Four Monkeys In My Bed: Money-Wise Mondays

(Scroll down for Organic Lemon Vanilla cupcake recipe)

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Tomorrow is Girly Monkey's birthday. I really can't believe that she is 6 years old! Birthdays are a very special time in our house, after all, we're celebrating each person's arrival into this world. For our kids, it's also the time when they joined our family.

We want to celebrate their special day in a special way. We have a tradition of celebrating our Monkeys' birthday in 2 ways. On the day of their birthday we do our private celebration. The birthday child gets to pick a restaurant for dinner that night, and a special outing place they would like to visit. If their birthday happen to land on a weekday then we move the outing to the weekend before or the weekend after their birthday. Most of the time, it's only our family that will attend the dinner and special outing, but sometimes we get a relative or two to join us. After the special dinner out we go home and have a cake or cupcakes (just the 5 of us) and sing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday boy or girl. After the cake, Birthday Monkey gets to open a gift from their siblings and one from us. Every 6 years Daddy and I give the birthday child a family trip as a gift. For Funky Monkey's 6th birthday we went to Drumheller, Alberta, and for Girly Monkey's 6 birthday we visited Victoria, British Columbia. Both trips were very special gift for the special child. So why every 6 years? It's because I think of them as milestones. At 6 years old the child is no longer a baby, at 12, they are entering teenage-hood, and at 18 they are entering adulthood.

Second part of the special celebrations is having close relatives and sometimes friends of the family over for a cake. We don't do the large, 20-kid, over the top birthday parties. Why not? They are costly, a bit overrated, and they don't teach our kids the most important lesson, that birthdays are not a time to get tons of cheap presents from people you barely know, but it's time to celebrate with the people to whom you mean the most. I know more and more parents who opt out of the "Big Bash" in exchange for a special trip (Disneyland, or to the cabin, or backpacking). I think a lot of parents are concerned that the Big birthday parties are becoming more about parents trying to out-do each other and less about celebrating their kid's special day.
A centerpiece of our family celebrations is always a birthday cake made to the birthday child's liking. Now, my Monkeys can get pretty crafty with their request, and cakes like that could end up costing a lot of money. Not to mention that the ingredients on a lot of these "masterpieces" are questionable at best. Since for the longest time our family did not consume any dairy (because of Girly Monkey's dairy allergy), it was really difficult to find a place that would do a birthday cake without any dairy in it.. And the places that would undertake that charged such a ridiculously exuberant amount of money that there was not way that I could afford that. So what was a mom to do but learn to make cakes for her kids. And this has become a secret to keeping on a budget for Birthday celebrations.

Cakes are a must for our Family Celebrations, but cupcakes are preferable when a Birthday Monkey wants to share her special day with a dance class or soccer team. Cupcakes are also a perfect place to start for first time bakers. I have few favorite recipes in my arsenal that I modify and update based on the time of year and each child's liking. Since I only make my cupcakes with whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, and organic ingredients, I feel great about my kids eating them. Here is my go-to simple cupcake recipe perfect for class celebrations.

Organic Lemon-Vanilla cupcakes

Printable Recipe

Prep time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 16 minutes for mini cupcakes and 18-20 for regular cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup of whole wheat pastry flour, sifted (Anita's Organic is my favorite brand)
2 cups of coconut sugar
2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
grated rind of 1 organic lemon
1/4 cup of organic yogurt (Greek style vanilla flavor)
1 cup organic whole milk
3 large organic eggs + 2 large organic egg whites
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
lemon juice of 1 organic lemon
1 cup or 2 sticks of butter, chilled and cut into smaller pieces

Instructions:
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°C
In a stand up mixer bowl combine flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon rind.

Step 2
In a separate,, glass bowl combine yogurt, 1/4 cup of milk, eggs and egg whites, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Whisk well to mix all ingredients.

Step 3
In a stand up mixer attached with a paddle attachment mix flour mixture and pieces on butter on slowest setting. Process until butter resembles small crumbs (like in pie crust making).