What We Ate Wednesday: For His Birthday

March 19th, 2013 - filed under: The Food » Food Styles



On March 3rd, my baby boy turned three. THREE. And you know, I’ve always been the kind of person who’s quite happy to be just exactly where I am, in my life. I don’t sit around wishing for “the good old days”, and I’m not impatient for what’s to come. I wasn’t one of those pregnant ladies who “couldn’t wait to be done” and I’m not the sort of mother who’s constantly begging time to slow down. But this? This being-three-years-old business? This is throwing me for a loop, because three seems really old and my baby seems so grown up and suddenly I’m feeling like calling “WHOA” and pulling the reins on time. *sigh*

Waits has many families and extended families and thus, there were many iterations of birthday celebrating (lucky boy). The three of us (Waits, Damian, and I) spent the day together on his actual birthday weekend (a few shots here and here and here). And on Friday, March 8th, we finally wrapped up the last of the birthday shenanigans. Here’s how that day went down:



Waits woke reeeeeally early asking for food, so I grabbed him a tangerine and he ate it in bed while I stole a few more minutes of sleep. We actually snuggled for quite a bit longer (thank goodness!) before getting up for breakfast.



Waits had peanut butter on Ezekiel bread and a side of watermelon cubes. It’s rare that I feel hungry first thing in the morning.



But I did have my tea! English breakfast with liquid vanilla stevia and plain unsweetened almond milk. Waits also had a glass of oat milk (his favorite for it’s flavor, my favorite for its higher protein content – 4 grams per cup as opposed to almond milk’s 1 gram per cup) (I drink the almond milk because it’s significantly cheaper, and save the oat milk for Waits)



This was a preschool day, so I had Waits’s lunch all prepped from the night before. On this day he took: a split tin with lentils + olive oil + nutritional yeast (left) and rice + tamari (right), carrot sticks + black olives, strawberries, rice crackers, and peanuts + raisins. Then we were off!


Down the hill full speed ahead!


Oreo the kitty was there to welcome us


“Bye-bye Mama!”


Back at home I had a big project to attend to, but by then I was starting to feel peckish, so I poured myself some peanuts + raisins to nibble on while I worked.


As an aside, I’ve been buying my raisins at the FarMar and OH MAN are they amazing. It’s like a totally different experience, compared to a grocery store raisin. Seriously amazing. And about that project . . .


Birthday cake!

More about the cake later . . .

I spent the rest of my morning working and writing, and grabbed an early afternoon snack on my way out the door to pick up Waits around 12:30.

Gluten-free bread (the pieces are so small!) with sunflower seed butter and strawberry preserves.

When we got home, I threw together my lunch while Waits finished up his lunch leftovers. He usually naps then, but we had big afternoon plans, so no nap that day. My lunch was awesome.



Big mixing bowl full of mesclun, covered with lentils (over a cup) and tahini dressing. Simple. GOOD.

Green tea to go:



We picked up Damian early from work, and the three of us were off to the theatre. Waits got to see his first live show – Yo Gabba Gabba on tour. It was a really special treat for him, and I think it kind of blew his mind.





After the show we dropped Damian off, and Waits and I had to run a few errands before dinner.


Waits had a cashew Larabar. // We each had “coffee” (coffee for me, almond milk for him).


Our last night of birthday celebration was with my godparents, plus some old family friends that were in town. This lucky kid . . .

Truck books! Truck games! Tools!



Amazing salad with romaine, black beans, mango, jicama, and avocado with homemade olive oil and vinegar dressing. Vegan quesadillas on gluten-free tortillas (Engine 2 brand – they’re really good for g-f tortillas!) with black olives and salsa verde.


He also ate a big bowl of organic corn.


After dinner it was cake time! And this cake? Soooooorta my favorite creation ever . . .






Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like. It’s a watermelon!


And that happy little fruitarian was in absolute heaven. And this health-conscious sugar-conscious mama was totally stoked. And everyone enjoyed the “cake”, actually. It got rave reviews!

After dinner and dessert and driving home and pajamas and teeth brushing and book reading and song singing and lots of snuggles, my sweet baby boy said goodnight to his third birthday, once and for all. *sigh*

Lemme say that again: *sigh*

I was up working until after midnight, and then it was lights out for me as well. It was a long day. And it was a damn dood one.

~~~

Just in case you were wondering how that “cake” came together, I want to show you what went down. Seriously – 2 ingredients guys (3 if you want your frosting sweet). TWO INGREDIENTS!


I shaved the outer layer of skin using a paring knife. This is not necessary, I suppose, but I liked the visual when it was cut – red with white frosting, no green. I think the frosting also sticks better this way. And finally, it’s a LOT easier to cut like a real cake, with that hard outer rind removed. So yeah, this step takes time and patience but I’d say it’s worth it.

I don’t have pictures for the frosting, but it’s made from coconut cream. You’ll need cans of the full-fat coconut milk (though now you can buy cans of coconut cream some places, like Trader Joe’s). Either way, refrigerate the cans overnight (2-3 cans of full-fat coconut milk or 1-2 cans of coconut cream, depending on the watermelon size). When the cans are thoroughly chilled, the cream will have hardened at the top. It’s very thick – you’ll need to scoop it out with a spoon. Use an electric mixer to whip it just like you would with regular frosting. It will whip up nice and fluffy. If it get’s too warm it softens, so you might need to re-chill it before frosting the “cake”. If you want it a bit sweet, add some stevia (or powdered sugar, just like normal frosting).

Then have at it!



And enjoy!