What to cook for ds's first birthday party

[MiniMarmite]

We're having immediate family over for DS's first birthday and want to keep food simple and prepared in advance so we can spend as much time doing birthday stuff as possible rather than being in our (small) kitchen and missing out on all the fun!

We will have 7 adults, a 3 year old, a 2 year old and DS (who eats pretty much anything).

I was thinking lasagne (1 meat, 1 veggie) and salad for lunch and then was considering doing the recipe Stigaloid posted for fishfingers (with chips and veg). Pudding will just be birthday cake and/or fruit.

Does anyone have any alternative ideas and/or good recipes for veggie lasagne (maybe something a bit different from my usual spinach and ricotta)? I'm aiming for at least one of the meals to be finger food based so DS can just get on with eating by himself (which is why I am having second thoughts about lasagne, plus he's had a slight reaction to tomatoes once or twice recently).

TIA

[janeite]

I do a scrummy veggie lasagne with puy lentils and port.

[MiniMarmite]

Sounds good, puy lentils v popular in our house.

So - make a bolognaise type sauce using lentils (and dash of port) rather than beef and proceed as for lasagne?

[BikeRunSki]

I do veggie lasgna with a layer of aubergine slices(fry first, it tastes best if really well cooked) and a layer of spinach, all covered in a tomato/veg sauce and sprinkled liberally with cheese. Works really well with those little blocks of frozen spinach -they are more compact for building the lasgana fresh leaves. By using veg, rather than cheese, sauce, you can cut out lots of fat. And could leave out toms entirely if not sure for DS? Maybe sweet potato and carrot would give a similar coulor and texture and go well?

When we have lasgna DS (10 months) has the pasta, the veg lumps from sauce (before I blend it) and a slice of garlic bread as finger food. He loves garlic bread.

[janeite]

Dash? I think I use more than a dash! But yes, about that!

I cook the lentils, garlic and onion in port, stock and a few spices, then stir in some roasted veggies and proceed as usual.

[SilverSixpence]

i just did DS's 1st birthday party, was lovely and good fun, except that i went a bit overboard and made two cakes!

i did a bbq style meal, it was supposed to actually be a barbecue but the weather wasn't good enough - so chicken, lamb chops, roasted vegetables and fresh bread with sauces, and then just had fresh fruit cut (pineapple) and the cakes for dessert. I also made some snacky things e.g. vol au vents etc.

lasagna and garlic bread etc also sounds good.

[MiniMarmite]

Silversixpence - sounds like you did quite a lot , yummy though!