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Christmas mince pies - easy and quick to make

Christmas mince pies - easy and quick to make

Christmas mince delight. Yes I have used the word delight as Christmas mince is only made once a year in our house and at a time when the kids are super excited for Christmas. What a delight!

There are so many things you can do with Christmas mince. However the first thing is to know how to make Christmas mince, so we have attached a very simple Christmas mince recipe for you below.

Do you often have left over Christmas mince? If so, here are the things you can make with Christmas mince

  • Christmas Mince pies – make it with the kids. If you buy already made sheets of sweet pastry, all you have to do is get the kids to cut out circle shapes for the bottom of the muffin tins and maybe a star shape for the lids. Our kids love to help. Check out our Munch Christmas Mince pies here.
  • Christmas Mince topping on ice cream – you might like to add a bit of water and reduce it further down so that it becomes
  • Make a tart out of the Christmas Mince
  • Crumble bars
  • Keep your Christmas Mince for next year – yes it will last if you keep it safe
  • Read more here for further ideas for your Christmas Mince.
  • Merry Christmas to you all xx

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Living to our values - is that possible and how

Living to our values - is that possible and how
Living to our values

I have recently done some work around how I want my life to be going forward.  Mainly because I have had a bit of time lately as I have been recovering at home after surgery.  I recall before children I often had yearly mantras, values, goals and I was really good at sticking to them. But over the last 16 years they have fallen away as my time has been given to my children/family and their goals. I am still doing that for my children but I decided it was time to work on mine again.

To be honest I use to think people who read so called 'self help' type books as being slightly crazy and belittled it. About 18 months I joined my first business group called EO - Entrepreneurial Organisation.  You have to be at a certain revenue level to be invited into the organisation so it is not for one hit wonders.  But this organisation is all about growth on all levels being family, personal and business.  And the reference material (which includes business books, self help type books and much more)  have been fantastic.  I do love learning and I am quite a little fact gather.  In fact, I am going to set up a little funky library in my home in the new year. A warm, soft, relaxing space with delicious calm lighting.  So last week while sunbathing on my deck in the Wellington Spring sun I read a book called Life by Design, Jack Daly. Although this chap is pretty extreme as he even measures sleep times so not something I would be looking at doing.  Also I believe there is something about just letting things happen in good time.  However he had some good ideas on values.

So I want to live more to my values and as you know looking after the planet is one of my values (along with fitness, connections plus the basics of being a good human - honesty, trust, integrity and loyality).  Have you considered what your values are and do they flow through in all parts of your life?  I suppose I want to amplify mine as much as I can afford too.

This month I purchased a new EV car. Previously I drove a hybrid but I thought it was about time to go the full way. One of my dreams is to build a full eco off the grid house by the sea, but that will just have to wait for now. I think a big part of it is to get lost in the research and design of the build.  Recently I had a beehive installed in my garden. I would love to only eat plant based food but I do have three boys so going to try at least 5 nights plant based. I am currently looking into solar power at my home and hope to progress that as well. I am also researching how I can be more energy efficient in other areas in my large 3 level old wooden NZ house (maybe a little impossible to be fully eco - whatever that means!)  I am also in the process of expanding my vege pod which conveniently sits outside my kitchen door.  

Things that I am already doing are below (thought this might give other people ideas):
  • Obviously we use all our Munch lines in our home from dish soaps, dish cloths, teatowels, wooden dish/veg brushes, cleaning tabs, compostable bin liners,  laundry soaps, laundry dryer balls, laundry sheets, stainless steel pegs, beeswax wraps. silicone and cotton covers, baking mats, wooden utensils, wool make up removers, body soaps, wood ear buds, reusable coffee cups, straws etc
  • We use our Munch refillery for all our cleaning products
  • I try to buy high quality second hand clothing
  • We recycle
  • We compost
  • We try and shop local for our food and if buying new clothes I would buy New Zealand made or designed locally
  • We are conscious of our food waste and try to use all parts of a food source when cooking or baking
  • When we travel we use Mevo EV cars 
  • We off set our carbons when taking flights
  • We dont print anything at home and use devices to record things
  • Kids take buses when they can
  • We would love to shop for our groceries at unpackaged supermarkets, but not possible. But I do try and buy products with the least packaging.
We are certainly not perfect but we are trying. Small steps count.
 
Is there anything else I should be doing? Email me your ideas to info@munchcupboard.com.

Will keep dreaming about that eco build by the sea of mine to really be eco to the max!

Thanks for listening to my ramble again 
Anna Mills-Bordignon xx

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Disconnecting from social media - monthly thoughts by our Founder

Disconnecting from social media - monthly thoughts by our Founder
Disconnecting from social media - the election

Stop notifying me and serving me up nonsense. Some days I feel that I need to whisper the above into my phone so the algorithms serve me up things I actually really want? I actually want well written election articles at the moment. Or maybe I need to turn my smart phone off and pick up the old fashion newspaper (assuming that is better).
 
