So for those of you who don’t know me I was born and raised in Australia. I can say I had a really nice childhood looking back. There were lots of pic nics, caravan holidays in nature and of course cinema outings.
My mum would organise a cinema outing with the cousins and my aunties. Yes we would be a heard of 15 people , hyper active kids all super excited.
Now we would go to a cinema in a big shopping centre and the cinema area was huge with a candy store , popcorn stands arcade’s and whatever else.
I loved the smell of the popcorn and we just drooled at all the candy and chocolates in the candy store.
But rest assured our mothers thought it a great idea to make home made popcorn and put it in brown paper bags and  take juice boxes.
So yes we would all go to the movies sit down and when the lights were turned down our mothers  would hand us all a brown paper bag of popcorn and a juice!!!
Now not quite the same as buttered popcorn but we still scoffed it down. Then we would start complaining we wanted chocolates and yes they would take out a party size pack of Mars bars and give us all one. Geez they had everything planned out to the T.
Admittedly living in Cyprus I have yet to take my daughter to the cinema. But we do on occasion have a movie night which she gets very excited about.
I don’t know how kids do it but they have the ability to watch the same movie over and over and over again and again and again. I cant even stand the mention of the movie The Grinch.  And now that Christmas is round the corner the excuse of it’s a Christmas movie doesn’t go any more.
The other day I did manage to convince her (with a lot of trying may I add) to watch something new .. Jingle jangle and she eventually did like it. A little too much and we are here on Friday night getting ready to see it again !!!
Anyhow so its movie night, we will make our popcorn, we like both salty and sweet, so we make organic air popped popcorn and put tablespoon of coconut oil some salt and nutritional yeast. And we also make some salted caramel popcorn. See recipe below.
So here’s is to all those parents that have to sit through a movie 10 times over, because if its not their kids choice of movie than they are forbidden to watch any other movie.
Enjoy
 
Salted caramel popcorn
6 cups popped corn
1 can coconut milk
3 tablespoons coconut sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of sea salt or to taste
 
Place all ingredients except the popcorn in a pan and bring to boil. Then let it simmer until it reduces and thickens into a nice golden caramel.
Pour onto the popcorn, mix well and then place on a lined baking tray and cook in a pre heated 160 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Take out and let them cool for 10 minutes then dive in !!!

So how was your September ??? Well mine like every year was packed with birthday parties!!! (Kids birthdays that is ) Yes its my favourite month of the year :) I love it when all my weekends are spent with a roomful of screaming kids bashing pinatas, I mean who wouldn't??

Yes we had it all this year – Parties ranging from Spa themes, Moving Discos with blowing bubbles Unicorn themed, Professional magic show and entertainment and a pool party.

Whatever happened to good old fashioned b'day parties, were you were just happy you were having a b'day party in the garage. You know the ones were your parents would roll the cars out into the side street , you’d clean up , put some table and chairs and maybe hang some balloons and streamers around.

The food menu would be fairy bread ( For those unfamiliar with this it is basically square white bread covered in butter and coloured sprinkles) , Sausage rolls, party pies with sauce ( also known as meat pies with ketchup for those of you unfamiliar with the Aussie language) Lots of pop corn and crisps , soda , Spiders – (Basically coca cola with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and juice. There would be a b'day cake ( Most likely chocolate and always home made – No fancy themed cake from a designer bakery costing $250) some jelly and chocolate crackles ( see recipe below of MY adapted healthy version). Give or take this would usually be the standard b'day menu. (I must admit not the most healthy and nutritious food, but hay 30 years ago our parents were not soo aware I guess!!!)

You would invite 10-15 of your friends, who would all turn up on time bearing a small gift , ALL very excited . You would then proceed to play some party games like pin the tale on the donkey (Basically picture of a donkey without a tail would be stuck to the wall and each kid is blindfolded and given a cardboard tale with blue tack on it then spun around a few times with the aim of disorienting them and then telling them to walk up to the donkey and attempting to pin the tail were it should be – Usually the tail would end up on the donkeys face, body or even no were near the animal and all the kids would sit there giggling and impatiently wait there turn to have a go at it.

Then there was musical chairs and pass the parcel, familiar games sometimes played in this day in age.
There would be some dancing , the music blaring from an old cassette radio , with smash hit songs that took you a week to record on the tape recorder.

If you were a little older you may also have played spin the bottle. (You would all sit around in a circle and each person got to spin the bottle. When the bottle stopped spinning and the lid was pointing at you you were asked to pick a truth or dare, which would be created by the other kids in the circle).
If your b'day happened to be in the summer months (EXTRA BONUS) you got to play BOB the Apple. A huge bucket would be filled with water and some apples would be floating in there. The aim of the game was to try and grab an apple with your mouth without the assistance of your hands. As kids are kids this would usually end in some kid dunking you in the water.

