Do you have a tired neck?

Here is a tip to help a stiff and tired neck. Roll up a towel and place it across your back (approx shoulder blade area). Lie down on the floor with it still across your back. Hold this position for at least 1 minute. Move the towel either up or down (find your sore bits!) and hold this position for another minute. This will give your upper back a nice stretch.

Spring is in the Air!

After having a house full of guests on a bleak and wet Fathers Day, I wake today to see the sun shining. Grrr....! Spring is finally here which means I have to have a serious think about starting my summer vegie garden. It is time to use the winter vegies up and capsicum is one of my favourites. Eating vegies that are in season is a great tip to save money. Stephen and I love the "Stuffed Capsicums" recipe (page 167) and the "Sausage Pasta Bake" (pg 98) is a favourite with the kids. Happy Cooking! Clare

Goodbye Sarah

Sarah has sadly left us to move onto new things and spend more time with her family. We are sorry to see her go....

Fit for Life!

Last week I was lucky enough to be given a 4kg organicaly grown pumpkin. After roasting it in the oven (in its skin!) I turned it into the most delicious soup. It was promptly poured into my muffin trays and frozen into snack size portions. Quick to freeze, easy to heat and portion controlled. Another healthy meal idea! I love soup......bring on winter. Clare :)

Membership Prize Winner

Congratualtions to Larraine Pope. Her name was randomly selected from our membership database and she has won a hamper full of goodies. Pictured is Larraine's husband Denis collecting her prize. Well done Larraine!

Cooking Demonstration

We had a great time at our cooking demonstration as part of the Healthy Lifestyle Week. The classes were held over two Saturdays and we had a fantastic attendance. Thank you to all of you who came and participated. Kerrie has some photo's to share and will download them soon.

I just wanted to pass on a couple of great tips I learnt from people who attended. The first is that Nicola potatoes have the lowest GI of all white potatoes. We all know that low GI is great for a healthy diet!

Another interesting conversation I had with someone was about kidney beans. We include them in the meat sauce of the Nacho's recipe (which was demonstrated) and she felt her children wouldn't eat them. So we agreed to both try a new way next time. Mash them up with a fork and mix them in. Hidden from sight but retain the flavour. Great advice!

Manningham Healthy Lifestyle Week 25th February 2010

The Manningham Healthy Lifestyle week was launched on Thursday 25th February. It is local council initiative that involves a week long campaign of informative sessions on living a healthier lifestyle. It was launched with a Healthy Families Expo & Parenting Seminar by Dr Rick Jarman. It was a great night with plenty of tips learnt along the way.

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For Recipe Blocks this event has been a great forum to present the healthy aspects of book;

• low salt recipes
• plenty of fresh ingredients
• portion control
• low fat options
• promoting organic or self grown ingredients
• exercise tips
  

Recipe Blocks is also having two Cooking Demonstrations. We had our first one last Saturday which went really well. We had over 40 people attend and the feedback was very positive. We have our next Demonstration on Saturday 6th March.