Planning a rainbow party?

Well T finally turned one the other weekend, and we celebrated by throwing him a rainbow party with all his friends. 

Here are some of the ideas I used for inspiration, hell, let's face it, I'm a bit of a pinterest addict!

These are really simple to do, you just need about 8 sheets of tissue paper per pom pom. With all tissue paper lined up evenly, take the shorter edge and concertina it back and forth until all the paper is folded. 

In the middle of the folded sheets, tie a piece of string or wire, then trim the two ends of the tissue paper (you can make rounded edges or pointy ones depending on the style that you want). 

Once you've done this, pull apart each of the sheets of tissue paper to "fluff" up the ball. 

All about the decorations! I bought rainbow bunting off of eBay.

The cake

Rainbow hundreds and thousands cake! My cake making expertise only extends to making a two layer cake. The easiest thing to do rather than spooning the decorations on, was to pick it up and gently roll the sides in a tray of the hundreds and thousands. 

More cake ideas:

Rainbow snack ideas:

Rainbow jelly. Simply (but a bit time consuming!) to make. 

Rainbow jelly: You will need packets of blackcurrant (or grape if you are in the USA), blue - I imagine this would be harder to find and need food colouring, lime, lemon, orange and strawberry/raspberry. 

Make the purple jelly first  and pour into cups. This will need an hour or two to set before making the next layer, and the next etc. 

Rainbow fruit kebabs, I used strawberries, melon, pineapple, green and red grapes and blueberries.

There are so many great ideas out there. Have a look at my pinterest page 

Mini Chicken and Leek Tarts

This recipe came about as I was making a chicken and leek pie for dinner, but knew that T couldn't eat the puff pastry topping that we were having. I had a bit of leftover pastry from the jam tart recipe, and made these as well. Why not top with some mashed potato and make a dish for the whole family?

Ingredients

6 skinless chicken thighs - chopped (you could use breast as well or instead)
couple of sprigs of thyme
2 leeks
2 large while onions
1 salt free chicken stock cube
1 tbsp flour
250mls Oatly milk
1 tsp wholegrain mustard - optional
Ready rolled shortcrust pasty
Olive oil

Method

1. Soften the leeks and onions in a frying pan with a little of the oil.
2. In a separate frying pan, cook the chopped chicken thighs with the thyme. Set aside once cooked.
3. Add the flour and crumble in the stock cube into the leeks until it is all coated.
4. Add the oatly milk and stir until you get a thick sauce forming. Allow to simmer and reduce. Add the mustard at this point if you are using it.
5. Once the leek mixture has reduced, add the chicken back into the mixture and stir so everything is evenly distributed.
6. Remove the pastry from its wrapper and cut into circles about 12cm in diameter.

7. Place the pastry circles into a muffin tin that has been greased (I used dairy free spread). Prick the pastry with a fork and place in an oven at 180C for 5-8minutes until it has started to cook.
8. Remove the pastry from then oven and put a generous spoonful of chicken and leek mix into each pastry case.
9. Put back into the oven for another 10-15mins until the pastry is golden.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving!

Additions and alternatives -

Rather than make lots of individual tarts, use the pastry to line a 20cm round tart tin. Prick with a fork   and cook for 10minutes before adding the chicken and leek mix. Cook instead for 20minutes.

Add a mashed potato topping, or serve with mashed potato on the side.

See more of my dairy free recipes. 

Dairy free pizza

This was inspired by a trip to Pizza express. We always order the bolognese for T, but I thought that he can't miss out on pizza! Making pizza dough is surprisingly easy, you just need a bit of time on your side. 

Ingredients  

250g Bread flour
1 packet dried yeast (7g)
2 tbsp olive oil
150mls lukewarm water
Jar of sundried tomato paste (check that it is dairy free). 
Whatever toppings you can think of! (see below for some ideas)

 Method

• Measure out the flour into a large bowl (or use your work surface in the kitchen)
• Make a well in the flour
• In a separate bowl, mix the water, yeast and olive oil and leave for a few minutes until the yeast starts to ferment. 
• Pour the yeast mixture into the well of the flour. 
• Initially combine with a spoon, and then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic

Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic

• Put the dough back into a clean bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave in a warm place for 45mins-1 hour. 
• Once the dough is doubled, turn it back out onto a floured surface and knock the air out. 
• Cut the dough into 4 equally sized pieces and roll these out with a rolling pin. 
• Place the pizza bases onto a lightly oiled baking paper and top with your desired toppings. 

This recipe made enough for four small pizzas. 

Ideas for toppings:

Ham and mushroom

Dairy free cheese (if your baby can tolerate soya)

Chicken and sweetcorn

Tomato and basil

Tuna and green pepper

Ham, mushroom and basil pizzas. 

• Bake in the oven for 15mins at 200C until the dough has cooked through. 
• Serve with a tomato salad and enjoy!

PS - you can always make some for yourself too! 

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Ok, I'll be honest, my husband liked these much more than T did! I made a batch and stored them in the fridge for a quick and easy snack on the go, and when pressed for time. Give them a go yourself. 

Ingredients  

1 sweet potato - boiled until soft.  

100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
150mls milk replacement 


Method

1. Place the cooked sweet potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth

3. In a frying pan, place a splash of olive or rapeseed oil, then put a large spoonful of the mixture into the pan and cook on both sides. I made four small pancakes in each batch in the same frying pan. 

Always supervise your child eating.

Baby chilli

With the nights drawing in, comfort food for chilli becomes all the more appealing. Chilli is a great dish for putting lots of hidden vegetables in, and the lack of spice in this dish is   made up for by the flavour! 

This dish can be a handy way to hide extra veggies in!