When it was time to sing Happy b'day and blow the candles we would all be given party hats and would sing at the top of our lungs.

When it was all over each kid would receive a goody bag which contained a few different sweets and chocolates. (That was your party favor) All kids were over the moon and off they went home.
YOU were super grateful and happy and everyone had a great time.

Chocolate crackles Healthier Version ( Vegan , refined sugar free and gluten free)
4 cups rice crispies / bubbles (Organic and sugar free)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave syrup
¼ cup fine coconut sugar
1 cup odourless coconut oil melted
pinch of sea salt

Directions
Mix all ingredients together, spoon mixture into patty cake papers and refrigerate until set.

ENJOY!!!!!

This simple recipe for flapjacks was created by me after a one hour drive with my kids. I vouched never to leave the house and put them in the car for more than   10 minutes without having some sort of snacks at hand. So do entertain yourself with the journey and hope you enjoy the recipe!!!

Anyone who has kids will tell you how much fun it is to take a trip in a car with kids for longer than the duration of 10 minutes. How many times you will hear the dreaded phrase “are we there yet”, or “how long till were there” one can only begin to explain.
So today we set off on a 1 hr drive. Luckily for us this time my daughter started asking the dreaded questions 5 minutes into the journey. After calmly explaining to her that it would take at least an hr to get there she then suggested we play a game. I roll my eyes as I know what is coming, yes the I spy with my little eye game. You know the one u have to guess what each persons little eye has spotted after given them a clue. We usually will pick a colour as the clue and then we all take turns In guessing. Kids will usually always spy something that no adult can see. Usually because its something that is hiding inside there monkey backpack which they have packed themselves and therefore nobody even knows its in there. ( Kids have the ability of making up there own rules that of course suits them) So no amount of guessing will get you anywhere. Then when u don't get it , they will proudly tell you that they have won. I'm totally cool with loosing , if that ends the game any faster Bring it on…I’ll be the QUEEN of loosing.

During the course of the ride they will also inevitably be holding something that they could not leave home without – You know all those essential things they need like water balloons, a couple rocks , 3 legos welded together some coins from some foreign country you visited 2 years ago and the list goes on. They will then drop one of these items and all hell will break loose. You will eventually be forced to pull over and retrieve the item if you want any peace for the remainder of the journey. This may be repeated a number of times until you reach your destination.

There will be a couple minutes of silence , then you will feel your car seat being kicked – usually no amount of threats will make them stop. So you may have to resolve to bribing them with ice cream or something. This usually works.

Another few minutes will pass , then you will hear bickering , screaming and crying as they start picking on each other. A thought of giving them an I pad to watch Pepa pig does cross my mind, however that goes against my moral beliefs and more importantly I don't own an Ipad.

After they have had a go at each other , they will ask for some music. Following which you will attempt to find a channel on the radio. As the connection on the high way will be terrible you will fail. They will then ask if they can hear the playlist songs that are on your phone. Be weary – This is just a trick so they can get hold of your mobile phone in order to play games or connect to some inappropriate internet site and waste all your roaming data.

By the time you retrieve your phone you will be close to your destination and you will get stuck in traffic of course. The are we there yet comments will start again. You will have some patience but then will probably crack it. At that point one of them will start screaming that they need the toilet. You will not be sure if they are bluffing or not. Usually they are BUT can you risk it? So of course you will frantically start weaving in and out of cars trying to find somewhere to stop so you can get them out the car to pee. Once out of the car you somehow maneuver the car door and position yourself as so not to expose any nakedness to the ongoing cars .You will then proceed to pull down there pants expecting waterfalls only to wait, and wait , and wait for a little drizzle to come out.
AT that point you will feel like strangling them. I strongly suggest you refrain from doing so, Its not worth it (PRISON FOOD is not that great)

Anyhow you will them scramble to get them into the car , struggle with the seat belts but eventually manage and start driving again. You will then have to deal with the phrase I'M HUNGRY. Of course you will not have any food in the car, I mean this wasn’t meant to be a road trip that needed food supplies its a one hr car drive. Even after explaining this concept to them that you can not give them food because there is simply no food in the car , they will keep insisting that they want to eat NOW and that they are Hungry. The simple response after explaining to them is sure honey what would you like. They will tell you what it is they want and then you will say “ ok making it right now, it will be ready in a minute”. At that point they will look a little confused Because they know there's no food in the damn car and there just messing with your patients because your NOT THERE YET!!

Rest assured you will eventually get there, AND they will run out the car , AND they will NOT need to go to the toilet, AND They Will NOT eat anything that they ordered at the restaurant because they were sooo hungry and the essential articles they brought with them will be forgotten somewhere only to be remembered on thee car ride back home OF course!!!

