So last weekend we had Ross’ 3rd birthday party. I can’t believe my little boy is already 3! I am not ready for him to grow up. But he is anyway…

We had a wonderful time with our friends from church. We had a dinosaur theme this year, kind of by default. Ross is still too young to understand birthday themes, so I went looking for some party favors I could feel good about. I needed something for inspiration and found these great little wooden snakes, crocodiles, and lizards that came with paint and a paint brush all for $1 each. (I know this is not exactly dinosaurs, but that came later.) I also found these little canvas bags in bright colors to use as goody bags. I am really trying to be more diligent about minimizing our use of plastics and did not want to use plastic baggies. They were also $1 each.

Now I am armed with my goody bags and some reptiles, but that’s not enough. Claire was determined to get Ross a pinata for his birthday, so off to the party supply store I went looking for something that would go with reptiles. I got there and the choices were Diego or dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were on sale, hence the dinosaur party. I got a dinosaur pinata along with notepads, pencils, and tattoos to go in it. I also got a package of small dinosaur napkins, table cloth, and streamers for decorations (all compostable).

I would love to say I don’t use any disposable products at our parties, but when it gets over 20 people, I just can’t face the idea of that many dishes (even if I actually had that many dishes). But I found compostable plates, napkins, and flatware all made from bamboo or cornstalk at the party supply store which eased my guilt a little. These are not always easy to find, but there are a few good websites I order from or just use for inpiration on how to have a fun, but less wasteful party. Here they are:

Green Party Goods

Green Planet Parties

Green Party Supply

The only thing missing now was the food and cake. I originally thought I would make some kind of volcano, but all the recipes I found involved lots of frosting and it is very hard to make a dairy free frosting that will work. I ended up (out of desperation) at Target and miraculously found a dinosaur muffin tin. So if anyone wants a party with dinosaur muffins, let me know!

I REALLY wanted to do something with that giant zucchini. It seemed a shame to waste it, but I wasn’t sure how it would taste. So I looked up fried zucchini recipes. I figured anything fried would be good, and it was. We served it with Trader Joe’s Organic Ranch Dressing, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes (also from our garden), and baby carrots. A few people have asked for the recipe, so I thought I would post it below. I also got some great strawberries from the farmers market and my friend helped whip up some fresh organic whipped cream (thanks, Heather!). Fresh berries and cream may be one of my favorite things to eat, especially for breakfast, but that’s another story.

For the cake, I used an old recipe my mom would make for our birthdays. It is a banana cake with orange frosting and always a hit. I modified it to be dairy free and used white spelt flour. I also made some dairy-free dark chocolate frosting to decorate with. I was very pleased with how it turned out, but I do have to say dairy free frosting is very hard to work with: it separates as it melts and melts very easily. The cake had to be refrigerated immediately after frosting it and stay there until we sang “happy birthday.” For those of you who would like to try it, I will also post it below.

I was setting everything out to get ready for the party and realized, what is a goody bag without candy? But as a mother, I am always sensitive to giving out too much candy. I decided to use only lollipops in the pinata because Trader Joe’s make these all natural ones with no artificial dyes or flavors. But Ross and Claire’s favorite candies are M&Ms and Jelly Bellies and these are expensive to buy individually packages and have artificial flavorings and dyes. To my surprise, I found that Jelly Belly has started to make an all natural line. So I picked up a few packages of those and relented on the dark chocolate M&Ms. I rationed them out in small organza bags and placed them in the goody bags. Now it was time to party!

My camera ran out of battery, so I do not have too many pictures of the actual event, but we have video and plenty of memories. Thank you very much to all those far and near that sent Ross birthday wishes with year. He had a very good birthday week!

Recipes

I really didn’t use one recipe for the zucchini, but adapted from a few different ones:

Fried Zucchini

• 1/2 cup fine corn meal
• 1/2 cup flour of choice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 eggs
• about 3 regular zucchini (or 1/2 of a gigantic one), cut into pieces
• vegetable or olive oil

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a pan or bowl. Mix the eggs and dip the pieces of zucchini in the egg. Then thoroughly coat the zucchini pieces in the cornmeal mixture and set aside. (At this point I covered and refrigerated mine, so I could have it prepped for the party.) Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, add just enough zucchini to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook about 3-4 minutes a side (depends on the size of your pieces). Remove from the pan and place on a plate with a paper towel (or something to absorb the excess oil. Serve immediately.

Banana Cake

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cup white spelt flour (or flour of choice)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients:

• ½ cup Spectrum Organic shortening or Earth Balance margarine (I use half and half)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup vanilla soy yogurt
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas

Optional:

• 2 Tbsp. Agave syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees and grease pan.
2. In a medium bowl, add all dry ingredients and whisk together and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, mash with bananas with the agave syrup (optional) and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream the shortening/margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl, using a hand mixer on medium speed for 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl with spatula as necessary.
5. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl with spatula.
6. Add vanilla and yogurt. Beat on low speed until smooth. Scrape down bowl with spatula as necessary.
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet until well blended.
8. Add the bananas and mix until well blended.
9. Add mixture evenly in the pan or cupcake tins.
10. Bake for 18-20 minutes for cupcakes, 30-35 minutes for a cake, or until toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center of a cupcake.
11. Let cool until can be handled. Then place on cooling rack. Do not frost until completely cool.

Orange Icing

Beat the following ingredients together until fluffy. If using coconut butter do not heat it and I would recommend chilling the bowl for about 15 minutes in the fridge before using it.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine
• 1/4 coconut butter (optional can just use margarine if like)
• 3 and ½ cup sifted powdered sugar
• 4-5 Tbsp orange juice (as needed for desired consistency)
• 1 and ½ tsp. grated orange rind

Chocolate Frosting