Two down and about two thousand more to go... I'm getting pretty good at this bring your own gluten-free cupcake to the party and make it seems both effortless and completely awesome to your newly diagnosed 4 year old thing. Of course I keep forgetting to take pictures of my fabulously frosted "Cupcakes" but they're beautiful (yes, the package says Udi's Gluten-Free Double Chocolate
Muffins - but they're chocolate chocolate chip, which makes for a cupcake in my book).
Literally, one of the first questions I asked the doctor when he
confirmed the diagnosis (after the health stuff of course) was
about birthday parties & can't she have just a sliver of pizza or
cake just every once in a while so she's not the only kid at the party
who can't have the treat? My Z-bug, a one-treat-a-day sweets-loving
four year old, loves birthday party treats. Must be genetic!
Isn't the whole point of a birthday party to eat cake?! Yeah, yeah and
play and see friends and of course celebrate the birthday boy or girl.
But wondering whether it will be cake or cupcakes, and what flavor and
oohing over the frosted confection and waiting patiently until it's time
to sing Happy Birthday .. . Well, anyway the Doc of course said NO. He
also assured me she wouldn't be the only one at most parties with an
allergy or intolerance ... but that's no consolation, just makes me feel
sad for all the other kiddos too.
Fortunately, last Saturday's birthday adventure was an hour of climbing and playing followed by cake and snacks - easy peasy! A defrosted "Cupcake" with a fresh layer of vanilla frosting, under a layer of chocolate frosting, under a layer of chocolate sprinkles per my little Princess' request (and omg, what awesome chocolate frosting it was - had nothing cocoa to use but a fancy high percentage dark chocolate bar so I melted and added some to the vanilla buttercream I whipped up in small batch for the occasion ... it is my new secret recipe, yum!). And my sweet girl was so excited that she got to pick her own flavor cake even though it was someone else's birthday party!
Just like she was for our first foray into the gluten-free at a birthday party scene ... one of my biggest dreads upon diagnosis and as luck would have it, on the Tuesday of our very first G-Free week (coincidentally our first week in a new preschool) we find an invitation to attend a pizza and cake party that Saturday. All I could think was: my poor girl. A lifetime of "differentness" and feeling left out and having to be deprived of things that look yummy and that everyone else is eating ... I know the stats, there are Celiacs everywhere and all sorts of gluten-free goodies on the market ... but this is my little celiac and I am sad for her (even though, thankfully, she has not been sad for herself yet). I am also determined! So we spent the next few nights trying out G-free pizzas to find our favorite & the winner was: Glutino Peperoni - http://www.glutino.com/our-products/frozen-meals/pizzas/pepperoni-pizza/
I baked it before we left the house, wrapped it in foil & popped it back in it's cardboard delivery pizza-ish box, and she happily ate it off the same paper plate as everyone else. And the darling dad of the birthday girl - whether he noticed on his own, or saw the look of pain on my face - removed an open box of the delivery pizza with it's bubbling cheese and fresh sauce that someone had put right in front of her on the table. Then it was cake time. A beautiful, princess covered cake with buttercream frosting. I held my breath waiting for her to wail about the unfairness of it all, especially since our cupcake - with buttercream frosting I had made that morning & painstakingly piped on to look fancy - had smushed into the side of the container and wasn't looking quite so pretty anymore, certainly not compared to a bakery work of art portraying Belle, Ariel, Cinderella & Tiana. Thankfully I was able to salvage and beautify with fresh blueberries - so it looked like a scrumptious chocolate fruit tart - and, dare I say, even more delicious looking than the food coloring laden sheet cake. Score! But not for me - the point goes to my super-sweet little Z - she wanted to bring blueberries so she would have something healthy to go with her cupcake (seriously, this is the girl who put a few pieces of cooked broccoli on Santa's plate this Christmas along with sugar cookies so he wouldn't just have sweets all night!).
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