The “Family Dinner” Style Birthday Party

THE WINNER OF THE DIAPER GIVEAWAY IS:

ANNIKA MANCHESTER!!!

Please Send Me Your Address So I Can Ship Your Winnings To You!

So after taking birthdays bake down to their origins, starting with Momma, we open up the

holiday to family, making a wonderful family dinner that everyone can come together and enjoy, celebrating wonderful life with us! Basking in all the love, cherishing each other, and sharing AWESOME food, if I do say so myself! The Family Dinner also provides the opportunity for grandparents who can attend to shower the little lady with love, and celebrate her, it's the perfect little space that honors family connections. Eventually, it's just not going to be feasible to invite grandparents and uncles to the “kid party” the girls share, even this year we are running out of space to invite all the extended family. That is where the Family Birthday Dinner takes the cake! We are able to round up as many uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents that we can and celebrate it all together! Then the kid party has its space, birthday day with momma has its space, and we have just one more excuse to have a grand time!!!

For Kaylee's Family Birthday Dinner, I hosted 14 guests alongside our 4-person family. And what to feed a 18-person brood? The Haertel Riesling Pasta! Mango Walnut Salad! Biscuits shaped like butterflies! And a gorgeous, melt-in-your mouth, Blueberry-Cashew Cream Cake!

The Haertel Riesling Pasta is entirely my own design. I first invented the recipe when I was not vegan, three years ago, and back then I called it Shrimp Pear Sake, this is because the original recipe called for sauteed shrimp and any Pear Sake I could get my hands on! Since we are vegan now, we do not eat shrimp (plus, River has an allergy to shellfish, who'd have thunk?!) and Pear Sake is hard to come by, plus it's usually not worth the price, so I reinvented the recipe using Riesling! My favorite is Kung Fu Girl! Many would say that it is an insult to consider a wine a cooking wine, because they have cooking wine for that purpose, however, as the name suggests, it is necessary to use a wine you like for this dish! The undertones of the wine you use become part of the exquisiteness of the pasta! Shrimp Pear Sake actually tastes like pears! Kung Fu Girl is the closest mimicry to this flavor, and she's only 9 bucks a bottle on average!

Shrimp Pear Sake

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 # Shrimp

1 # Noodles

¼ Cup Flour

2 Tablespoons Sugar

½ teaspoon Salt

½ cup Butter

1 1/3 cup Milk

2/3 cup Pear Sake

½ cup Lemon Juice

1 teaspoon Thyme

2 Tablespoons Chives

Haertel Riesling Pasta

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 # Seitan or other Vegan Sausage

1 # Noodles

¼ Cup Flour

2 Tablespoons Sugar

½ teaspoon Salt

½ cup Coconut Oil

1 1/3 cup Plain Soy Milk

2/3 cup Riesling

½ cup Lemon Juice (Lime is good too!)

1 teaspoon Thyme

2 Tablespoons Chives

(1 tsp Parsley and 2 Tbs Italian Seasoning is also a good mix in a pinch!)

Instructions:

Sautee your shrimp or sausage, you may add salt and pepper to taste at this stage. Bring a pot of water to a boil for your noodles. Melt your butter or oil in a medium saucepan. Mix up your flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl then add it to the melty goodness. Stir until all of the flour soaks up the liquid, then add the remaining ingredients! Whisk until smooth and creamy, then bring to a boil for 1 minute to cook off the alcohol, stirring constantly. Then reduce to a simmer. Cook up your pasta noodles, drain, and combine all three pots of goodness together!

Mango Walnut Salad: Baby Spinach, 1 Mango diced, 2 Avocados diced, 1 Red Onion minced, and some poppy seed dressing...YUM!

And the finishing touch is Blueberry Cheese Cake! From Vegan Zombie! The “cheese” is actually pureed cashew, and the crust is raw in his directions, but I like to bake my crust on 200 for 15 minutes. Either way is crunchy good!

To top it all off, all of the dinnerware was compostable, so there was zero waste!

Now on to party pictures!!!

Had To Steph!!!

Can You Believe HE Is Her Uncle?!

Momma With Babe...So Sweet!

Munch, Crunch!

A Quick Snap Blurred This One, But The Sentiment Is Still Profound!

Kind And Thoughtful Auntie-Belle!

So Many Books! Wonderful Idea For Any Age!!!

Cards and Letters Are Awesome! Kaylee Adores Them!

Puzzles And Activity Books To Encourage A Growing Mind!

Birthday Ribbons Are The Best!

Because "Hi Kitty" Boots Are A Must!

Enjoyable Company!

Gifts Are Already Being Put To Use Before The Night Is Out!