Movie & Shows to Binge Watch this Christmas

Movies & Shows to binge watch this Christmas

If you’re looking for some movies or TV shows to binge watch this Christmas but you’re fed up of the usual cheesy Christmas movies – look no further! We’ve compiled a list of our favourite TV shows and movies that are perfect for a duvet day!

The True Cost Film

We recently attended an event for this film to support and promote sustainable fashion. Revealing the secrets of fast fashion and shedding a light on our true environmental impact, this film is sure to enlighten you this Christmas.

Watch it here.

Small Foot

A fun animated tale that turns the traditional story of Bigfoot on its head. Migo, the friendly Yeti faces banishment from his snowy village when he finds a Human. “Migo embarks on an epic journey to find the mysterious creature that can put him back in good graces with his simple community”.

Click here for more information.

The Good Place

Eleanor Shellstrop is surprised to find herself in the good place in the afterlife. Upon realising that she isn’t supposed to be there, Eleanor enlists the help of her new found friends and frenemies to shed her old way of life in hopes of finding a new one in the afterlife.

Watch it here.

Hollywood Darlings

“In this improvised comedy, real-life friends, Jodie Sweetin, Christine Lakin and Beverley Mitchell, play exaggerated versions of themselves in their current lives navigating the ups and downs of living in Hollywood. The actresses support one another as they tackle marriage, parenting and reviving their acting careers”.

Watch it here.

Great News

Every workplace is like a family. For Katie, this gets all too real when her mum is employed as an intern. “That's just scratching the surface of this slightly offbeat team” made up of old school news anchor Chuck, millennial Portia, executive producer Greg and laid back video editor Justin. Despite their malfunctioning relationships, it doesn’t stop them doing what they do best – breaking the news.

Watch it here.

Welcome to the Jungle

“Beck is a tight-lipped bounty hunter who doesn't like to use a gun and accepts any job without asking questions. When Beck's employer, Walker, sends him to the Amazon to locate Walker's cocky son, Travis, Beck discovers a population controlled by a tyrannical treasure hunter. To survive, Beck and Travis must work together, without their affections for a mysterious rebel getting in the way”.

Watch it here.

Passengers

“On a routine journey through space to a new home, two passengers, sleeping in suspended animation, are awakened 90 years too early when their ship malfunctions. As Jim and Aurora face living the rest of their lives on board, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction until they discover the ship is in grave danger. With the lives of 5,000 sleeping passengers at stake, only Jim and Aurora can save them all”.

Watch it here.

The Grinch

The 2018 remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a modern animated tale perfect for the Christmas holidays. “When the Whos decide to make Christmas bigger and brighter, the disgruntled Grinch realizes there is one way to gain peace and quiet. With help from Max, the green grump hatches a scheme to pose as Santa Claus, steal Christmas and silence the Whos' holiday cheer once and for all”.

Click here for information.

Let us know what your favourite movies and shows to binge watch are!

Sincerely Madia & Matilda

Plant Based Christmas - #Foodie

Vegan/Vegetarian Christmas Foodie

Whether you are a vegan/vegetarian yourself or are hosting the Christmas dinner this year we’ve got 3 dishes to help make your Christmas dinner perfect for everyone.

Below we’ve chosen two savoury dishes – a main and a side dish – as well as a sweet chocolate mousse to impress your guests this Christmas.

Vegetarian Butternut Squash Salad with Roasted Brussels sprouts, Pecans, and Cranberries.

We love this recipe from Julia’s Album – click here to read her original post.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups/300g Brussel Sprouts
• 600-700g Butternut Squash
• 2 cups/250g Pecan Halves
• 1 cup/120g Dried Cranberries
• Olive Oil
• Maple Syrup
• Ground Cinnamon
• Salt

To Roast the Sprouts:

Preheat the oven to 200°C & grease your roasting tray with some olive oil.

Cut all the sprouts in half, trim the ends and peel the outer leaves off.

In a bowl, combine the sprouts with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt.

Spread evenly on the roasting tray (flat/cut side down) and roast for 20 – 25 minutes.

