Laura Ashley blog cameo appearance, catering a baby shower!

Do you remember how back in July I was the Cakerer for a baby shower my friend Lauren was hosting?  

And how I said I was looking forward to being part of an event that was incorporating a much-loved brand Laura Ashley...?

Well....

I was pretty chuffed last week to see that little old me was on the Laura Ashley blog (well not me exactly, but my baked goods and cake bunting were!!). 

Lauren wrote a great "How To" guide on pulling together a baby shower in true Laura Ashley style, and included in this were the cakes and treats I made for the event. 

Hop on over to the Laura Ashley blog and see how well it all came together!

Photo Phriday #26

SillyNuts: Gluten Free Cinnamon Donuts

I'm not going to write an intro for these incredible treats, other than to explain the name!! What the?! Well, I wanted to have a play on the word Coeliac, because, praise the Lord, these are gluten free!! And when I gave one to Mr M as he walked in the door tonight, I asked him "how good are these?!" (rhetorical question of course), to which he replied "They're so good its just silly". And well, they look like a donut. So there we have it, may I introduce to you, the SillyNut. 

Ingredients
1 cup ground almonds/almond meal
1/3 cup white sugar (plus a little extra for dusting)
1 egg white
1 teaspoon cinnamon (plus a little extra for dusting)

Method:

1. Beat your egg white until it is as frothy and stiff as can be (about 3-4 minutes should do it).

2. Mix together the cinnamon with the sugar and slowly add it to the egg white while you are beating.

3. Continue to beat until it is all well combined.

4. Gently fold in the almond meal and mix well to fully incorporate into the sugary eggwhite.

5. Combine another few tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll about a teaspoon of mixture into a ball and coat with the cinnamon sugar.

6. This step is optional, but I then made the holes in the centre by simply inserting a large icing tip into the middle of the ball, which made a hole. I kept the holes and rolled them to form full (and extra sweet) donut at the end too.

7. Bake in a moderate oven 180C/350F for ten minutes, or until just starting to brown.

Promise me this, you must eat some while they are still hot. They are too good not to.

They are crunchy and crisp on the outside, with a slightly dough dense centre.

But then, they are so good cold too. So you really can't lose. 

Okay go now, try them out, they are so good it's SILLY!!!!!!!!

Falling in love with Fall

After summering in London, New York and Australia it was about time for our endless summer to come to an end. And London actually does Fall really well. Our little part of London is starting to practically sparkle with the amount of golden leaves falling in this blustery weather we are having.

But I am embracing this weather, both with creative apparel and creative cooking! I have been wanting to make Baby M some winter headbands that double as earwarmers for a while now, and the cooler change that came through this week made for a perfect chance to head to the park and test it out!

She had so much fun playing in the leaves and just being outside after being all cooped up for the past week with a rotten cold, and when I took the headband off when we got home, her cheeks were so cold but her little ears were toasty warm.

These headbands will be available on my Etsy store to help get your little one ready for the cooler weather thats on its way.

Oh and I made myself one too, but I think it's kind of ridiculous, so perhaps won't be mass-produced any time soon!!

I was walking around Hampstead this morning and walked past a house that was baking cinnamon. Just cinnamon. It was practically seeping out of the bricks it was so rich and aromatic. As soon as I got home I got out my cinnamon and set to work to create a quick and easy, fall-inspired donut/snowball. I love them so much, they're getting their own post too!! Four ingredients, ten minutes to make, ten minutes to bake, and lets be real, ten minutes to inhale!

Okay, off to quickly write the recipe up for you, then I have 8 left to eat!!!! 8 glorious SILLYNUTS!!

meg-made it to Grill'd (review) - Gluten Free Healthy Burgers

Now if only Grill'd would make it to London!!!

I have a fairly long list of favourite "must eat's" for whenever we are back in Australia, and even when time is tight, I usually find a way of making it to each of them. High on the list is Grill'd. I've eaten some pretty amazing burgers around the world now, but, Grill'd is still my favourite, without a doubt. 

Pre-travel planning always factors in Grill'd, I spend a whole lot of time thinking about it... as do others it seems!

It is an Australian burger joint who's angle is that they make healthy burgers. They started in Hawthorn, Melbourne, in the suburb we lived in, so we kind of feel like we were part of their success story, given that we've eaten there enough to have shares in the company! 

I was so excited to see an entire spiel about Gluten Free options on the menu, which meant I could eat anything I wanted. I could order a gluten free bun and the chips are already GF so I was all set!!

I tried virtually every burger on the menu when we lived in Melbourne, so now when I return for one burger, it is always the same: One Baa Baa burger and herbed chips please.

A Baa Baa Burger is quite simply a Lamb burger with avocado, tasty cheese, salad, relish and herbed mayo. The relish and herbed mayo really elevate the lambyness of the lamb and is such a divine combination of flavours.

And I mean come on, how good do these chips look?!

And just in case you didn't believe how good it looked from the outside....here's the inside view...

