Caelan's party: the fun

This blog meanders a bit from my usual posts on social and political issues, but my son is a big boy :-) I couldn't help it. Don't worry.. my next blog will tackle some social issues as well as religious ones.


Caelan turned 4 last Thursday and his birthday party was Saturday. Many of my in-laws came down from Pennsylvania to be there. The party lasted all day! He wanted hero pirates for his birthday but they were hard to come by so I just did pirates. I planned on making little capes for them, but didn't have the time. The ship was incredibly hard to find since the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are older now. Calvin and I spent a couple hours going to several stores to finally find this one at Toys R Us- although it was far too expensive. His candles were sea creatures and his cupcakes were an island treasure map (could you tell that's what the little lines were?). For all the work I put into it, I'm not sure he quite appreciated it, but many of the other kids did! I used a great vegan chocolate cake recipe for the cake and the Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix for the cupcakes- using, of course, vegan ingredients. While making the cake i dropped the entire container of cocoa powder into the flour and had to eye it while trying to separate them. The cake turned out more decadent and absolutely delicious!

Having friends attend who were soy intolerant, gluten intolerant vegans I took Caelan's favorite dish (vegan mac and cheese) and subbed quiona noodles and a non soy faux cheese plus coconut milk and made a version that everyone could eat and love :-) Caelan didn't seem to love it as much as the soy filled kind, but that's okay- I'll make it sometime next week for him. The original recipe is:

1 lb macaroni noodles
1 package firm tofu
1 package vegan cream cheese
1 block (10oz) vegan cheddar cheese (I use follow your heart)
2 cups milk alternative (I use plain soy  milk)
1/4 nutritional yeast
1/2 box of crackers

Ricotta:
combine the tofu and cream cheese in a food processor and blend until just slightly lumpy. (if you're doing a lasagna you can add garlic and italian seasoning to this)

Cheese sauce:
Slowly heat the soy milk but do not boil. When hot, slowly add the vegan cheese- i just use a cheese grater to slowly grate it over the pot. Stir slowly until all the cheese is melted. Add nutritional yeast and stir again.

Mix the cooked noodles and ricotta together in a 9X13 pan then pour the cheese sauce over it. Mix it carefully. Top with crushed crackers and bake at 425 for about 45 minutes.

(FYI, some studies show that refined carbohydrates like flour and sugar may contribute to heart disease so Quiona noodles would be best- they cook and taste just like wheat noodles)

So for his birthday we started off at the Children's Museum- even the adults loved it! Of course, with 7 kids all darting off in different directions we lost a few just a couple of times. The museum is small and goes in a circle so they weren't hard to find. There was a real fire truck, police car, and race car as well as the real cockpit of a plane!  There was a child size house, construction zone, market, and play house too. Between three cameras I can't imagine how many photos we got!

Then we went to the park to eat and ride paddle boats. Being North Carolina it was in the mid to upper 90's and the humidity was oppressive. I accidentally left the key to the car trunk at home and guess where all the drinks were? So my mom went to a gas station to get more- which meant the kids drank soda instead of the juice that was still sitting in my trunk. Yes, I'm still kind of kicking myself for that one and I feel terrible that the kids all drank soda.

Think that was the end of an exhausting day? Oh no- then the kids all went to the science center (right beside the park). Luckily I went home with Calvin's grandma and her husband because they were tired (and so was I after three days of preparing for my in-laws and the party! Not to mention in injured knee and ankle kept giving out and making me stumble.) Did you have any doubt to the endless amount of energy children have? If so, you may be amazed that after 2.5 hours at the children's museum and 2 hours running around the park they spent 2 more hours at the science center. Apparently they burned a good bit of energy though because everyone was hungry when they got home (even though they'd all just eaten). If you don't have a Brixx in your city then I am deeply sorry. They have amazing vegan pizza (and non vegan pizza for those of you who don't love our non human friends as much). You don't even want to know what the bill was for 8 adults and 6 children though.


And, finally, the kids went to our place and played the Wii while I took my sisters in law to the mall- they were enamored with the large three story palace. Their mall kinda sucks (kinda is a pretty mild word for it). I'd like to sleep for the next week please.