For the final 10 minutes turn the sprouts over so that they brown evenly.

To Roast the Butternut Squash:

Preheat the oven to200°C & grease your roasting tray with some olive oil.

Cut all the squash into small cubes –peeled and seeded.

In a bowl, combine the squash with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and flavour with maple syrup and ground cinnamon to taste.

Spread evenly on the roasting tray and roast for 20 – 25 minutes, turn them half way through the cooking time to ensure even cooking.

To toast the Pecans:

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a tray with parchment paper.

Place them flat on the tray in the oven for about 5 minutes or until they darken in colour.

To Assemble:

In a large serving bowl, combine the roasted sprouts and roasted butternut squash.

Add in the toasted pecans and dried cranberries and mix together.

For extra sweetness you can add 2 or 4 tablespoons of maple syrup or add any other seasonings you wish.

Giant Vegan Wellington.

We love this vegan recipe from Olive Magazine – To read the original article and recipe click here.

This show stopping main course is sure to impress all of your guests.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 250g kale, tough stalks removed
• 250g cooked beetroot , thinly sliced
• 3 roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and halved

For the stuffing:

• 2 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 150g swede, coarsely grated
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• a few sprigs of thyme , leaves stripped
• nutmeg
• 200g ready-cooked Puy lentils
• 1 apple, coarsely grated
• 30g hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped
• 50g breadcrumbs
• 1 lemon, zested

For this you can either make your own pastry or use a vegan shop-bought pastry – it’s completely up to you!

To make the stuffing:

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and swede for 5-10 minutes or until soft. 

Add the herbs and spices (garlic, thyme and nutmeg), and cook for another minute.

Add in the cooked lentils, apple and hazelnuts, and cook for 1 minute before stirring through the breadcrumbs and lemon zest.

Leave it to one side to cool.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan and cook the chopped garlic for 2 minutes.

Add the kale and a splash of boiling water, and cook until it has wilted and the water has evaporated.

Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble:

On a floured piece of parchment paper, roll out one third of the pastry to a 25cm x 15cm rectangle.

Leaving a 1cm gap around the edges, spoon on half of the stuffing mixture, half of the kale and half of the beetroot slices.

Repeat the layers until you have used all of the mixture.

Roll out the remaining pastry to a 35cm x 30cm rectangle.

Carefully place it on top of the wellington and use your hands to mould the pastry round so it is tight to the filling.

Use your finger and thumb to crimp the edges of the pastry so it’s completely encased, then trim any excess.

Chill for 30 minutes.

To Cook:

Place in the oven at 180-200°C for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crispy.

Vegan Chocolate Mousse.

We found this mouth-watering dessert recipe on mindbodygreen.com – click here to see the original post.

Ingredients:

• 1 large ripe avocado
• 1/4 cup raw cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup coconut milk or almond milk
• 2 teaspoon stevia (or other natural sweetener)
• 1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

Purée the avocado until smooth.

Mix together the cocoa powder and milk until combined and add to the avocado.

Stir in the stevia, vanilla extract, and any extra ingredients you want and mix well.

Transfer the mousse to individual glasses and store in the fridge until ready to eat.

Sincerely Madia & Matilda

National Gingerbread House Day #Foodie

Happy National Gingerbread House Day!

To celebrate national gingerbread house day, we're sharing with you a festive recipe for building your very own gingerbread house.

We love this easy Mary Berry gingerbread recipe:
If you want to read the original more in depth recipe click here.


Ingredients:

For the Gingerbread:
375g unsalted butter
300g dark muscovado sugar
150g golden syrup
900g plain flour
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp ground ginger

For the icing:

3 free-range egg whites

675g icing sugar, sifted

3 tsp lemon juice

For the decoration:

Boiled sweets

Chocolate buttons

Jelly sweets

Chocolates

Powder icing sugar

Cake board

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200°C or 180°C for a fan assisted oven.

In a large pan, melt together the butter sugar and syrup.

