It’s funny how one thing can lead to another… and another…

My regular readers might recall that a few months ago I created a rather unusual recipe for Minions Cornsicles in my trusty Optimum 9400 power blender. This was in collaboration with Tots 100 and Green Giant – I was asked to develop a recipe including sweetcorn that would appeal to children.

Problem: my children don’t like sweetcorn. Nonetheless, I accepted the challenge!

I created a rather unusual vegan, refined-sugar-free ice lolly which tastes nothing of sweetcorn. My three children loved them, and scoffed them up with no idea that there were hidden vegetables inside.

I thought nothing more of these lollies until I was informed that Green Giant were that impressed with my recipe, I’d won the first prize in their competition! I didn’t even know there was a competition!

I’d won a VIP screening of the Minions film for myself and 25 guests!

The thing is, we’d already taken the kids to see the Minions film, and nearly all the other families I knew had already seen the film. How could I find 25 children who hadn’t already seen it?

My queries led me to Disability Shetland and their successful Junior Saturday Club. They were looking for ideas to keep the children entertained while our local swimming pool was closed for repairs. This was just the sort of thing they could use!

A few weeks later after much discussion between our local cinema Mareel, Universal Pictures and Disability Shetland, 19 children between the ages of four and twelve piled into the cinema for an exclusive screening – Universal Pictures even bought popcorn for all of them.

I was rather chuffed to have been able to do this for a group of complete strangers. Some of these children had never been to the cinema before. It’s a fantastic feeling to be able to touch someone’s life like that.

But the story doesn’t end there!

One of the Disability Shetland co-coordinators occasionally writes for Shetland Life, a monthly magazine published by The Shetland Times. He said he’d mentioned my donation to them and they were keen to have him write a short piece on the event. I said that would be lovely, and yes, feel free to reproduce the recipe in the magazine.

The magazine came out this week, and much to my surprise they’ve not only gone and published a really lovely article along with the recipe, they’ve made it a full double page feature and they’ve collaborated with Harry’s Department Store (our local one stop shop for everything for the home) in a competition! All you need to do is make my Minions Cornsicles and send them a photo! One lucky winner will receive a Minions toy courtesy of Harry’s.

You can find all the details in the October issue of the Shetland Life magazine. It’s available in most shops throughout Shetland or, you can, if you fancy, buy a digital issue via their website.

In the meantime, Tots 100, as a thank you for participating in the challenge, sent me a £27 Odeon cinema voucher so I could take my whole family to the cinema. Our nearest Odeon cinema is an overnight ferry ride away in Aberdeen, on the mainland, and we’re not planning any family trips there any time soon.

So, I thought one of you lovely readers might like to have it instead! Spread the love! All you need to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below. What film would you like to go and see?

GIVEAWAY

Win a £27 Odeon Voucher redeemable at participating Odeon and ABC branded cinemas in the UK.

HOW TO ENTER

For your chance to win £27 Odeon Voucher enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Come back and tweet about the giveaway every day for more chances to win!

TERMS & CONDITIONS

This giveaway is open to UK entries only. Entrants must be age 18 or over. The winner will need to respond within 7 days of being contacted; failure to do this may result in another winner being selected.

The prize is offered and provided by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary. The prize is to win a £27 Odeon Voucher. There is no cash alternative and the prize is not transferable.

There is no entry fee and no purchase is necessary to enter this giveaway. The promoter (Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary) reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice.

Entry into our giveaways will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.

If you need some help using Rafflecopter, here’s a quick clip to show you how. Rafflecopter will pick the winner at random from all the entries received. I will be verifying entries and any automated entries or those who have claimed they have made the mandatory blog post comment and really haven’t will be disqualified. It’s mandatory!

Closing date is midnight (that’s 00:00 hours, 12 am!) on Monday 12 October 2015 (GMT) and the winner will be announced shortly afterwards.

Visit my Giveaways Page for other fab giveaways!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary uses the Froothie Optimum 9400 blender, and the Froothie Optimum 600 slow juicer to make her juices, soups and smoothies. These are affiliate links, meaning if you buy a blender or juicer through them we will earn a small commission. This is not a paid post and all thoughts and opinions are our own. This post may also contain affiliate links for Amazon.co.uk

Animated minions gif from giphy.com