Tuesday, March 19, 2019

T Stands For Happy 100th Birthday

St. Patrick's Day, 17. March would have been my dad's 100th birthday. We always had a family party for him on his birthday and with this being the 100th birthday, I thought he needed a celebration. I invited The Brother and His Wife, The Nephew and His Wife, and they brought the adorably cute Grand Niece.

Earlier in the week, the female cardinal (Ma) perched in the honeysuckle vine to supervise the party preparations.


Festive decorations.


Just before the Brother and Company arrived, a herd of turkeys crowded around the bird feeder and the seed I had thrown on the ground. Himself said it was all my dad's brothers, sisters, and their husbands, wives coming for the party.  😸


The coffee and tea station was set so guests could help themselves. Keurig pods of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee, and Dunkin' Donuts Vanilla Coffee.


Himself and I mostly prepared a Keto friendly meal. Mixed green salad, eggplant Parmigiana (the eggplant dredged in almond flour, egg and fried by Himself). When I was planning the menu, this just didn't seem to be enough food. I'm Italian so there has to be mass quantities of food on the table. I was very happy when a few weeks  ago, I found a fabulous recipe from Jan at The Low Carb Diabetic. This was a Greek Style Roasted Mushrooms with Red Peppers. Keto friendly and very easy to prepare and to customize. I don't like Feta cheese. I don't like any raw cheese, and I wasn't sure the flavors of mint and lemon would go well with the gravy (tomato sauce). So I marinated the peppers in balsamic vinaigrette and used basil and oregano as the herbs. Himself roasted the mushrooms and put the dish together. This side dish got a rave review. Thank you, Jan. 


Dessert was where Himself and I would go off the Keto reservation. On the table from left to right: the dessert Himself had made me for Valentine's Day, Gluten free Brownies with Strawberries and Chocolate Ganache (not sugar free), Ma's Anise Cookie recipe made gluten free and sugar free.  And the very special



San Giuseppe Zeppole or Sfingi (Sicillian) which is a sort of cream puff. The filling can be a custard cream filling or a Ricotta Cannoli Cream filling which is what I used. Ricotta cheese is Keto and to make it sugar-free, I used the Swerve Powdered Sugar sweetener which is also Keto approved. No need to go totally off the reservation. 

The zeppole is supposed to be crowned with an Amarena cherry (couldn't find), maraschino cherry (didn't have and not Keto), so I used the Keto approved Black Berry.

These zeppoles are made only once a year to celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. The feast is celebrated on 19. March and is Dad's name day. It's also Father's Day in Italy.

I spent all week practicing to get this pasty right. I actually tried to convert it to gluten free the way I had with Ma's cookie recipe and I tried to halve the recipe while practicing. The pastry is a choux pastry and didn't puff. It really needed the gluten and the whole amount of ingredients to work. Fourth time was a charm.

I was so pleased with how the zeppole came out, and I'm sure Dad would have loved them. We also had a wonderful visit with the family. Ma and Dad would have loved that, too.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

38 comments:

  1. Looks like a wonderful celebration. Love the though of seeing the similarity between family and wild turkeys, great! Happy T Day, Valerie

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    1. All his brothers and sisters would have been there so it just made sense :-D

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  2. How perfectly fitting a celebration for your dad's 100th birthday! And the cardinals and turkeys joined in as well (your Ma, friends, and relatives respectively, of course). ;)

    The food looks WONDERFULLY DELISH!

    Have a great day!

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    1. With everyone there in spirit, it was a wonderful celebration.

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  3. what a special celebration-and the food sounds amazing.
    Loved the turkeys too
    Happy T

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  4. Wonderful idea to celebrate his 100th birthday. All of the food and desserts looked delicious. Happy T-Day!

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  5. such a special gathering and celebration- full of happy memories too I'm sure. The food all looks so good- great job on that special dessert! Happy T day!

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    1. I'm really pleased how the zeppole turned out. Even if it took 4 tries to get it right :-D

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  6. What a wonderful (and yummy) celebration! :D

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    1. I surprised myself how well things turned out.

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  7. Your celebration looks like a wonderful way to remember your dad. The food looks yummy but I must say, that dessert table has me drooling. I would love a yummy GF cream puff. I really miss the pastries and dessert with flour and sugar. GF is just not the same. But sometimes it is nice to go off-plan and enjoy a treat.
    Happy Tea Day,
    Kate

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    1. I was disappointed I couldn't get the cream puff pastry to work with gluten free ingredients. It wasn't just not the same, it was blech!