In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger together.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid butter mixture. Stir it in and, when cool enough to handle, knead into a stiff dough.

Next divide the dough into five equal pieces, then divide one of those into two - so you have six pieces of dough in total.

Roll out each piece of dough out on to a sheet of parchment paper to ¾cm thickness.

Using a template, cut the pieces to make the sides and roof of the house.

Using a sharp knife, cut out the windows, doors and star shape on the back.

Place the doors on a separate tray and re-roll the offcuts to make a chimney.

Slide onto baking trays and bake for 8 minutes or until even in colour.

To make glass windows in your gingerbread house, crush up some boiled sweets (any colour you desire) and place them in the windows. Place these pieces back in the oven until the sweets have melted.

Leave the gingerbread to cool completely before decorating.

Time to decorate!

You can be as creative as you want with the decoration of your gingerbread house. It can be covered in colourful sweets or iced and decorated in a more traditional style - it's completely up to you!

To make the icing, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Using a wooden spoon or a hand-held electric mixer on slow speed, add the icing sugar a tablespoonful at a time. Stir in the lemon juice and beat the icing until it is very stiff and white.

Next, to create roof tiles, spoon the icing into a piping bag and pipe small dots on the back of the chocolate buttons and stick onto the roof of the ginger bread house.

Spoon six tablespoons of the icing over the cake board and, using a palette knife, spread the icing to cover the board with a snow effect and to create a base to stick the house on to.

Pipe some icing along the wall edges and join the house together on an iced cake board. Leave the icing to dry for a minimum of four hours, but preferably overnight.

Once dry, stick the roof onto the walls of the house. If you want your gingerbread house to look especially Christmassy, place a couple of fake tealights or nightlights inside before adding the roof. The light will shine through the boiled sweet windows and make it look like a real home.

Pipe some icing along the apex and edges of the roof to look like snow and icicles. Stick the front door in place with icing. Once you have finished decorating, dust the house with icing sugar for the final snowy touch.

The rest is up to you! Go crazy with colourful jelly sweets or make some gingerbread characters or trees to accompany the house.

This gingerbread house makes the perfect Christmas decoration, you could even give this to someone as an amazing gift!

If you decide to follow this recipe make sure to let us know by tagging #MadiaMatilda and #GingerBreadHouseDay

Sincerely Madia & Matilda

  

Plastic-Free Tips & Tricks

Plastic-Free Tips & Tricks

We’re dreaming of a green Christmas…

Christmas is one of those holidays where there is plenty of excess and wastage. From gift wrap and decorations to party plates and cutlery. Our aim this Christmas is to help you celebrate in the most sustainable way possible.

Sustainable Decorations

Making your own Christmas decorations is not only a great family activity but it could also save you money as well as the planet. We’ve got two easy DIY Christmas decorations for you to try out!

Whether you’re changing the colour scheme of your tree or just looking to add some sparkle, why not update your existing Christmas baubles this year?
A simple way to spruce up your decorations is to add some glitter. You can either paint the entire bauble and dip it in glitter. Use gold, silver, red or green glitter or any colour that matches your theme. Alternatively, you could go for a more subtle approach by painting the glue in a festive shape. From snowflakes and stars to trees and phrases – this DIY works with any pattern or shape and brings the sparkle back to your decorations again.

If you want to create something interesting and unique to your Christmas tree this year, why not try making these cute felt ornaments?

For this DIY you will need:A sewing needle
Coloured felt
Matching thread
A ribbon to hang the decoration with
A pair of scissors
A few pins

To begin making this craft you’ll need to make yourself a template of the design you want to create, or you can find one online. Start by cutting out the template pieces and laying them on top of the felt, making sure to cut out your pieces in the correct colours. Next Cut your ribbon to around 12cm long. Once, you have all of your pieces cut out you can assemble what your ornament will looks like by layering your pieces to form the design. Sandwich the ribbon in between two pieces of felt to create the loop for hanging. Attach the ribbon, in a loop, to the inside of one of your pieces with a few stitches. Now Sew along the edges of each pieces of felt to attach them all together, making sure to use corresponding coloured thread. To make the ornament double sided – make a copy of the pieces you made earlier and sew both designs back to back. Then, you’re all done and ready to decorate your tree!

