A Healthy ish sweet treat

 Peanut Butter Cups !

This quick little recipe is perfect for a sweet pick me up. It's indulgent enough to hit those sugar cravings but isn't  that naughty so that you'll feel the guilt hours afterwards.

Best of all its super quick, easy and there's only four ingredients!

You will need !

   
 

•  Peanut butter
• Cocoa powder ( you can buy healthier versions than the one I used ) 
• Syrup ( use maple syrup rather than golden to feel even less guilty!) 
• Coconut oil
• Cake cases
• Baking tray!

For the base !

Mix 2 table spoons of peanut butter and coconut  oil together, (Blast in the microwave for 10 seconds so it's easier to mix )  then add in 2 table spoons of cocoa powder . Mix well and spoon into the cake cases until half full. Drizzle on top a small drop of golden syrup ( add as little or as much as you want)  Put in the freezer for 10 mins.

For the top!

Mix another two table spoons of peanut butter and coconut oil together. If you want that added little bit of sweetness add a few drops of syrup into the mix. Spoon on top of your base and pop in the freezer for another 10 mins or until hard.

And there you have it. Healthier versions of peanut butter cups with a surprise gooey centre of syrup. Yummy!

 

10 Favourite movie Scenes

Hello..

As a former film student, I thought I would give you an insight on some of my fav films. Here are my top 10 film scenes ever. I love all these scenes so much , that sometimes I will  just watch the one particular scene on youtube. I know, cool! (these are in no order by the way) 

1.The Great Gatsby : Beautiful Fool Scene. 

"And I hope she'll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl in this world can be. A beautiful little fool."

"All the bright precious things fade so fast,...and they don't come back."

Great Gatsby is my favourite book and one of my favourite films.Daisy is talking to her cousin Nick about her life and it eludes to the green light and Mr Gatsby who is just across the water. This scene gives me goosebumps every time I watch it and I'm not entirely sure why. It might be the music or maybe the the Fitzgerald quotes.

2. The Lion King: Simba becoming King of Pride Rock

Oh gosh, what an emotional roller-coaster Lion King is! This scene in particular pulls at my heart strings. Simba taking back his pride at the end of the film, epic music, rain pouring and then Rafiki says "It's Time". Disney at it's finest. Just genius.

3. Edward Scirssorhands: The Ice Dance

Edward Scissor hands carving Kim ( the girl of his dreams) out of  ice, when Kim sees, she starts dancing in the snow.Magical!! Again it's the music in this scene that gets me . So much so, I learnt to play it on the piano.

4.The Graduate: The last scene

The reality after the fairy tale ending. This is just so clever, After crashing a wedding and running away with the bride, they make their get away on a bus.Instead of  smiling and giddy with excitement like you would expect they are full of uncertainty and worry.  Almost like "what now."
Not your classic happily ever after which is what I like about it.

5.The Muppets:Life's a happy song.

My go to film when I'm ill. The first number is just so happy and uplifting, it's a song about being happy, what's not to like here! You can't help but smile and sing along with this scene.

6. 500 days of Summer:Expectation V Reality

The expectation versus the reality scene is a really clever way to portray the protagonists point of view.Tom is going to Summer's party, he expects it to go one way but it turns out so heartbreakingly different.   I also love the Regina Spektor song that plays throughout the scene

7.The Shawshank Redemption: Last scene.

Andy and Red are finally reunited. This scene always makes me quite emotional, every time I watch it, you can just hear the viewer hoping that they'll meet again and when you see Red walking down the beach to Andy it's such an uplifting ending.  " I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."

8.Bridesmaids: The food Poisoning Scene

Five girls in a pristine, white, expensive bridal shop all wearing designer dresses and suddenly they come down with a case of food poisoning with only one toilet.......So Funny! It's so vulgar and disgusting, it's just Hilarious. What an absolute nightmare, can you just imagine?!?

9. Atonement: Dunkirk Scene

This scene is visually beautiful.  The camera pans around Dunkirk beach showing the viewer all the horror and sadness of the war all in one moving shot, from horses being shot to soldiers skinny dipping to a choir singing in the bandstand.  An incredible scene

10. Singing in the Rain:The song

Finally, I urge anyone who is having a down day to take 5 mins out, search on YouTube
 "singing in the rain" and watch this scene it will truly put a smile on your face.

So that's my top ten favourite scenes, hope you enjoyed them, if you haven't seen any  of these film, go and watch them !!! Please let me know if I'm not the only one who re watches their favourite scenes over and over. What are your go to scenes to cheer yourself up ? 

Cheers to that!

Hello...

Welcome to my blog!

I'm using this as a little outlet for my thoughts and general happenings in my life .  An electric journal or a virtual scrapbook if you will. Everything food,health, film and beauty related. A right old mix allowing me to get back into my hobby of writing.

This first post, I will be talking about wine!The red kind !


Now, I'm not actually a big drinker but when I saw an article claiming that a glass of red wine can help aid weight loss I was pretty intrigued!
The article claimed that a glass of red wine a night helped keep cravings at bay for chocolate, sweets and anything you choose to indulge in. (even though the calories in a glass of wine are pretty close to a piece of chocolate cake)

Being one who hunts for a sweet treat after dinner, I thought why not, lets give it go.

I brought your standard red wine from the local shop, got my abnormally large wine glass out and began my mini experiment.

Day one: 

I stuck to my usual routine of fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch, and meat and veg for dinner, and even a trip to the gym.  It felt a bit odd reaching for the wine on a Monday night, it felt wrong almost, knowing I was getting up the next day at 7:30 am and there I was relaxing with a glass of fruity Merlot feeling more like it was a Friday night.  As I said earlier, I am not a big drinker, so this small glass of red wine made me feel slightly tipsy and light headed.  I guess the wine satisfied me in some way,but by 9pm I was hunting through the freezer for a mini Twister lolly.

Day two to Five

I stuck to this unusual routine, healthy meals in the day and getting tipsy in the night. This resulted in me going to bed at 9:30pm every night! Wine makes me very sleepy and so I guess by making me fall asleep, I was restricting my calories.

Day Six & Seven

On the weekend this addition to my diet felt more natural.  I enjoyed it more on the weekend and I found myself looking forward to my glass of red after my evening meal.  I even reached for a second glass on Saturday, getting me through euro vision and the sleepy phase of alcohol. I felt like it was an indulgent treat which did control my sweet cravings for a while, but don't get me wrong if someone offered me a bar of chocolate  I would almost definitely have taken it . But that might say more for my will power rather than the experiment

Verdict

Put simply-No I would say that wine does not aid weight loss.  I wouldn't recommend drinking it in the week days it basically put me to sleep. A glass of red wine on the weekend is a good substitute for a bar of chocolate if you are watching what you eat. But like any indulgence in life, it's knowing when to stop.