rainy baby shower.

Earlier this year I threw a baby shower for two of my great friends. The brief, "we're both inviting our friends so we don't want it to feel like a baby shower." So we planned a picnic in the park with footy and food, but of course that week there was torrential rain so they quickly found a bowling club and we had a fun, and relaxed, afternoon.

The day was interspersed with lots of rain and beautiful blue skies. The bowlers enjoyed the blue sky and we enjoyed watching them.

They agreed to have a baby shower feel to the party, so we had a "guess the gender" game which created a polaroid photo book, with a note to the baby. It is a beautiful keepsake for the baby and was fun seeing everyone with their lips or moustaches.

Mum and Dad in the front of the book

I provided some of the food, with lots of help from family, which included some delicious healthy cupcakes...

Orange with cacao nibs (gf, df, sugar free), chocolate with chocolate icing (gf, df, sugar free) and not-so-healthy but oh-so-delicious vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing

And some healthy homemade dips... with cheese, veggie sticks, olives, nuts and dried fruit.

Homemade hummus, carrot dip and pumpkin dip (all gf, df, sugar free) and activated nuts... of course ;)

 And some delicious punch...

I even tried my hand at flower arranging...

And on the morning made some gender neutral bunting. Note to self: do not make 10 metres of bunting on the morning of an event you're organising. Thankfully I got it done!

It was a fun afternoon and a great celebration of their beautiful baby boy.
Kate and Dave, thanks for allowing me to have some fun and honour you guys. You're great parents... George is a lucky boy!

I scream for ice cream.

I love ice cream! There's nothing better than having a paddle pop on a stinking hot day. So many good options, so much deliciousness. But as I've paid more attention to my body, I've noticed the not-so-nice sugar crash and the way that makes me feel, and the bloating from the dairy. Not to mention the price you have to pay!

So I have created a few VERY easy paddle pops to make yourself and enjoy whenever you want. No sugar, no dairy, no weird stuff, just real food and plain deliciousness.


MANGO MACADAMIA WEIS BAR

So I went to the shops yesterday and looked at the ingredients of a Mango Weis Bar:

The mango part: mango (40%), water, sugar, glucose syrup, milk solids, natural colour (160b), food acid (330).
The ice cream part: cream (46%), water, sugar, glucose syrup, milk solids.

Why the heck is "natural" colour a number? Surely the natural colour of the mango makes it orange!!

And you could buy a box of 4 for $6.79.


I made 6 from 2 mangoes, a tin of coconut cream, a teaspoon of honey and a small handful of crushed and toasted macadamias.

What to do:
1. toast some crushed macadamias in a fry pan until golden
2. fill bottom of ice cream moulds with coconut cream (you could add a touch of honey or vanilla if you wanted, but not necessary) and macadamias and place in freezer
3. scoop flesh from mangoes into bowl then mash with a fork (you could use a food processor if you wanted to). (I added a tiny bit of honey because my mangoes were bruised and not super sweet).
4. once coconut cream has started to set, add mango on top, put stick in, then return to freezer to set completely. Then try not to eat them all at once.

The hardest part is waiting for them to set!!

If you can't wait between the layers, you could not layer them and create a swirl of the flavours instead. In the future, I would probably do a bit more mango (just cause I love mango) but these were great the way they are.

RASPBERRY COCONUT PADDLE POP

This was the easiest ever! I just stuck some raspberries in to the leftover coconut cream.

What to do:
Pour coconut cream into moulds then push frozen raspberries into the coconut cream. Put stick in then freeze. If you wanted to do a similar thing to the mango one, you could puree the raspberries and layer but this worked well for me!

I hope you enjoy creating these beauties. So easy, so cheap, and so good for you compared to what you can get in the shops.

Please, if you create them, share them on social media and tag @thearlegirl on Instagram or Facebook. I'd love to see your creations!