Ingredients

100g lean minced beef
1 white onion
1 small courgette
1 carrot
1 red pepper
1 clove garlic
1/2 tin kidney beans
400g chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp cumin 
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 small tbsp marmite (optional)
small pinch of chilli powder (optional)
olive oil 
1 salt-free beef stock cube

Methods

1. Finely chop all the vegetables and slice the garlic. 
2. Place the onions and garlic into a large saucepan to soften, but don't let brown. 
3. Add the rest of the vegetables to soften, then add the mince to brown. 
4. Crumble in the stock cube, then add the kidney beans, chopped tomatoes and spices. 
5. Allow to simmer for at least 30mins. 
6. Once all cooked serve with rice or with a jacket potato. 

Alternatives:

This can easily be made into a veggie chilli, just replace the minced beef with a mixture of lentils and cannellini beans and the beef stock with vegetable stock. 

See more of my dairy free recipes. 

Dairy free sources of calcium

Having trouble getting your little one enough calcium in their diet? 

Have a look at this post about dairy free sources of calcium. 

Green vegetables are surprisingly high in levels of calcium 

Easy Holidays!

We've just returned from an easydairyfree holiday! Unfortunately no where near as glam as this beach. We stayed in a villa in Majorca with some friends, which was ideal for us, as it gave us control of what and when we ate. 

Honeymoon in Mauritius - maybe again some day!?

Travelling when abroad with a diary free (or any other food allergy) baby can be difficult. Here are some top tips for travelling:

• Start packing early! The key to a stress free holiday is in having everything ready and planned ahead. You'll have a much better idea of what you need if you can see it all laid out. 
• Print out a packing list. It is inevitable that you will forget something! You can download these easily from the internet. We managed to forget the child camera unit of the baby monitor (but successfully brought the parent unit!)
• Get an umbrella pram. Most airlines will let you take 2 items of baby equipment, so leave your beloved bugaboo at home and get a cheap lightweight pram (I found one for £20 in the local charity shop). You won't be devastated if it gets lost or destroyed. 
• If you formula feed (especially with prescription hydrolysed milk), then make sure not only you have enough to last you the length of the holiday, but also some extra in case of flight delays or emergencies. If you're going away for a week, have enough milk for 12 days for example, or 2 weeks - have enough for 3. Just think worse case scenario - what happens if you spill a tub, or one goes AWOL with some lost luggage!
• If needed, you can call ahead to a Boots at the airport to request baby food/milk be ordered for you. This saves time at the security gates. 
• Forget about taking bulky sterilisers or solutions. You can get small microwavable sterilising bags that usually can be used 20 or so times before they need to be replaced. 
• Bring your own food if necessary! We just returned from holiday and took some dairy free snacks in the hold luggage because we weren't sure what we could get on holiday. Of particular use was taking a small jar of cashew nut butter - it was used LOTS!
• Learn (and write down) the translation for "dairy allergy" and "no milk" if you are going to be ordering food out and about for your baby. This is probably especially important if your language skills stopped at about GCSE time. 

This little jar made the journey on holiday with us! 

Plan your meals

This is probably what helped the most in creating a stress free holiday with T. We stayed in a villa, so it was easy to prepare our own meals for T and take them out and about with us. 

Here is an example of our week's menu for T:

Shopping list

• Weetabix (pack of 12)
• Small bag of rice
• Small bag of pasta
• 2 chicken breasts.
• 6 eggs. 
• 1 x Cucumber
• 1 x Avocado
• Tomatoes (fresh)
• Small loaf Wholemeal Bread
• Tinned sweetcorn (x1)
• Tinned tomatoes (x1)
• Jam (the adults helped to eat this too!)
• Small bag new potatoes
• Mushrooms
• Oranges, melon, plums, bananas and pears.  

Brought from home:

• Rice cakes
• Organix gingerbread biscuits
• Bread sticks
• Boots Fruit pots (pack of 4)
• Small jar cashew nut butter. 
• Salt free stock cubes for cooking rice, pasta sauce etc. 

Day 1 

Breakfast - Weetabix, chopped melon

Lunch - Avocado slices, cashew nut butter on toast

Dinner - Mushroom omelette, slices of plum

Day 2 

Breakfast - Weetabix, slices of orange, peeled and deseeded. 

Lunch - Chunks of local bread, cucumber, tomato slices. Fruit pot 

Dinner - Chicken with sweetcorn and rice (made double the portion)

Day 3

Breakfast - Scrambled egg. Banana

Lunch - Leftover chicken with sweetcorn and rice. Sliced pear. 

Dinner - Fish with chunks of new potato and carrot. Melon.

Day 4

Breakfast - Weetabix. Orange slices. 

Lunch - Cashew nut butter and jam sandwiches. Cucumber and tomato chunks. Pear. 

Dinner - Tomato pasta. Fruit pot. 

Day 5

Breakfast - Weetabix. Chopped plum

Lunch - Leftover tomato pasta. Rice crackers and cashew nut butter. 

Dinner - Chunks of chicken with avocado and cucumber. Fruit pot. 

Day 6 

Breakfast - Weetabix. Banana

Lunch - Chunks of chicken with cucumber and tomato. 

Dinner - Tomato pasta. Fruit pot

Day 7 

Breakfast - Weetabix. Pear

Lunch - Chicken and tomato rice with sweetcorn. 

Dinner - Mushroom omelette, what ever fruit is leftover to clear the fridge!

It was fairly easy with a reasonably small selection of ingredients to come up with different menus for each day that offered variety. I wouldn't necessarily feed this to T every week, but in the interests of minimising waste, it worked very well. 

Fresh local ingredients can make mealtimes even more inviting. 

If you have any dairy free travelling tips, then please share them too!