October

So the clocks have gone back, the nights are going dark and (apparently) around 160,000 people have quit smoking. October is an influential month for more reasons than one.

STOPTOBER - Somebody in the Government woke up one morning and combined the words STOP with OCTOBER, this play on words created enough ammo to make a stop smoking scheme; a month whereby people would quit smoking because they were so drawn in by the pun itself.

During STOPTOBER you can order a Stoptober Pack containing information/help/advice/charts/ideas based on quitting smoking - I don't think the kit contains actual 'Stop Smoking' produce like NiQuitin Patches but clearly it contains enough to stop 160,000 people smoking!

Hands up to everyone who quit smoking through Stoptober, for the others who 'accidentally' missed it, you can get the same kit (for free) on this website at anytime of the year. If it's a pun that you need to motivate yourself then why not formulate:

NO-VEMBER (No Smoking November) 

DITCHCEMBER (Ditch It December)

... Okay i'm kidding my puns were awful and I'm not about to set up a Stop Smoking Campaign and make an artificial deadline, if you want to stop smoking you will. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month -  Breast Cancer Care chose October to be the month of awareness, the month which pushes everything pink and educates people about the awful disease that is Breast Cancer. You've probably seen groups of women wearing pink, selling pink cupcakes and talking about boobs - Yes this may be the norm for some women, pink/cupcakes/boobs (how stereotypical) but for the others they are campaigning for a cure.

I wanted to think of a way I could support Breast Cancer on my blog, without having to upload a photo of myself head to toe in pink (i'm not a pink person). So I decided to make a pink healthy recipe that's perfect for Autumn.

Clean Healthy Raspberry and Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 9 TBSP of Oat Flour
• 1 1/2 TSP of Baking Powder
• 1 TSP of Ground Cinnamon
• 3 TBSP of Sweetener (I used Stevia- Use whatever you want and sweeten it to your own preference)
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 Ripe Bananas
• Handful of Raspberries 
• 3 Eggs (2 full eggs and 1 for egg whites)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200c

2. Make the Oat Flour by blending up porridge oats.

3. Combine dry ingredients through a sieve and mix together.
4. In a separate bowl, mash raspberries and bananas (minus 1/4 of a banana- Keep this to the side) and whisk the eggs in using 1 egg white and 2 full eggs.
5. Mix all ingredients together.
6. Add to bread tin - Cut up the 1/4 banana you left to the side and place the pieces on top of the mixture (Simply for cute decoration).
 7. Put in the oven for 30-40 minutes - I wasn't 100% sure of the time so just keep an eye on the bread - You can check if it's done by putting a knife in the centre, if it comes out clean then the bread is ready.

As you can see I didn't own a rectangle bread tin, so I made a bread bun.

The recipe may not scream pink but I don't think anything bright pink looks particularly healthy. This banana bread defines 'clean eating' and is perfect for a quick breakfast fix or a healthy dessert.

NOW FOR HALLOWEEN AND BONFIRE NIGHT! Bring on the fake blood and the Bonfire lollies.