. In making the Mac n' Cheese, I used whole wheat Fusilli, a homemade cheese sauce, and bits of Hormel preservative-free ham. (This isn't normal fare, but you can read why we celebrate this way here.)

For her special dessert, she wanted a Raspberry Tart. I didn't have to look far for a recipe, because there was one I could use in my new cookbook. It was actually for Raspberry Cookies, but it worked well as a large tart too. It was a super simple recipe. Really simple, which I loved. The crust is ground up almonds, oats and wheat flour and is sweetened with maple syrup. The filling is an all-fruit raspberry jam. It was definitely sweet enough. The only thing I would change next time is that it called for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which tasted too strong. I might try melted butter or coconut oil next time. Here is the final result.

And, here it is with a scoop of Breyer's Natural Vanilla Ice Cream. Or, is that two scoops?

And here is a bonus picture. My husband's birthday was two weeks ago and we made him a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pound Cake. It is pictured here with Breyer's Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, of course. Both of these desserts were made with natural sweeteners and whole ingredients.

Now, for the Basic White Sauce. As I was making the cheese sauce yesterday, I though about how one Basic White Sauce enables me to steer clear of MSG- and preservative-laden canned products. It has revolutionized my cooking. Every time I see a recipe that calls for a condensed soup or a jar of cheese sauce, I know I can still use the recipe by substituting a version of my white sauce. Making a white sauce is a really simple, empowering kitchen skill. Here's how:

• For a medium thick sauce, melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a saucepan.
• Add 2 Tbsp of flour. I regularly use whole wheat flour, but if I need it white I will use 1 Tbsp of Non-GMO corn starch.
• Stir until smooth and bubbly.
• Using a wire whisk, stir in 1 c. of milk or stock or a combination of both.
• Cook until smooth and thickened. It will be a little bubbly, and at that point, you want to stop cooking it.
• Once you have your Basic Sauce, you can add herbs, salt, pepper, mushrooms, sauted onions, chili seasoning, or cheese.

I use this basic recipe when making a sauce to pour over rice and chicken, in making the cheese sauce for Macaroni and Cheese, for making thickened soups... and on and on. I even use it to make a whole foods version of Hamburger Helper!

On Birthday Food and Treats

Raising healthy children is a balancing act, in my opinion. It is totally impossible and impractical to "shelter" children from all unhealthy foods. The goal is to train a child's appetites to prefer foods that do the body good. Sooner or later, your child will make his own food choices. While we function in our parental roles, we have a threefold aim:

• to teach the child enough about nutrition that he knows what is good and why;
• to create a habits of eating healthily that will govern the child's tastes;
• and to set apart "treats" as what they are - foods we eat on special occasions and not daily.

In our family, a birthday is a very special occasion. All throughout the day, we hold little celebrations. One special thing our children get to do on their birthdays is select the whole day's menu and their birthday cake. We allow them to choose foods that are not our normal fare, as long as the menu is still balanced. I listed out Rainbow's choices yesterday, and I'd like to make a few comments about them today.


You may have wondered about "Ants on a Log." Simple recipe here: spread natural peanut butter on a celery stick. Dot ants all down the peanut butter. And VOILA, you have "Ants on a Log." Is there a better way to eat celery? (Celery is not a favorite of mine, yet it is frequently in our produce box, so all suggestions will be greatly appreciated!)


For supper, Rainbow chose her favorite: Salmon Broccoli Pasta. This is a simple meal with very few ingredients. And, it takes less than thirty minutes, so it is a winner in my book! If your family wouldn't dream of eating salmon, you can substitute chicken.


Simple steps for this tasty dish:

1. Cook 1 pound of whole wheat (or rice) pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, saute 6 servings of broccoli in EVOO (that's extra virgin olive oil). Broccoli soaks up the oil pretty quickly, so you will need about four tablespoons.
3. A few minutes before the broccoli is done, add four minced garlic cloves. Let the garlic cook for a few minutes with the broccoli.
4. Add 2 cans of boneless, skinless salmon or about 12 ounces of leftover grilled salmon. Wild- caught salmon (and canned salmon) are still on the list of "safe" seafood, which reminds me that I want to write a post about toxin levels in different types of fish.
5. Toss the broccoli/garlic/salmon with the cooked pasta. Salt to taste.
6. Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.

After dinner, Rainbow chose to have a Cinnamon Roll Cake. This is a new one. Up until this birthday, she has creatively imagined a beautifully decorated cake. Is leaving behind frills and playfulness a sign of her increasing maturity? Maybe she just likes cinnamon rolls, right?

This cake is just a variation of my sweet rolls recipe. Instead of the usual rolling and slicing, however, I rolled a five foot long snake and flattened it with a rolling pin.

Rolling up this long strip of dough made one very large cinnamon roll! This is a picture before we added her candles. She loved it! It may not be conventional, but it was exactly what she wanted.

Did you notice the mess on my counter? YIKES! I make messes like that very often. This is only non-toxic cleaning product I have found that works powerfully on a doughy-floury-buttery surface.