Mr M ordered the Big Queenslander - lean beef, tasty cheese, crispy trim bacon, free range egg, a couple of slices of beetroot, with salad, relish and herbed mayo. I didn't get my act together quickly enough to photograph his though!

If you're visiting Australia, or live under a rock in Australia (it would need to be Ayres Rock) and have not been to Grill'd, it is definitely worthy of being on any "must eat" lists. I love when something you hold in your memory stands up to the real thing. Over 8 years I am yet to be disappointed with Grilld. They are that good. 

A Baptism for Baby M

If you don't follow my Instagram feed, you may have missed that we've just been home to Australia for a few weeks. We went to be part of Saraids wedding, to celebrate my Father in laws 70th, and to celebrate the baptism of Baby M. A fair amount to do in two weeks!!

Living in the UK has its ups and downs but by far the hardest part is living so far from our families and so many old friends. I wanted to gather as many loved ones in one place to do Madeleine's Baptism, so Brisbane was the place to do it.

We landed very late on the Friday night after some horrific 30 hours in transit, had some sleep, and then got to work baking all day Saturday. Saraid and I work together like a well oiled machine, it was actually a heap of fun being so busy with her, I don't think there's another soul in the world who thinks so similarly to me!! 

We had a lovely little ceremony for Baby M at Marist College, which was where her mama and daddy met nearly 15 years ago. It was really lovely to be back in my husbands old school, and felt very special to be back there with our little daughter, all those years later.

With Sophie at Marist College Ashgrove

After the ceremony we had a small morning tea back at the Godmother, Saraids' house. 

I can hear your very first question..... What's the theme Meg, there has to be a theme?? Of course there's a theme, it was all tied in to Baby M's party dress, this gorgeous Ralph Lauren dress we picked up in Conneticut last month (Which, came in its very own tiny little garment bag, I nearly died from the cuteness!!).

To start the theming off, I ordered some fun striped straws, in theme of course, and added a touch of sparkle to them and popped them in some mini-milk bottles for some fresh lemonade...

I made lots and lots of lace bunting, which we cut to hang in all the doorways around the house too!

I also had my meg-made Confetti Filled Balloons, using navy blue and pink confetti. I of course forgot to photograph them up, but they were lots of fun to play with after as well!!

I purchased some super cheap Ikea cups and saucers, and made most of the cake stands with plates and different sized bowls.

There was plain vanilla cupcakes, decorated with pink glitter heart picks.

I relived my childhood by making some Tea Cups! Using Arnotts Tic Toc biscuits for the saucer, marshmallow for the cup, half of a musk Lifesaver for the handle and a Allens Freckle for the top. I'm sure you can recreate these with similar supplies in the UK and USA, but I just think they were the sweetest!

I used the same recipe for my GF Royal Sugar Cookies but couldn't find oat/nut flour at all, so used half ground almonds and half regular GF flour. Without the heavy nut flavour the honey became the star and they were delicious. Bless Saraid for indulging my crazy ways. When I made these to look like tea bags and ask if she could tie each with the lace ribbon....rather than look at me like I was completely bonkers, she just simply got on with poking the ribbon through the hole! 

My mum went to the markets and got some beautiful fresh fruit so we filled some plastic wine glasses with a fruit salad...

I made and completely forgot to serve a huge batch of lamb meatballs with a spicy tomato sauce. Oops! I was wondering why it was such a sweet party!

And the final treat were going to be Zuccini Pizzas, but ended up being Zucchini Bites, and they were gorgeous. Saraid added the perfect amount of pepperoni to give these a bit of a zing, they were so tasty!

I wanted Baby M to have a special little headband that was Baptism-appropriate and so made her this little lace and gold sparkle headband. I think she had an inkling of how angelic she looked!

It was such a lovely morning gathering our Australian loved ones to celebrate Baby M's Baptism! Thank you to all our friends and families who were able to partake in this special day. 

A huge thank you to Saraid for helping so much, taking so many photos, being two steps ahead when jetlag set in, and for allowing me to clutter up your house for two weeks! 

Stay tuned for a post about the magnificent wedding of the Godmother!!! 

A little bit more Liberty

Just a quick little Etsy update again for you this fine Saturday!!

Up until this point I have had two fairly separate products for sale on my Etsy website....

There's been the Liberty London baby headbands (and Maddie Bow too)..

And then there's been the party supplies, namely the meg-made Confetti-filled balloons. 

The thought crossed my mind that I should make confetti out of Liberty London fabric, but I know it just wouldn't showcase the beauty and intracaseies of the Liberty fabrics, and so went down the bunting and foodpicks route. 

I love how pretty and dainty they look!! The Liberty fabrics work perfectly to serve as the finishing touch to any special delicacy. 

We had our dear friends The Bells over today to catch up about all of our recent adventures, and so I made the Orange & Almond cake for them. I snapped a few quick photos of the new products before we ate the cake...and good thing I got in quickly, we ate the entire cake! Nom nom nom. 

 

Stay tuned for more Etsy updates. Now that I am back in one place for longer than 6 days, I have so many projects I can get started on. First item on the agenda, a solution for Baby M's cold ears and fingers!! Watch this space!