Birthday-palooza: Cauliflower Curry

Sunday was a very exciting day for us.  Thatbaby attended not one, but three birthday parties.  April 14 is apparently a very popular day to be born!

All dressed and ready to go.

The first party was a Dr. Seuss party for Thatbaby's classmate who I will henceforth refer to as "Seuss."  Seuss is one of our favorite kids, and has been since they were both in the infant room together.  He was the youngest of the "big kids" so he was left behind with Thatbaby and the rest of the li'l 'uns when the older kids moved on.  Obviously he eventually joined them, and we were sad not to see his smiling face every day.  In fact, when Thatbaby moved up to the Wobbler room, I comforted myself in knowing that Seuss would be there.  But Seuss moved into the Toddler room at the same time, so they didn't get to rejoin each other's company till this past month when Thatbaby moved up to the Toddler room.

Seuss's party was at a park, which means - yup!  SWINGS!  And a lot of Thatbaby's daycare friends.  It gave us a chance to get to know some parents a bit better, but before too long we had to wave "buh-bye" and head to:

 

Party #2!  It's hard to believe that Baby K is one year old already!  Thatbaby didn't know anyone at this party other than Baby K, who had his hands full as a gracious host, being passed from adoring fan to adoring fan.  But there was plenty to keep him occupied with tunnels and balls.  And then Thatbaby found the gummy bears, and he decided this was his favorite party he had ever been to.  Nevertheless, his social obligations required him to move on to:

Party #3! Little Pirate lives right around the corner from us, so this party was at a playground we were really familiar with - right at our neighborhood beach!  More playground = more swinging.  Although Thatbaby also enjoyed munching on fruit and kicking a soccer ball around.  And eating sand, which is another favorite pastime of his.  Since we turned up at the tail end of this party, there was a lot of letting Thatbaby do his own thing while we hung out with the Pirates.  Thatboy even got in a game of toss with Mr. Pirate (is that what you call it when you throw a football back and forth?)  And then, after everything had been packed up and put away, we headed home.  Exhausted.  Well, Thatboy and I were exhausted.  Thatbaby was in high spirits.

I'm always trying to find new ways to use cauliflower.  It's a vegetable I really want to like, but I don't.  Neither does Thatboy.  But we don't want to pass this aversion on to Thatbaby.  So I try to incorporate it every so often into our mealplan.  I've seen several recipes that treat cauliflower like steak, slicing it and the grilling it.  Listen friends-  cauliflower is no steak substitute.  However, the idea of using it in place of meat isn't a terrible idea.  So a stew that makes heavy of use cauliflower, cooked until nice and tender is something I can get behind.  Especially when full of chickpeas, which is something the whole family enjoys.

Chickpea Stew

1 cup couscous 

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground ginger

salt and pepper

1 can whole tomato

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cauliflower, cut into florets

1/2 cup raisins

1. Prepare couscous according to box. 
2. Heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.   
3. Add the cumin, ginger, salt and pepper to taste and cook just until fragrant.
4. Add the tomatoes and their juice, chickpeas, cauliflower, raisins, and half a cup of water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Serve over couscous.