Store Bought Birthday Treats and cake ideas?

[rachael]

My son (who has HFI) turns three on Friday. I can bring in a special treat to share to his daycare, but they want it to be store bought. Does anyone have suggestions? I was thinking maybe potato chips or cheese for snacktime but it might be nice to get something new and special.

Also, we're having a party for him next weekend. I was thinking of making a stack of pancakes (which he loves) and using plain whipped cream for frosting. Any other ideas for a cake-like treat?

Thanks for your thoughts! 

This is an especially big milestone because we found out he had HFI when he was 18 months old; now that he's turning 3 we've known that he had it for longer than we didn't know!

[jenn123]

Pancakes with unsweetened whipped cream is a great idea. I sometimes add oat flour and cinnamon as a variety in our pancakes. Potato chips for the classroom is a great idea too. No one in our grade has a dairy allergy so when I bring a snack I do a small bag of chips, cheese sticks.
( since my child is older and understands, I also bring small bags of apple slices for the other kids).

[colormist]

Oh a stack of pancakes is an amazing idea! You could also use food coloring on the whipped cream. And the added cinnamon would give it that special something. I know Rysmom's son is in a "I love cinnamon" kick here recently.

[rachael]

I should try cinnamon again, I tried it before and he didn't like it but it's worth another shot. I also have vanilla that should be safe but he wasn't interested the one time I tried that either. I think he just doesn't like trying new things since that probably made him feel crummy the first year of eating food.

I thought food coloring wasn't safe? But he seems to have more tolerance than some so maybe it would be okay for him. I was going to say that I'll check the natural food store but the highly processed stuff at the regular store is likely to be safer. I still can't wrap my head around that!

[jenn123]

It is a very tough thing to adjust all the years of information that vegetable, whole grains with fiber and natural coloring/flavoring are not safe for your kid. As an expecting mom, i ad all sorts of lofty ideas for healthy foods and tricky recipes ..... she hated every single one of them. I have definitely learned to listen to her instincts.

[colormist]

Natural food coloring looks to be not safe at all, but artificial's ingredients look to be safe: pioneerthinking.com/the-ingredients-of-food-coloring

As always, read the label!

Vanilla is probably not safe. I have yet to come across a safe vanilla. CSID's website says Vanilla extract has 6 grams of sucrose per 100/g and 12~ grams total in 100 grams, so who knows where those other sugars are coming from. :\

[Stefanie (Ziba)]

I would love to know your pancake recipe, Rachael. I have tried many and none taste very good.

[rachael]

We use the Kroger brand mix and don't put in sugar. It has malted barley flour and soybean oil so it may not work for everyone but it works for him. They are really quite good!

[antonia]

For school you could always bring in a non food item, party bags, small toys or trinkets, stickers, balloons, etc.

[tummyache]

I'm thinking of a meringue cake : www.tastemade.com/videos/pink-meringue-cake
They show it with berries all over it, but I bet you could come up with something maybe safe? I make cookies like this with dextrose. Of course, these are not "store bought" -- sorry...

[rysmom14]

My son is for sure on a cinnamon kick. The other day he wanted them on his eggs.

As far as school treats. T
Cheese sticks are always good. Ryan loves cheese it's and you can get those in snack bag size.

For his go e birthday cake, I LOVE the idea of pancakes with whipped cream and cinnamon. I also made his muffin and had the whipped cream on top. Kinda like a cupcake. I second staying away from vanilla. The cinnamon is worth another try though. Ryan didn't like it before either.

Ziba, there is a jiffy all purpose baking mix that seems to be good. Just omit the sugar of course.

[antonia]

Pancakes from scratch are pretty darn easy and worth the extra effort in my experience.

Favorite recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Measure buttermilk and milk into a 2 cup, liquid measuring cup, then whisk in the egg. Create a well in the dry ingredients by pushing the flour mix from the center to the sides of the bowl. Poor the milk/egg mixture into the well first, then the melted butter. Whisk wet and dry ingredients together until just mixed. Pour batter onto oiled griddle, over medium-high heat, and cook approximately 2 minutes per side. Makes 6 to 8 pancakes.

[antonia]

Regarding the vanilla, what I find most irritating about these databases is they don't specify ingredients, brand, type, etc. for many of their entries. Vanilla extracts are not all the same, the amount of sugar will vary wildly depending on what they use as a carrier for the flavor. The usda database lists a few different types of vanilla extract including imitation. From what I can tell, imitation vanilla extract made with alcohol should be safe: 2.4g sugar/carbohydrate per 100g translates to 0.1g sugar per teaspoon (4g). Seems like a teaspoon would be okay considering the number of servings in a typical baked good recipe.