January 18, 2010
My oldest ChowBaby turned 3 (!!!) and we recently hosted a construction themed birthday party in his honor. I’m amazed that we pulled anything off seeing that his birthday is at the end of the always busy holiday season, just days after new years. And this year, we had a little baby, too. But we did. And with style.
To keep things easy, I had first planned on ordering pizza and buying cupcakes from BabyCakes. Then I thought better of it—I had to cook. No. I wanted to cook! So, instead or ordering in, I capped the shindig to 5 of my ChowBaby’s closest playmates to make cooking, hosting and cleaning manageable, even with an infant in the house.
The menu was simple, wholesome, and easy to make ahead (not to mention inspired by the orange and yellow of our construction theme): ChowMama baked chicken fingers, corn pudding, carrot sticks (which never made it out… oops), guacamole, black bean dip, tortilla chips, and homemade chocolate chip and devil’s food cupcakes with chocolate chip buttercream . The idea was to offer comfort food that would appeal equally to kids and parents, and this menu worked perfectly!
Check out the menu plan, my low-impact cooking schedule and recipe for corn pudding after the jump.
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