I struggled to come up with a good dinner menu as Hope cannot yet answer the question, "What would you like to eat on your birthday?" and she appears to be a picky eater already. I settled on chicken pot pie, roasted beets, and grapes. Nothing gourmet, but all foods that Hope likes and everyone else will eat too. As an aside: The chicken pot pie was an adapted recipe that we love, and I tried to make healthier this time. Chicken was replaced with chicken and pheasant, the crust was made from a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour, and I used up the last of my own hard-earned turkey broth. While it didn't taste exactly like the original recipe, it still was gobbled right up. I was pleased with the compromise of flavor (still a flaky crust...) and nutrition. Thanks to both sides of grandparents, we had organic, garden-fresh beets. Yum!
The cake also has a bit of a story. When my parents were married, 30+ years ago, Grandma "Whatsy" baked, froze, un-froze (well, almost), and frosted their wedding cake. It was Roman Apple Cake, a stellar recipe that I have been sure to make every fall since I've been in the kitchen. So, Hope had a variation of this nostalgia-full cake...my only change was to use spelt flour and coconut oil. I joked that the cake was so healthy, we should be making sandwiches with it!
Here are the visual aids:
Everyone crammed around our small table in our teeny-tiny kitchen. 
The big box, which Eva and Hope very enthusiastically unwrapped, contained a cute rocking chair from Ikea. Hope sits in it a lot, rocking her baby and shouting for attention.
Grandma and Grandpa recently ransacked the city wide garage sale in Cambridge, arriving at our (cluttered) house with lots and lots and lots of small gifts that they bestowed on Hope. These little Elmo slippers (only a few sizes too big...) were among their finds.
The grand finale was cake, which we all enjoyed. Thanks for making the yummy cream cheese frosting, Erin! Hope surprised me by devouring her part (she also ate it for breakfast the next two days...remember, it was healthy cake :).
2 comments:
I love your name for Grandma Knudtsen! Did Eva pick it out. It's so perfect... Such a great-grandmother name.
I'm having a lot of un w/ your blogs, their really good and exciting to read!
becca, not sure if you read the comments, but i have a request....could you post the original recipe for the pot pie? if it's not a secret that is :-)
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