I have been dreaming of going to my special place on the east coast.  It is a place that has no internet or cell phone reception,  no cafes, shingle roads and a place you can walk for miles without interruption. You can surf, fish, swim, dive in water that is so fresh, clear and wild.  It is a secret place I want no one else to find or a least no one to develop.  I will often climb to the top of the cliff over looking the beach and look beyond my world and onto the next. It is refreshing and allows me to keep things in perspective. While at night I will go to the same place and lie back and just look at the stars and beyond. It is a place of real connections with nature and a place that does not allow for my smart phone to notify me of things I just don't need to know about.  

I think our world has become full of information served to us that is not needed. Therefore we need places to escape too with those we love.  We need to connect with nature and we need to connect in person with people.  There is a massive gap between connections on social media through images of beautiful beaches to the real state of being that draws all the senses to become alive and present.  Seeing with our eyes 'the real' and touching in person is something that social media will never be able to replace. And frankly the constant notification and attention that my phone requires is exhausting.  Even though I turn many of the app notifications off I still get drawn into messages which I just dont need to know about.

As you know I recently did a Tedtalk style presentation this month on HOPE - our future, our planet, our young ones.  Did you know that 60% of our young ones believe there is no hope for our planet?  Did you know that there is now a clinical diagnosis called 'Climate anxiety' that ranges from sadness, anxiety, depression to suicide and the numbers diagnosed are growing.

Maybe we need our young ones to spend more time in nature and have them disconnect from social media.  My talk was not about these two points as I could only cover 3 key areas within my 15 minute time limited. The topics I did cover were what history has taught us, conversations that are needed with our young ones and how we can empower them.  But connecting with nature and disconnecting from the artificial is something I know I need right now and I cant imagine how our young people feel when bombarded with negative climate change messaging all the time.



So who has been following the election lead up?  I made my kids watch part of the first Leaders debate on TV. I think it is really important for children to understand the political landscape they live in.  My children are almost too young to fully understand or at least be able to watch a full debate but I did manage to talk about some of the issues with them.  My middle child said that the candidates visited his high school and he loved hearing what they had to say. I thought that was fantastic that the school encouraged and arranged such an event. I have no doubt that my middle child will continue to be political and I cant wait to see what changes he will be able to make for his future.

I recently read a great Stuff article on what each party has to say about climate change. I think it is fantastic that climate change policies are a key issue for all parties, but as to how they will follow through on them is another story.  

Thanks for listening to my ramble again 
Anna Mills-Bordignon xx

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Clear positive thinking - hope talks - monthly thoughts by Anna our Founder

Clear positive thinking - hope talks - monthly thoughts by Anna our Founder

Muddled thinking and the love of clarity.

I love being around clear thinkers and communicators. To me that is a strong focused individual who is very powerful. Also I think it is very sexy!

 I mean those that are able to extrapolate large complex information (both intellectually and emotionally) down to a well balanced and clear point that they are able to articulate empathically to another. I have added the word 'empathically' as if a person is unable to communicate empathically I would rather they kept their mouth closed, as to me empathy keeps us human, connected without judgement, avoids the establishment of hate or confusion (I know a lot to unpack there but not for this mailer otherwise it will be too long)

I don't really care if the point is not from my perspective but I love the clarity of the thinking and the empathetic delivery of it.  I suspect that these people have many 'thought storms' but are able to temper them and draw out logical arguments.  Along with the ability to really unpack the levels that are blocked to address the real feeling and need that is driving a position.

I can be a clear conscious thinker and my legal training has helped me do that, however when there are two many opinions, too much distraction, too much negativity, too busy, not enough time to process and be in the present I get a little muddled.  However once I am clear I just love that feeling of freedom of thought and all that needs to happen from there is to release it through conscious action.

I think the whole green movement can be so overwhelming and distracting. There is so much confusing information around what is eco and what is not. Unfortunately there is a band wagon of great business people who are focusing on the negative aspects of companies trying to be green rather than offering positive solutions to keep moving it forward. No one likes to be told off. Also many of the messages are not well thought out and the only clear point is the ' haha look what I have found, they are being naughty', which is essentially the ego talking  This has not happened to us but I see the trend happening and I believe it is not helpful to the cause.

I have been asked to do a Tedtalk style presentation at the end of September to around 300 people in a theatre in Auckland. I will be accompanied by 8 other amazing entrepreneurs.  Yes a little daunting and quite outside my comfort zone but the amazing part is that I am getting trained by Miriam from Naked Audience who specialises in training CEO/Entrepreneurs on impact speaking. My talk will be about the lack of hope that our young ones have for the future based on the retort around climate change. As you can tell above, it is one of my pet hates as language and messaging can effect how people see the world and more to the point can demotivate people to take action. 

Till next time - grateful
Anna Mills-Bordignon xx

PS make sure you check out our kitchen sub for your home or business. Great value and effortless

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Corporate Gifts - show your impact through us

Corporate Gifts  - show your impact through us

Over the years we have worked with many businesses through corporate gifting.  Products a business chooses for their customers says something about their brand. It is never been more important to make sure those choices are saying something good.

We have recently created a page on our website for more information on Corporate Gifting. Here is the link

We would love to work with more businesses this year for Christmas so please do get in touch and we can create an impact together with ease. Just email Sonya at order@munchcupboard.com

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