nuno's birthday dinner

Today is Nuno's birthday and last night I made him his special birthday dinner. He's really into seafood so I made him Coconut Shrimp.

I pulled out the deep fryer for this dinner, so you know it's a party if we're fryin'. The coconut shrimp was salt & peppered, dipped in egg whites, then coated in a crumb of blitzed panko and sweetened coconut. It took a bit of time, but was fun. Using a deep fryer was great because it controlled the temperature and helped prevent splatter (especially with a unpredictable toddler running around). I made a dipping sauce as a side with a blend of apricot jam, dijon mustard with salt & pepper while Owen had sweet & sour sauce. These really worked out great and were totally delicious! I think this will be a special occasion dinner in the future for sure.

Nuno's our go-to guy for birthday cakes, but he got a comforting home-cooked dessert instead with this Berries with Cinnamon Dumplings. This was a dessert that Owen could help make. I gave him all the dry ingredients for him to put in the bowl and stir. Once the dumpling topping was in the pan, Owen's quite used to licking the bowl and spoon, but dumplings aren't like batter, so it wasn't tasty for him at all. He had to wait till the dessert was done for the pay-off. I hope the sparkler made up for the wait.

Happy Birthday Nuno! 

Lot's of love,

Erin