Maple Bacon Birthday Cake!!

Birthday are kinda a big deal around here! There is early morning wake ups to rip opens gifts in PJs, there are breakfasts of birthday persons choice, there is our birthday chair cover, there are birthday badges to wear all day long and of course there is a birthday cake to suit the birthday boy or girl.
Today is Mister Giggleberry's birthday. Mister Giggleberry is not too much of a 'sweet tooth' and just recently we have started to try a paleo diet at home, stepping up from just clean eating & to match our new love of CrossFit. With all these factors to consider I went cake hunting for inspiration on Pinterest and struck gold with a few ideas rolled into one EPIC cake!
One 3 Layered Paleo Spice Cake with Cashew Maple Frosting wrapped in Candied Bacon!!

The recipe for the cake and frosting can be found HERE thanks to The Paleo Mum. The recipe I followed for the candied bacon is HERE by Recipe Girl

This flavour combo is just like the Candian favourite of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup... something hubby LOVES!!

This is gluten free and dairy free but not strictly paleo due to the sugar on the bacon but it's a birthday cake after all... maybe I need to find a more paleo way to make candied bacon. Any ideas?? If you leave the candied bacon off OR found a paleo way to make it then this recipe would also be refined sugar free!!
Happy birthday hubster!!!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Book Week!

I love a good excuse to create a costume so Book Week for me can't come around fast enough! I fondly remember the characters I went to school as many years ago and I got rather excited when Little Miss Giggleberry bought home a note a few weeks agao letting us know they too were to dress up as a character from a book.
We had a flick through our book shelves and narrowed costume choices down to either Cruella DeVille (from 101 Dalmatians) or Mary Poppins. (I have to be honest I was hoping and pushing for Grug but had not even the hint of a yes on that one. Maybe Master Giggleberry will say yes to that one in a few years time).
Mary Poppins won the vote and so I got to digging through the cupboards.
One white button up shirt - Check. I just sewed a ruffled ribbon to the front to give it a 'Victorian look'
One black skirt - Check.
Black tights - Check.
Black shoes - Check.
Some red ribbon for the belt and neck tie - Check.
Black Umbrella - Check. You could get a little more creative and make a parrot head to attach to the handle too.
Pattern bag to look like Mary's magic carpet bag - Check.
We were on a roll! I dashed out one late Thursday night and spent the total of $6 buying a white gloves, a black hat, some fake flowers and cherries. My hot glue gun made short work of it all and Mary Poppins was complete!

My little Mary Poppins was very pleased and looked the part, if I do say so myself!

She even won best dressed in Kindergarten at todays Book Week parade!

Happy 60th Smurfday Party!

My gorgeous dad is about to turn 60!! That's a pretty good milestone and a great excuse to celebrate don't ya think?
What would he LOVE to do for his 60th birthday? hang out with and be surrounded by his family. So just last weekend my parents, sisters, brother and all of our families headed away for a weekend at Bilpin Springs Lodge in the NSW Blue Mountains. It was stunning and the perfect winter escape for us all to catch up, laugh, eat, play and celebrate!
Between petting the horse, pony & alpaca, collecting the eggs from the chooks, bushwalking, paddling in kayaks & playing in the games room we managed to come up with the excuse of no milk left to get my dad to head to the shop so we could set up his little party.
For a little bit of background here, my dad is called Papa by his 11 grandchildren so when mum asked me to "put a little something together for his birthday" I had the idea of a Papa Smurf theme and ran with it....
Quickly we set up one of the rooms at the lodge with balloons, bunting, food, decorations, drinks, cake and games. Then when dad returned from the shop with more milk he was sent to his room with a mysterious bag of clothes and given the instructions to put it on and wait for a knock on his door.

I had put together a Papa Smurf outfit from some red ski pants I found on sale a few weeks ago, a long sleeved blue top and a red Papa Smurf hat I had made from felt. I also made the rest of the family (that's 9 adults, 9 kids and 2 babies) a white Smurf hat and the girls each a Smurfette dress. Everyone else was to wear all blue with white shorts/pants/skirt.

Once everyone was dressed two of the kids went and collected Papa Smurf from his room and bought him to the party to be Smurfprised!!

Party time!! Most of the blue and red party supplies including the balloons, cupcake cases (I used for the popcorn), serviettes, straws, wooden cutlery etc were from Occasion By Design. The striped milk bottles, blue cupcake stand, cake platter stand, table cloth, trays, buckets etc I had in my collection already.

For food I made mushroom shaped butter cookies and some gluten and dairy free snicker doodles, blue jelly, popcorn, strawberries, juice, the birthday boy's fav dessert banana caramel pie and the cake which I had made blue and red to tie in. The little Papa Smurf ontop of the cake I found on eBay and I made the mini bunting.
The amazing macarons need a mention all on their own! I emailed the ever so lovely Sherelyn from Her Macarons to ask if she would maybe, just maybe, attempt some Smurf shaped macarons for me. I thought I was dreaming, but when I popped past to pick up my order I nearly screamed - Sherelyn had created to coolest and most perfect set of Papa Smurf yummies!

Seriously how cool are they?!? I almost didn't want to eat them but not only did they look fantastic on our table they were delicious too!!