If you want to follow a pictorial to help you make these ornaments, we found this great one by Laura Howard – click here to read it.

Plastic-free Wrapping Paper

Sadly, most wrapping papers cannot be recycled because of the printed pattern on them so this year we have found some eco-friendly, sustainable wrapping paper to ensure your Christmas is as sustainable as possible. 

1. Hobby craft sells eco wrapping paper for just £3.00 a roll. Printed on eco brown paper these rolls of wrapping paper are much more easily recycled than most paper. Order online or check in your local store to see what they have in stock.
   Click here to shop.
2. Re-wrapped is a fantastic eco-friendly business, it was “founded in 2011 and specialises in designing and producing a range of top-quality wrapping paper and other products, made solely from 100% recycled paper.”
   Click here to shop.
3. Happywrap specialises in reusable fabric gift wrap. The perfect way to wrap your eco-friendly gifts this Christmas to minimise your waste. Shop a variety of sizes in different pattern and colours and keep them to wrap presents again and again.
   Click here to shop.

Sustainable Crackers

Christmas crackers can contain a lot of plastic and aren’t always recyclable. As one of the most essential parts of any festive celebration, we thought we’d show you how to make this Christmas tradition as sustainable as possible.

If you haven’t got time to make your own or just don’t want the fuss of finding gifts and jokes to go inside, we’ve found some crackers you can buy in supermarkets and high street shops that have little waste.

1. Our first shop bought crackers are from Hotel Chocolat. Each mini cracker has a gourmet chocolate hiding inside and even has space on the outside for writing your guests names on. We can’t be 100% sure that the card cracker is recyclable (make sure you check the label before buying!) but they certainly have less waste than a regular cracker with all of the plastic gifts inside.
   Click here to buy.
2. The second option we have found for you is reusable crackers. Keep This Cracker, run by Bea Thackeray, is a sustainable way to celebrate Christmas whilst also reducing your waste too. These crackers come flat packed for you to fill with personalised gifts for all the family – to reuse them next year simply replace the ‘snap’ and they're ready for festive fun all over again. Better still, the packaging they are shipped in is 100% recyclable too.
   Click here to buy.

Bulk Buying

If you have a large family or lots of friends to celebrate with this Christmas, why reduce your waste and shop more sustainably whilst also saving yourself some pennies. Buy in bulk can be an excellent way of stocking up for Christmas, whether you buy food, gifts or decorations, wholesales can be great value for money as well as eco-friendly by saving on the individual wrapping.

We’ve compiled a list of our favourite wholesales for this Christmas.

1. In recent years, there has been a rise in supporting small businesses so why not bulk buy from a small brand? We love Etsy for this as it supports a number of small brands, most of which are sustainable or eco-friendly too. This is a great way of buying lots of gifts and getting your Christmas shopping done in record time!
   Click here to explore Etsy bulk buying.
2. If you’re looking for Christmas cards this year look no further than Tree Free greetings. They stock a wide range of greeting cards as well as gifts including drinkware, stationery, magnets, playing cards and much more. Great for bulk buying eco greetings cards as well as small gifts that are perfect for your reusable crackers!
   Click here to shop.
   Shop their sister brand for more Christmas gifts for all the family! http://www.somdiff.com/
3. If you're looking for gifts to fill your Christmas crackers or stocking fillers Shared Earth has you covered. Offering a wide range of recycled gifts, including ranges made with recycled crayons, bike chains, circuit boards, tyres, glass, metal & many other creatively recycled products.
   Click here to shop.
4. Wrapping presents can be difficult and although gift boxes are pretty and useful, they're not always sustainable. We’ve found a brand who solves this problem – Fold-A-Box. Their flatpack boxes are beautiful and made with a natural Kraft finish – perfect for all your present wrapping problems this Christmas!
   Click here to shop.

Sincerely Madia & Matilda