recipe for good health

Southern Region It has been a busy month squeezing in Country Kitchen’s activities across the divisions before the upcoming Christmas recess. We ran a combined West Moreton and Greater Brisbane training day in Ipswich at beginning of the month, welcoming in five new facilitators. It is great to see divisions coming together to make these training days a success. Our Oak Tree Retirement Village workshops have come to an end with this month’s summer sessions. I would like to thank all the volunteers across the region who contributed to making the last year with Oak Tree such a success! To cap off the month, Health Promotion Team Leader Lindsey and I attended the Miles Women’s Wellness Day in Maranoa division. The day welcomed over 150 women across the community and resulted in multiple registrations for the QCWA Miles branch. Thank you to Susan Gale for speaking on the QCWA activities and empowering women to make a difference in their communities.

Glynis Stevenson, Southern Region Facilitator

Central Region Hello everyone! Firstly, thank you to everyone who sent their reports in, it’s very much appreciated. Just a recap around the region, it’s so wonderful what you are all doing in your branches to promote this great program. The Oaktree summer workshops are in progress and the Capricornia Division is busy rolling these out. Jenny Wilby and Denise Campbell continue to work with the Clermont State School in promoting healthy eating drawing from a number of QCWA Country Kitchens recipes. The ladies at Mount Larcom are keeping busy with their weekly walking group and are in discussions with a few organisations to hold some back to basics cooking workshops. In fact, a common factor in reading the reports is that most branches are planning some kind of workshop in the new year. Well done! Just remember - the program is about rolling out the benefits of keeping not only ourselves but our kids and our community healthy. Healthy body, healthy mind as the saying goes! As this is our final Munch for the year I bid you all good tidings and look forward to connecting with you all again in the year 2020!!!

Rose Aston, Central Region Facilitator

Northern Region There has been a focus on Level 1-3 Training in the Northern Region this Month with Northern Division members attending the training day in Townsville and Malanda Branch are hosting the day in the Atherton Division. Bowen Branch Facilitator Eileen had 15 people attend a cooking demonstration and Showcase at Whitsunday Council Library with the First Fives Forever group. There was a showcase at the Poetry and Pasta night event for Freshwater Branch promoting key message Get more fruit and veg into your meals and Cook at home with approved Passata sauce which included extra veggies of carrot and zucchini to serve. Another activity highlighting these key messages was at the North Western Division Meeting where we held a virtual recipe promotion without the taste of the Amazing chocolate cake. Look forward to hearing what activities branches are achieving next year.

Judy Fysh, Northern Region Facilitator

Regional Round up December 2019

qcwacountrykitchens.com.au

qcwa.org.au/countrykitchens

Country Kitchens Facilitators

Connecting women who have the power to heal their communities

Fabulous Facilitators in the SpotlightJanelle Reeves of Kingaroy Branch

This month we would like to highlight Janelle Reeves of QCWA Kingaroy Branch. Janelle has been a Fabulous Facilitator for 3 years and this is what she has to say about her time with the program;

I first heard about Country Kitchens in a branch meeting. I have always been interested in cooking and leaning about new flavours and techniques. Since having children, the nutrition aspect of food has become more important. I have been a branch treasurer for 4 years also. I'd like to see our branch engage with the community more. There are many in our area that would benefit from the messages the Country Kitchens program is promoting. My strengths are that I like to help people, I like to cook. I was a mathematics teacher at high school before dedicating time to my children. I hope to go back to it one day. I enjoy teaching people new things, so the Country Kitchens program came at the right time for me to be involved. I like working with branches in our division and have met some wonderful people that would not normally cross my path.

In 2016, our branch was involved in a pilot version of the current CK program. We have continued our involvement since then with activities such as a walking group, our 5 key messages presented to a mums 'n' bubs group, partnering with local organisations to demo/cater for events such as Women in Ag days, we have promoted CK at local cattle sales too. This year we have helped children at the local school of distance Ed improve their cooking skills so they can help cook more at home with more fruit and veg and learned about the amount of sugar in their drinks. We now have 2 more members keen to help with Country Kitchens. We also demonstrated some of the healthy lunchbox recipes to 100 employees at a local organisation as part of their professional development.

I like combining cooking and gardening - growing the food we eat. I'm interested in making our food choices sustainable and teaching my children the importance of learning where their food comes from and understanding what 'real' food is and how it makes our bodies feel better and function properly when we eat it. As farmers, they see some of the processes it takes to grow crops. Much of my time is taken up with farming and the children, though I do enjoy reading with a good coffee or hanging out by the pool with my family.

If you or someone you know are keen to work with the QCWA Country Kitchens program, we are always looking to increase our volunteer workforce.