Now, what is a party without a few games? (especially with all of Papa Smurf's grandchildren to entertain!) I made a Pin the Tail on Papa game with cardboard and a blue pompom, Pass the parcel with the final gift inside (A Papa Smurf Jibbet) marked so it was given to Papa Smurf himself and we also had a Piñata! The piñata wasn't Smurf themed (who could whack a Smurf until lollies fell out anyway LOL) but the custom made ambulance from The Helium House was perfect none the less as my dad is a Paramedic.

Notice the 'Papa 60' number plate

After we all had a bash of the piñata it was time to sing happy birthday and cut the cake. It's safe to say we all had a laugh and made a few more memories but most importantly celebrated the birthday of one amazing man. Happy birthday Dad xxx

Grain free, Gluten free, Dairy free - Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls!

I love finding a new recipe to try and this one was just too tempting when I saw it posted by someone on Instagram. They looked so easy I had to give it them go right away.
I did have a little 'play' with the original grain & egg free recipe to make it gluten and dairy free as well (and it's also ridiculously low in nasty sugars).... Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1x 400g tin of chick peas (drained & rinsed)
2/3 Cup peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 Cup Rice Malt Syrup
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 Tbs Coconut flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup choc chips (I used left over dairy & gluten free Sweet William choc bunnies from Easter that I cut up but you can use their choc chips).

Method:
Blitz everything, except choc chips, in food processor to combine (if it's too 'wet' add a tiny touch more coconut flour if it's too dry add a tiny touch of water). Once it's all incorporated stir in choc chips by hand. Scoop out a spoonful of the mixture and roll into balls in your hands (I got 17 balls). Place balls on a baking paper lined biscuit tray. Bake in oven for 10-12mins.

Eat warm and gooey straight from the oven or let them cool - up to you - but I bet you will enjoy then for sure!!

Giggleberry Turns 30... almost!

Earlier this year I received an invite in the mail... not just any invite. This particular invitation was inviting my family and I to MY 30th birthday party!

It was a complete surprise. The details on the invite (I since have worked out they were designed by Cake Ink.) were the obvious ones; date, time, place and RSVP to my (sneaky) mum. On closer inspection of the invites it was clear the party colours would be yellow, white and black and with a certain city scape (& how much of a Newyorkaholic I am) I could only assume it would be a NYC themed event - Yay!!
Although it is a month earlier than my actual birthday the party day finally arrived yesterday and what a lovely day it was! A family friendly picnic was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday with the ones I love.
The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the picnic ground, besides the big sign announcing we were in the right spot, was bunting.... Matching perfectly to the colour and theme, I hadn't made it so we all had a giggle that Grandma Giggleberry would put me out of business!! There was also NYC images and a few popular NYC street signs hanging around to set the mood :)

Once everyone arrived lunch was served... NYC style hot dogs with the lot - we're talking cheese, onion, mustard, ketchup, cheese, chilli, bacon etc and all served alongside some bagel chips, onion rings, pretzels and a drink in a little cardboard taxi cab.
No party is a party without a cake and mine did not disappoint!! Again my sneaky mum was on the case and had got in contract with the one I would go to for cakes, Leora, from Party Cakes by Leora. With a few hints and ideas I was told Leora was left to create and I adore what she came up with!! It totally matched the party AND even had bunting on it!!!!

The cake was a scrumptious chocolate mud cake with a sooooo yummy chocolate ganache under the yellow icing - YUM!!
I made sure I got to munch on the statue of liberty AND some bunting :)

My mum had also made a few cupcakes that were iced yellow and adorned with NYC toppers.

Later in the day I was happily chatting away to someone when I heard my name called out to "look". Hanging from one of the trees was a New York cab piñata!!! Blind fold went on, I was spun a few times and handed a large stick and away I went... LOTS of fun!! All the kids and some big kids too had a go until finally the cab was torn apart and lollies fell from the sky!

We all went home with a lolly bag handed out by two of my very gorgeous nieces or 'candy girls' (just like a NYC baseball game). Inside the lolly bags was a selection of US candy including taffy, Jolly Ranchers, Herseys Kisses, Peanut butter cups, a York mint, a 5th Avenue bar & a gummi pizza.

I felt very spoilt and special and just LOVED all the little details that went onto the day - THANK YOU mummy!!!
Now, with my actual birthday not until the end of April this must mean I get to celebrate all month long, right???

My girls first day of school!

A much anticipated day - Milla's first day at Big School was a complete success. She had a ball!!
Amazingly, even with all her excitement, Milla managed to fall asleep relatively fast on Sunday night but before I headed off to bed for the night I spotted a little something in the kitchen. It seems our fairies had been listening to all our talk of big school and had decided to leave Milla something special...

Milla spotted it early on Monday morning and through a fit of excited giggles packed her school hat, jacket and lunch box in her new bag!

After breakfast we of course had to have the first day of school pics in her nice new uniform.

Just like when I started at the same school in the almost same uniform all those years ago!

There were two moments when I very, very nearly shed a tear. Watching Milla walk through the gates hand in hand with her daddy was the first one!

The other was listening to the principal talk to us in the school hall about how they promised to take care of our babies!

But I managed to hold it together. Just.
Milla was completely happy to head to her classroom and start her day. So with one more happy snap and a kiss goodbye from us she was off!

Sooooooo proud!!