2nd Birthday Party Food

Last Saturday we celebrated our little man’s 2nd Birthday with a Lion Party. Children’s parties are often a nightmare to organise and contain lots of processed, sugar-laden food.

I am a busy working mum so I did not want to spend too much time preparing party nibbles. Well... no that’s not true I would LOVE to spend hours but we are working hard at the moment to have a lot of work out of the way for when baby number two arrives so the only time I had was late Friday night!!

I had pre-planned the food, decorations, cake and tableware though which made this possible :)

I kept the menu as pure and simple as possible keeping in mind food that was appropriate for children and food that would (with any luck) get eaten!! It is always about finding a balance between optimal nutrition and what is practical, fits a budget and is still enjoyable to eat. I am sure this food is not 'perfect' by other's standards in the health industry but it was what worked for us while still having a good range of nutritious options - and that is the most important of all!

Here was our menu:

*Popcorn2014-10-25 15.01.06

*Mini savory muffins (with spinach, grated carrot, onion, cheese and bacon)

*  Cheerio sausages

* Crackers (rice crackers, whole-grain crackers and plain wafer crackers)

* Cheese

* Pre-brought humus (no time to make my own)

* Carrot sticks and celery sticks


* Whole-grain triangle sandwiches with a mixture of either ham and lettuce or avocado egg salad (recipe here) and lettuce

* Grapes in mini cup-cake holders

2014-10-25 15.01.352014-10-25 15.02.06

For drinks we offered classic milk bottle with either soda water, orange juice (we called this Jungle Juice) with 50% reduced sugar (so 4g of sugar/100g) or a mixture of both (and of course water).

The Lion Cake...well this was a true proper cake - a favourite recipe from the amazing Annabel Langbein - her Ultimate Chocolate Cake. I like this recipe as it results in a beautiful moist cake, which believe it or not although it does have sugar is not super sweet. For the cake I made two little cakes and had a layer of butter icing in the middle and then coated with yellow butter icing on the outside to match the theme. It all dissapeared!

2014-10-25 14.55.26

I believe that it is important to teach your children how to enjoy foods, such as cake at appropriate times. Our son almost never has cake, in fact if he does it is a sugar-free or has very minimal sugar content and always made at home (nothing beats a home-made cake!). As much as I would love to protect him from sugar and processed food his whole life - this is just not realistic and depriving him will only create problems in the long term. I also intentionally only had cake as a 'sweet item' - there were no lollies, cookies, cup cakes, slices..so the cake was indeed the sweet treat of the day! Ultimately, you need to do what is right for you and keep in mind the big picture - that we live in a country where we are blessed to have such an abundance of food and water, where celebrating birthdays with good food is often taken for granted.

2014-10-25 15.53.11-2 2014-10-25 15.53.34-1

xxx Dr Julie Bhosale

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spiced Meat Loaf

Image
This is a little taster for you of one of the most popular recipes from my first cook book, Healthy Easy Dinners for Busy Mums. This meat loaf is an old school recipe with a bit of jazz. The spices and herbs can be easily adjusted to your liking and according to what you have in the cupboard. This can be made in the morning and re-heated for dinner and any leftovers make a great lunch option. Ingredients: 500 grams mince (beef or lamb would work best) 1 Egg 2 carrots grated 5 button mushrooms chopped finely 1 small red onion finely chopped 1 tbsp each of crushed garlic and ginger 1 tsp crushed chilli (optional) 4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander ¼ Cup fresh parsley (can also add dried) Salt and pepper to taste Topping 3 tbsp of rolled oats (optional) 3 tbsp of tomato sauce (I recommend Get Real Food sauces) 2 tbsp of chopped parsley and coriander Ground pepper to your liking Method: 1. Preheat oven to 200°C. 2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and press into a loaf tin. Make the topping and s
Read more

Homemade Boysenberry Gummies

Image
This recipe takes the old-school gummie bears and turns them into a immune boosting healthy hit! Made from foods designed by mother nature to help us ward off and fight germs including lemons, oranges and boysenberries - which also give these gummies a wonderful colour. Honey provides a dash of extra sweetness, helps to ease sore throats and has anti-inflammatory properties of it's own. Finally the gelatine is the surprise ingredient here which not only hold everything together but there is now a lot of research to show it actively helps to reduce inflammation. For those that are vegetarian there are now also gelatine options for you too in most local supermarkets. Ingredients: 1 cup of frozen boysenberries (or other berries is fine too!) Juice from 1 lemon Juice from 1/2 an orange 2 tablespoons of honey 2 x 10g packets of gelatine   Directions: 1. Place the boysenberries into a blender and squeeze in the lemon and orange juice. I find it helpful to slightly warm the berries for 30
Read more

Starting Solids - The Meat Question?

Image
How to introduce meat to babies is something that I see a lot of parents unsure about and there is not a lot of information on why this is really important. In my previous blog on starting solids, I discussed some crucial reasons why I do not recommend starting babies on baby rice (or variation of infant cereal). I also spoke about starting off on a staple vegetable such as pumpkin or kumara, quickly followed by a meat source. The key reason for this is due to babies iron levels. Breast milk contains only low (or little levels) of iron, and to compensate babies are born with sufficient iron stores to last up until approximately six months of age, after which it drastically drops off. This is why the recommendation is for babies to start complimentary feeding at six months of age. Adding to the current whirlpool of information we are seeing some research to suggest (as well as guidelines from some health care providers) starting babies at four months on solids. Babies develop at differ
Read more