A Mother's Blessing

My friend Kimberley and I hosted a "Mother's Blessing" party for our friend, Monica, who recently adopted two beautiful children, a brother & sister, from Eastern Europe.  Since they are not babies, we thought a traditional 'Baby Shower' would not suffice, but we wanted to bless her in some way, so we decided to do a Book themed shower to fill up their library.  We invited everyone to bring new or gently used children's books as gifts, either their favourites from when they were kids, ones they read to their own kids, or just ones that looked good.  Kimberley took care of the decorations, and I covered the food.  Both Kimberley and Monica have dietary restrictions, so this increased my challenge to make foods they could both enjoy.  I used popular kids books as the inspiration for the menu, and it was a great success.  I had so much fun putting everything together, and the party was a blast!  

I hope this inspires you, if you ever get the privilege of honouring a mother in some way!

Blueberry Zucchini Muffins (gluten-free)

(I also had sliced-up green & red apples, but forgot to snap a picture)

Green Eggs & Ham frittata 

Green Eggs & Ham

This is one of those recipes that I whipped up very quickly for a party, and without a lot of measurements.  I've done my best to make 'guess-timations' as to my actual amounts, but really, frittatas are extremely forgiving, and can be made with whatever you fancy.  For this particular occasion, I was serving guests with gluten and dairy allergies, so the recipe reflects that.  I imagine it would also be yummy as a quiche, with a nice flaky crust and maybe some Gruyere cheese to hold it all together and accentuate the smoky flavour of the ham.  [Drool.] But as it is, it is incredibly flavourful, and holds together pretty well.  I like the spicy kick the arugula adds to the mix, and the basil adds a certain brightness that was somewhat surprising to the tastebuds.  (Not to mention, it was particularly gratifying to go and pick them from my 'garden in a flowerpot' on my balcony!) 

Green Eggs & Ham Frittata

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
1 small zucchini, finely shredded
splash (up to 1/4 c.) milk/ cream/ milk substitute [I used rice milk to make it dairy-free]
2-3 good grinds of pepper (about 1/2 tsp ?)
1/2 to 1 tsp salt (or to cooking preference)
dash of garlic powder
2-3 dashes of onion powder (or small amount of onion, finely diced)
3-4 c. baby spinach, finely chopped
1/2 c. arugula and/or mustard greens, finely chopped
3-4 leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped
2 c. ham, finely chopped

Directions:
Beat eggs, together with milk and spices, with a wire whisk, until light and fluffy.  Mix in greens and ham, pour into greased pie pan.  Bake at 425 for about 30  minutes, or until eggs are cooked through.  Allow to set for 5 minutes or so.  Slice and serve warm.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I've made these a couple of times now, and every time, they all get eaten up rapidly.  This is modified from a Tasty Kitchen recipe to be gluten-free.  I added a tremendous amount more of zucchini and they still turned out beautifully.  I was a little generous on the baking powder (not quite flat across the measuring spoon), to accommodate the extra zucchini moisture.  The second time, I added probably close to 2 cups of blueberries and they were quite enjoyable.  I used a bit less sugar than called for in the original recipe, and may experiment with maple sugar next time.  

Gluten-Free Blueberry Zucchini Bread (muffins)

Ingredients:
1-½ c. gluten-free flour mix*
½ tsp Salt
⅛ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Baking Powder
1-½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 Eggs
½ c.s vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ c. Sugar [I used about 1/3 c. for both sugars]
½ c. Light Brown Sugar
1-¼ c. Shredded Zucchini [I added probably close to 2 to 2 1/2 c.]
1 c. Blueberries (fresh or frozen- thawed and rinsed)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray 9×5 bread pan with baking spray, or line muffin/ mini muffin tins with paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
In large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugars with a whisk. Fold in the grated zucchini. Mix in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon. Gently fold in the blueberries.
Pour into the loaf pan/ muffin tins.
Bake 50-55 minutes for loaf pan, about 20 minutes for regular muffins, 12-15 for mini muffins, or until a knife comes out clean. After cooling for 20 minutes in the pan, turn out from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

*a bread/ artisan mix is better than 'all-purpose' for this recipe -- here is a good mix if you want to make your own, or to use as an ingredient guideline for buying a mix-- try to avoid one with chickpea flour for this recipe, as it tends to be heavy and a bit gritty in texture, and these are meant to be light and fluffy.  I used "Pamela's" brand 'Artisan Flour Blend' which is made up of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, white rice flour, potato starch, sorghum flour, arrowroot starch, sweet rice flour, and guar gum