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  8. How wonderful that the turkeys felt welcome at the party :) Wild turkeys are a treat for me when I see them out in the woods. Your food looks delicious (I'm checking out that mushroom recipe -thx for the link), and I'm impressed by the way your family has chosen to remember the day :) Happy T Tuesday

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    1. St. Patrick's Day was always a big deal in my family since it was Dad's birthday. But being Italian, we didn't celebrate with corned beef and cabbage :-D Or as Dad would say, "that's not our food."

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  9. I'm back and will play catch-up as best I can. This has been a very trying time being without internet, but I HOPE this has been the cure. I'll explain on Wednesday, because it's too convoluted to explain here. Thanks for visiting while I was offline. It means the world to me. I'm so incredibly thankful for you, dear CJ.

    What a happy celebration for your father's 100th. It was great you could celebrate it with family, too. You certainly put out a spread. It all looked so good, right down to the decorations.

    I also saw that recipe on Jan's blog. I love feta cheese, it is possibly my favorite of all the white cheeses, so I also copied the recipe.

    Of course, there are some things like puff pastry that really can't be the same, no matter how hard you try to make them using substituted ingredients. All in all, it looked like a great party and one for the books, especially for T this Tuesday.

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    1. You'll like the Roasted Mushroom recipe. It was meant as a main dish, but I used it as a side. It's very easy to put together and to change if you don't care for the flavors of lemon and mint.

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  10. What a fabulous St. Patrick's Day feast! It sounds like you had a wonderful time with your family 😁. Wishing you a happy T Day! J 😊 x

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    1. The Brother and I don't live far from each other, but we don't see each other a lot through the year. So it's always a good time when we can get together.

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  11. What a great way to celebrate your loved ones memories.
    Happy T-day

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  12. What a lovely way to celebrate and bring family together to remember loved ones. Your food looks delicious, especially those wonderful cake desserts.
    Happy T day wishes.
    Yvonne xx

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    1. I'm insufferably pleased with the way the zeppole turned out

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  13. What a lovely idea to have a party in memory of your dad's 100th. And the food sounds to die for. Love Jan's recipes:)
    Also love those turkeys:)

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    1. And just the right number to count all Dad's brothers and sisters with their spouses. Except for Uncle Tony. He rarely came to family events. And then complained he was never in the photos :-D

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  14. What a wonderful celebration. We still celebrate my (late) dad's birthday too. It was the one occasion where the whole family would get together.
    I smiled at the turkeys and some family members being there in spirit.
    Yes, here in Spain it is San Giuseppe too (They call it San José) and yes, it is Father's Day here today. In some provinces it is a holiday, and as we live on the way to the skiing area of Granada, all the restaurants were very busy today.
    I love zeppole! (I lived in Italy for many years) My mouth is watering. Such a shame you couldn't make the gluten free version. The chemistry is really complicated with gluten free.
    Happy T-Day,
    Lisca

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    1. Some recipes you just can't tinker with no matter how hard you try. Gluten free is ok, but not always as good.

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  15. What a wonderful tribute to your dad, CJ. I don't think I'l be able to do the same for my younger brother Patrick - also born on St. Paddy's Day.

    Oh my, I haven't seen wild turkeys since I left WI decades ago. Never saw them in NJ and of course, never seen them here south of the border.

    Your inventive menu sounds delicious, especially the Roasted Mushrooms with Red Peppers with the changes you made. The Zeppole look fabulous!

    Happy T-day! Eileen xx

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    1. We have herds of turkey here. They are a cause of traffic jams as they stop traffic when they cross the road or can't make up their minds which side of the road they want to be on. :-D

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  16. wow, it ALL looks so delicious!! I would have loved to be there for dessert. You made me stop and think ...it would be my dad's 96th birthday this year in November. Sounds like you have such a nice gathering.

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    1. Dessert was awesome, if I do say so myself. :-D

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  17. That sounds like a good reason to get together. We were saying yesterday at the funeral that it seems like most time people get together is for such sad events. It is sad your dad wasn't around at 100 but still a good reason to celebrate. Hugs-Erika

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    1. Dad had always said he wanted to live to be 113. Too bad he didn't make it to 100. He would have loved his party.

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  18. What a wonderful idea to celebrate his 100th birthday.

    So pleased you enjoyed the Greek Style Roasted Mushrooms with Red Peppers recipe.

    All the best Jan

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    1. the mushrooms were a big hit. Thank you for posting the recipe

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  19. This is so beautiful! What a great celebration! You did amazing with the food CJ! I love Zeppoles!!! You did a great job making them! Those turkeys made me laugh! LOL! Big Hugs!

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    1. I'm pretty pleased with how the zeppoles turned out. And the turkeys at the aunties and uncles made me laugh, too.

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