Happy Birthday Little Man!

The moment I waited a year for... Little Man got to eat birthday cake.  Last year we knew we were dealing with allergies before his birthday, but we didn't know what he was allergic to.  So no birthday cake for the birthday boy.  This year, we needed a special recipe for a two-year-old's first taste of cake.  I found what I was looking for in the Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting recipe from the Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook.  More on this book in a future post... but the cake was divine!  Little Man's opinion?  "Mmmmmm cake. Cake GOOD!"

What else do you serve a two-year old on his birthday?  All his favourites of course!  For Little Man, that meant baby corn, brown rice pasta, turkey meatloaf, and homemade crackers with guacamole.  A tasty and nutritious meal that he gobbled up.

Quinoa Salmon Burgers

I am a sucker for anything with quinoa in it, so when Ali at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen posted these quinoa salmon burgers today I knew I had to make them.  Not just someday -- today!  They are made in a food processor using cooked quinoa and fresh salmon along with some herbs and spices.  They are super simple and quick to make, especially if you ask the fish market to remove the bones and skin for you.  I chose wild coho for my salmon, and parsley and dill instead of the cilantro that Ali lists in the recipe. 

These patties are going to be one of our dinner favourites.  We both raved about them while gobbling them up.  The quinoa makes them so moist, and using fresh fish really enhances both the texture and flavour.  Yum!

Quinoa Crackers

I have been busy in the kitchen lately cooking up a storm.  So busy that I haven't found a moment to post (I also dig into dishes so fast I forget to take pictures!).  But when Ali over at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen posted a cracker recipe this morning, not only did I have to make it immediately but I knew I had to share it too.  The secret ingredient?  Cooked quinoa!  Well, I just happened to have some on hand so I decided to break out the food processor and rolling pin and give it a try.

I have been looking for a cracker recipe for months.  The only crackers I have found that the Little Man and I can eat are the Hol Grain rice crackers.  He loves them -- me, not so much.  When checking out the recipes, however, I freeze up when I read "roll out the dough".  Let's face it, crackers look like a lot of work.  But this recipe says to put everything in the food processor -- easy!  Easy and fast mixing combined with slow rolling might be doable.  In fact, Ali suggests rolling the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and simply transferring the whole sheet of parchment to the baking sheet.  So the tedious and slow task I was expecting surprised me by being rather fast after all.

Ali's crackers are topped with three types of seeds, none of which we can eat.  I made half of our crackers plain (for Little Man) and topped the other half with rosemary and kosher salt.

The verdict?  Hands down, the best crackers I've ever eaten (EVER!) gluten-free or not.  And if you listen carefully you might hear Little Man in the background voicing his approval... "more cracker, more cracker, more cracker!" 

The Chef

I hope everyone had a Christmas as fabulous as ours.  I am still decompressing from the constant stream of visitors we entertained this year.  So much fun!  I have new recipes to share, and two new cookbooks to review, but it will take me a few more days to get back into the blogging mood.  I just want to enjoy as much family time as possible right now.

As you can see, Little Man got his own kitchen for Christmas.  He loves it!  He cooks at it every day.  I think it is increasing his interest in trying out new foods.  That's my hope.

I recently started a meta-blog that links back here for recipes, but branches out into other areas of our life such as crafting and parenting.  If you are interested in following our family journey, please come visit us at Eagle Loft.