Please get in touch with us on 0417 539 663 or countrykitchens@qcwa.org.au

Recipe Corner Feta and Oregano Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

Serves 8 Prep time 15 minutes Cook time 10 minutes

1 serve per portion

Ingredients24 round cherry tomatoes100 g Danish feta, crumbled2 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, finely choppedFreshly ground black pepper1 teaspoon lemon zest 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil Micro herbs to garnish

MethodPREHEAT oven to 200C. Line oven tray with baking paper.PLACE tomatoes, stem side down on chopping board. Cut a small cross into each tomato about 1/3 of the way through, using a small sharp knife. Arrange on prepared tray.COMBINE feta, oregano, black pepper and zest in small bowl. Spoon into small zip-lock bag and cut corner. Pipe into the cross of each tomato, to fill.DRIZZLE with oil and ground black pepper.BAKE in oven for 10 minutes or until tomatoes begin to blister and feta is light golden.

SERVE garnished with micro herbs and extra olive oil.

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guidelinesCOOKING Join us on our PATH Promoting & Advocating Together for Health

recipe for good health

Recipe Modification this Festive Season

With Christmas around the corner comes the season of overindulgence. Making a few simple changes to your Christmas favourites this month will help keep you and your family fighting fit. Saturated fat, sugar and salt are ingredients in recipes that can be reduced to make recipes healthier. Check out our Country Kitchen’s 5 tips to health-a-sizing your next meal:

1. Increase the fruit and vegetables: this will help to increase the vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytochemicals and antioxidants in

your dish. TIP: add fruit or vegetables when baking cakes or muffins.

2. Reducing the sugar: reduce added sugar and instead increase naturally occurring sugars by using fresh, tinned or dried

fruits and spices. TIP: cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla can compensate for reduced sweetness.

3. Changing the fats: decrease saturated and trans-fats and increase omega 3’s, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated

fats. TIP: in baked goods replace half to all fat with unsweetened apple puree or low-fat plain yoghurt.

4. Reduce sodium: don't use salt in your baking and cooking. TIP: Choose herbs such as coriander or parsley and spices

such as paprika and cumin which complement the food and add flavour instead of salt.

5. Check your portion size: Be aware of how much food you are consuming and try to fill half your plate with veggies at main

meals. TIP: Cut cakes and slices into small finger sized pieces.

Did you know that all of our Country Kitchens recipes adhere to nutritional criteria? The main one being that all everyday foods must contain atleast one serve of fruit or veg per portion and disrectionary foods must contain atleast half a serve! To find out what the other nutritional criteria are or to read more about recipe modification (with examples of each of the tips mentioned above), check out pages 9-14 of our new Healthy Cooking Guidelines.

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Join us on our PATH Promoting & Advocating Together for Health

Get more fruit and veg into your mealsSummer is a great time to add some seasonal fruit to your salad for additional colour and flavour. Eat the rainbow!

Cook at homeInstead of buying dips for your festive social occasions try making them youself at home. They will be lower in sugar,

salt and saturated fat than most store bought varieties!

Check your portion sizeWhen loading your plate on Christmas day, remember half should be for your vegetable sides, a quarter for your ham or

turkey and a quarter for your bread, stuffing and grains.

Be aware of sugar in your drinksTry one of our refreshing iced teas this festive season. Recipes are available on the Country Kitchens website.

Sit less, move moreAre you going away these holidays? Check out your holiday destination's local council website for the best walking

tracks and take yourself on a morning stroll every day.

5 key messages for summer

Christmas Catering Tips and Ideas

Christmas is nearly here! This is often a wonderful time to cater for family and friends and cook special meals. We’ve put together some tips and ideas when catering this Christmas to ensure a happy and healthy celebration. .• Check for any special dietary requirements• Decorate the table the day before to save time• Stick to easy recipes and try some of the Country Kitchens recipes on our website• Prepare some food in advance and refrigerate • Christmas ham will keep for several weeks by covering with a clean cloth soaked in water and vinegar and kept in the

fridge• How big is your fridge? Make sure you have enough room to safely store perishable foods or have eskies with ice available

for extra food and drinks• Food Safety – Christmas in the middle of an Australian Summer can increase the risk of food poisoning, so to stay safe:

Wash hands thoroughly when preparing food, separate raw and cooked food in containers, defrost food in the fridge (turkey may take 48 hours), transport food safely (in an esky with ice), ensure fridge is kept at less than 5°C, take food out of the fridge just before serving, keep hot foods hot above 60°C, refrigerate leftover foods promptly and don’t consume perishable foods left out for more than 4 hours.

For more information, check out page 43 of our new Healhty Cooking Guidelines. And remember to send us an email to countryktichens@qcwa.org.au to get a copy sent out to your branch and any organisations you are currently partnered with for Country Kitchens activities!