Whole Food Kids Parties 

This month is all about parties. Delicious, fun, memorable, healthy kid’s parties. Over the next 4 weeks I'm going to share with you my favourite, super easy, nourishing kid’s party recipes that your whole family will LOVE!

The reason I’m sharing this with you is because I get quite anxious about party season. For me, it's the tables loaded with refined white sugar and nasty fats, not to mention that  'goodie' bag you get to take home filled with every food colour imaginable... You know, when it feels like every weekend is filled with yet another Frozen birthday party and you just know what lies ahead...the almighty, all powerful, impossible to avoid - ‘Post Party Meltdown’.

Now, this meltdown can last hours or even days and you know that once it hits, there’s nothing you can do about it except go into lockdown and ride it out. Are you with me or am I all alone in this?
And what is the cause of the almighty ‘Post Party Meltdown?' Absolute, excessive refined sugar, food colour and additive overload.

I’m just going to throw it out there that many a birthday party tables looks something like this:

• Fairy bread. Hello food colour rainbow. (check!)
  
  
• Frankfurts (check!)
  
  
• Bowls of chips containing multiple flavourings and colours (check!)
  
  
• Mountains of lollies & chocolates (sugar, sugar, sugar!!!) (check!)
  
  
• Party pies and sausage rolls containing who knows how many highly processed fats, sugars and additives! (check!)
  

….. need I go on?

And while yes, this is the type of party most of us grew up on, that doesnt make it okay to continue such unhealthy traditions with our children. Why? Because we know better. We know how these foods affect our children (both physically and emotionally) yet we find ourselves unable to fight the pull of ‘well this is what we had in my day and it really is just a treat’. Is it though? Are we really ‘treating’ our children by filling them up with foods their little minds and bodies are unequipped to handle? Surely the treat is in the party itself? The fun times and memories to be made with their family and friends coming together to celebrate how special and loved they are? Do we need fairy bread to prove that love?

Having said that, I am a great believer in food bringing people together and helping to create special moments in our lives, but is it not just as easy to make foods that taste amazing AND nourish while we celebrate? 

I’m going to show you over the next 4 weeks, just how easy it can be to create healthy food for your child's next party by sharing with you my top 4 whole food kid’s party recipes.

Let’s start with something sweet and a little crunchy.

Crunchy Caramel Popcorn

1 cup popping corn
5 tbsp coconut oil
½ cup pure maple syrup
½ cup sunflower seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
   
2. Place a large pot on medium heat and add the coconut oil.
   
3. Once the oil has melted, drop in 1 popping corn. Once the corn pops, the oil has reached the correct temperature and you can add the remaining popping corn. Cover with a lid.
   
4. Once the popcorn is done (this only takes a few minutes or so), turn off the heat. 
   
5. Add the maple syrup and sunflower seeds to the popcorn and mix through. 
   
6. Spread evenly over the baking tray and place in the oven for 20 minutes. 
   
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. 
8. Once cooled, break apart the caramel popcorn chunks and enjoy!

* You can use any seed/nut you like for this recipe. Macadamias and peanuts are also delicious. I’ve used sunflower seeds due to nut allergies in our family. 
* The longer you leave the popcorn to cool once it’s removed from the oven, the larger the delicious caramel chunks will be. 

Makes 30 cookies
Cooking time 15 minutes 

1 1/2 cups rapadura sugar
4 cups white spelt flour
200g butter
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp natural vanilla extract
2 tsp bicarb soda
200g organic milk chocolate*, chopped into small pieces
3-5 tbsp coconut milk

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line trays with baking paper.
2. Mix flour and sugar in a large bowl and create a well in the centre. 
3. Place butter, maple syrup and vanilla in a saucepan  over a medium heat. Once butter mixture is bubbling, take off the heat and add the bicarb, stirring to incorporate. 
4. Pour the butter mixture into the well  of dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Add the coconut milk a little at a time until you get a dough consistency. Allow to cool slightly. 
5. Once mixture has cooled, add the chocolate pieces and mix through.
6. Roll the cookies into rough golf ball sizes and place on baking tray (if you like a chunky cookie that is still slightly soft in the middle, do not flatten cookies.)
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until just golden (I prefer mine to be on the blonde side to ensure a nice soft gooey texture once cooled). 
8. Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a sealed container for up to 5 days.

* I use Greens & Blacks organic milk chocolate for this recipe which you can buy from most supermarkets in the chocolate isle.