My Son's 5th Party Menu

Yesterday we held my son's 5th birthday party down at the park and am just so grateful for the perfect weather. We did discuss other venue options out of fear of rain, but the reality with venues that cater like McDonalds or an Indoor Climbing park is that they are unable to cater to our food requirements. Fortunately Cayden had his heart set on going down to the local park.... and it couldn't have been any better!

Preparing and arranging the catering for a kids party is always a balancing act. The kids expect lots of great and fun party food and the parents dread the after effects of the sugar 'come down'. A huge advantage for the food lifestyle we have to lead is the fact that normal types of party food aren't an option. I am forced to look for alternatives and the outcome seems to be a winner for all :)

Following is the party menu and recipes I used ...

Menu - (Gluten-Free-Grain-Free-Dairy-Free- Additive-Free)
Fresh Fruit Kebabs
Vegetable Sticks with Fresh Hummus
Sweet Potato Muffins with Strawberry Jam
Meatballs with Gluten Free Tomato Sauce
Macaroon Biscuits
Iced Vanilla Cupcakes
Chocolate Chia Birthday Cake

Fresh Sandwiches - mix of options including Gluten and Dairy.
Apple Slinkys http://www.appleslinky.com.au/

Party Bag - Iced Ginger Bread Men

Fresh Fruit Kebabs
Simply 'ball' seasonal fruit and tread onto a kebab stick. I used a plastic option from Spotlight. Todays version included Seedless Grapes, Rock Melon, Water Melon, Honey Dew Melon - so good on a sunny day and certainly consumed very quickly! :)

Vegetable Sticks with Fresh Hummus
Again simple and delicious. Today we used Carrot, Capsicum and Celery and my Hummus recipe. http://cooking4k.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/easy-hummus-yum.html

Sweet Potato Muffins with Strawberry Jam
... recipe write up being finalized, will post in the next few days.... they were fantastic!!! :)

Being limited for time and not using a lot of jam normally, I was able to purchase a lovely Strawberry Jam for Woolworths which seems to be very clean and well priced... http://www.bonnemaman.us/preserves-jellies/strawberry-preserves/

Meatballs with Gluten Free Tomato Sauce
I used my Chipolata Sausage recipe and simply made them into small balls instead. http://cooking4k.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/home-made-chipolata-sausages-my-way.html
Changes I made:
- I baked them in the oven on 180c instead of pan fry
- I rolled the mix into the size of a walnut, lined the oven tray with baking paper, placed the balls on the tray and gave them a very light spray of Coconut Oil.
- Cooked for 15-20 mins or until cooked through.

I actually used the Macro Organic Tomato sauce, it is really quite good!! :)

 

http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/Shop/ProductDetails?Stockcode=334782&name=macro-tomato-sauce-tomato-organic

Macaroon Biscuit
This is actually a recipe from Tania Hubbards cookbook - Food We Love http://www.glutenfreegrainfree.com.au/gluten-free-recipes-gluten-free-food/.
The recipe includes Desiccated Coconut, Raw Cocoa Powder, Coconut Palm Sugar, and Egg Whites. It will soon be published on her website  http://www.taniaspantry.com/... I will keep you posted!!!


Iced Vanilla Cupcakes
These cupcakes are so light and fluffy. Obviously I chose to omit the chocolate frosting for the Butter Cream as below. http://www.elanaspantry.com/vanilla-cupcakes-with-chocolate-frosting/

I was soooooooooo excited to discover Bundaberg Sugar offer a Gluten Free Grain Free Icing Sugar at a very reasonable price ($3?) - yeh!!
http://www.bundysugar.com.au/products/consumer/icing_sugar.

Using this icing sugar, I made a Dairy Free Butter Cream - 150g Nuttelex, 1 cup Icing Sugar, 1 tsp Vanilla Essence, Hoppers Green Food Colouring as required. I then topped the cupcakes with 'Edible Cupcake Toppers' ordered on line. I noticed nobody actually ate them (thank goodness) but they all loved the look of them!!

Lego Chima 'Mt Cavora' Chocolate Chia Cake
This cake recipe is the most perfect Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free option! We use this recipe all the time as either a cake or cupcakes. It is both easy to make and absolutely delicious! I always get fabulous compliments with this recipe... LOVE IT!!!
http://www.taniaspantry.com/gluten-free-grain-free-dairy-free-nut-free-recipes/cake/chocolate-chia-cake/


To decorate the cake, firstly I covered the cake in Ginger Bread Man Icing (see below) and then covered it in shredded Coconut. I then used the Butter Cream Icing from the cupcakes to attempt to create 'trees and vines', I then sprinkled 'hoppers sprinkles' for water http://www.hopperfoods.com.au/Products/NaturalSprinkles.aspx .... This cake was a difficult challenge as 'Mt Cavora' actually floats. This became quite a lengthy conversation with Cayden and fortunately ended with the fact we would just pretend this would happen - Pheeeeewwwww!!! I then just used actual Lego Chima figurines to help the kids see what the cake was meant to be....... hahahahaha!! It was a hit!! I love 5 year olds!!!

Party Bag - Iced Ginger Bread Men
This is a recipe I use quite a bit too. The trick with these is to make them thick if you don't like chewy, about 5mm works well. The other trick is to not over knead the mix. Unfortunately I don't think these 'tricks' ended up applying to all the biscuits made (about 90)... I think some were quite chey... sorry!! :) http://www.edibleharmony.com/paleo-gingerbread-cookies-cut-out/

I iced the biscuits with a very simple mix of one egg white beaten till forms peaks and then slowly add a cup of icing sugar until all mixed in and forms peaks -easy. You could also add colour if desired.

So there you have it, the menu for my 5year old party. It was a bit of work but the outcome made it sooooooo worth it..... Happy kids without crazy sugar highs, resulting in happy parents.... and a party menu that almost everyone could enjoy, despite dietary limitations!!! Perfect!!!