Tuesday, July 2, 2013

A Three Year Old's Dream Birthday Dinner





Dinner Menu:

Grass-Fed Hot Dogs (Skagit River Ranch)
Garlic Dill Pickles (Parker's Pickles)
Steamed Snap Peas (farmer's market)
Leftover Steamed Cauliflower (farmer's market)
Chocolate Paleo Cupcakes with Paleo Chocolate Frosting (the eggs came from Stokesberry Sustainable Farm!)

My first baby turned three today.  It's amazing to think how the time has gone so fast, considering it has also simultaneously felt like some of the longest and most tiring days of my life.  It's like the years go by in a flash, but it's never bedtime yet.  Is it just me, parents?  But I digress.

We had a fantastic day celebrating our daughter.  She's turning into such a fun and spunky little kid.  She's extremely verbal and so observant, and she just says the funniest and sweetest things.

"Mommy, my belly is going to get bigger, and then Piglet is going to live in there."

(Yes, that was the gem she came up with this morning.)

"Daddy, today I turned three.  And on my next birthday I will be four.  And then I will go back to two."

And tonight when she said her prayers:

"Thank you Jesus, for our food and for our farmer box.  Amen."

(I call our CSA share our weekly "farmer box" and today just she and I went to pick it up together.)

She's such a fun kid to take to the farmer's market or the grocery store, too.  She's grown up around fresh foods and knowing the farmer's that raise our meat, veggies and fruits.  She gets excited because we let her pick out her own food at the farmer's market.  She is more than excited to help me pick out a "green vegetable" and a "purple fruit" at the grocery store, and then she is always very excited to eat what she's chosen when we get home!  Eating local and fresh, whole foods is truly a family affair.  The kids, even though they are very young, are already involved in the process of procuring and preparing food for our family.  It's wonderful family time.

So of course when we went to the farmer's market this past weekend, Will let her pick out whatever she wanted for her birthday dinner this week.  She chose some hot dogs (grass fed, from Skagit River Ranch) and some snap peas.  And then, because Grandma had gotten her a birthday shirt with a cupcake on it and a birthday hair bow with a cupcake on it, it only seemed fitting to make chocolate cupcakes for her special birthday dessert today, too.  

The cupcakes weren't really local.  I did my best, but since I wanted to use coconut nectar instead of honey so my baby could have one, most of the ingredients had to be store bought.  The eggs in it DID come from Stokesberry Sustainable Farm, and I suppose the baking soda was sort of local... since I had to get it from my neighbor because I ran out.  Oops.  And while I'm glad I made cupcakes for her birthday, I was reminded why I hardly ever bake: it's a lot of work to make something from scratch... and then you still have to cook your next meal, anyway!  Back to fruit for dessert tomorrow!  :-)

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