A Happy Gluten, Dairy, Sugar, Wheat-Free Birthday

Since Taigen has been on his special diet, a lot has changed in our kitchen. We've become minimalists when it comes to dinners. We grill a lot. We rarely have a side dish containing rice or potatoes anymore. Salads are a weekly thing. Spelt bread, almond milk, and brown rice flour are "normal items" now.

So, what do you do when you have a birthday and cannot make a cake or brownies? You cannot make a pie either, for that would contain flour & sugar? You cannot have ice cream because that would contain dairy. He cannot have peanut butter, honey, or artificial sweeteners either. So that leaves me with just about nothing to help celebrate his 39th birthday. What a bummer!

Except, that I have friends. Friends with ideas. One of my friends on Faceb**k suggested a fruit cake. No, not the rum-laden fruit cake that you get for Christmas and use as a doorstop. A cake that's made from fruit! It was an idea that bordered on sheer brilliance! I decided to run with it.

As you can see, I took a watermelon and tried to carve it into the shape of a layered cake. With long toothpicks, I attached pineapple, blueberries, raspberries & strawberries...all fruits that are considered "safe" for Taigen.

Taigen was thrilled with it & it was delicious. Happy 39th birthday, Taigen! We love you!