FLAPJACK RECIPE
3 cups gluten free oats
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
90 grams coconut oil

Combine melted coconut oil and maple syrup. Add the oats and coconut sugar and mix to combine. Pour into a 20 cm baking tray (lined with baking paper) and cook in a preheated oven on 170 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and leave it cool and cut into slices. Place in an airtight container and remember to take them with you on those long drives with kids!!!.

Today I woke up over the moon , unreasonably happy and felt like I could take on anything! ,So I thought it a good opportunity to have a super Healthy Happy Feel Good Eating Day.

So I started the day with some exercise – I did some physical activity for 30 minutes – my kids have a trampoline – GREAT so I just jumped up and down frantically for 30 minutes , I even managed some somersaults (Yeahhh!!!) and yes ONE MID air somersault (WOOO HOOO!!!) If your child does not own a trampoline ( GET THEM ONE) , in the meantime in the absence of it just put some music on and dance around the house.

So after working up a sweat (Feeling great – Super proud of my trampoline skills but not sure if I will be able to walk tomorrow) I had a shower and proceeded to make a Green smoothie. (Yes I know some may be tempted to say that it resembles slimy frog pond water) But it does taste SOO MUUCHHH better ( Not that Ive ever tried frog pond water!!!) OK so I threw the following in the blender:

1 frozen banana
½ cup frozen mango
1 cup apple juice ( Fresh is best)
½ teaspoon spirulina
handful on spinach
I Blended like crazy until it was silky smooth , poured it into a fancy glass and BOTTOMS UP!!

For my mid morning snack I had a crisp apple with some peanut butter ( Make sure you get the good stuff – Our Healthy Delicious peanut butter has only freshly roasted peanuts and a touch of sea salt as the ingredient). To make it fancy I sliced the apple into rings, scooped out the middle bit and then smeared them with the peanut butter and sprinkled with chia seeds and coconut shreds. If you are at work you can tell everyone you are having donuts. MMMMM ( make sure you keep away from the workplace kitchen just in case there is a birthday and there is some disgusting chocolate cream cake staring up at you , screaming EAT ME! (Exception to this is if they have ordered a Healthy Delicious Birthday cake – then you can GO Crazy!!!)

For lunch:
A delicious green garden salad with almonds and sunflower seed pate. No its not bird food! But in saying that I am sure the birds will happily peck at any leftover seed pate.

Ingredients
Leafy greens of choice (Spinach, lettuce , baby beet leaves . parsley, coriander,etc.
Pate :
½ cup Soaked almonds
½ cup Soaked sunflower seeds
½ cup soaked pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons fresh dill
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Blend all ingredients for pate to form a course pate.
Arrange leafy greens on a plate top with a few spoons of pate and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
Any leftover seed pate can be stored in an airtight jar in the fridge. It should last for a week or so..

Afternoon snack
So I was tempted to have that pick me up coconut latte coffee. BUT I reasoned with myself that it will give me a migraine so in order to stay in my Happy, Happy Happy mood I settled for a green tea ( Hot – sweetened with a little honey as I can't really  stand the taste of cigarette ash- Don't know if anyone shares the same views with me on that one, would be great to know if you do). As I drank it I kept thinking of all those anti-oxidants and cancer fighting properties I was consuming. MMM Yummy!!

DINNER TIME
Steamed brown basmati rice with coconut creamed curry lentils.
Although it sounds long and fancy this dish is really quick and simple and truly delicious.You can substitute white basmati rice if desired but do note that there is more fiber and nutritional goodness in the brown stuff.

RECIPE
Ingredients:
Brown Basmati rice
1 cup Brown lentils
1 Onion diced
1 can (400 gms) Coconut milk
3 tablespoons Coconut oil
2 cloves Garlic minced
2 inches Fresh ginger
3 tablespoons Mild curry powder or HOT if you can handle it
1 teaspoon Sea salt
2 cups Grilled broccoli
2 cups grilled cauliflower florets

Directions
Firstly cook the lentils. Its best if you soak them overnight. Discard the water and rinse them well. Put them in a pot with 3 cups of water and cook for about 25 to 30 minutes on medium heat until they are soft but not mushy. Once cooked – rinse and keep aside.

To grill veggies , cut them into florets , toss with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil a touch of salt and lay on an oven tray. Cook on oven grill on 220 degrees for about 15 minutes.

In a frying pan heat a couple tablespoons of coconut oil. Add the onion and sauté for a couple minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger, spices and salt. Cook for a couple minutes then add the cooked lentils. Stir in order to ensure well coated and then add the coconut milk . Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cooked broccoli and cauliflower florets and turn off the heat.

To serve place some rice on a plate top with curry and then garnish with chopped cilantro.

ENJOY!!

So after my Healthy eating day , I decided to have a bath , read a funny book and have an early night.

If anyone out there is up for the challenge of replicating my eating day it would be great to hear your comments if it made you feel GREAT!!

But in saying that, I would also like to hear from those of you who didn't do the whole day but selected a recipe they liked.

Happy Happy Eating !!!!