Hi everyone

Welcome back to Term 3 at ACC. Over the holidays we had the Flukes, our Uke Group run a singalong on the first weekend - which my mum tells me was well attended (she came along, unfortunately I couldn’t make it as my middle child was heading to Europe with her university friends and needed my assistance for last minute organising and a lift to the airport). Thanks to everyone who participated. Great to see new community led initiatives get up and running successfully!

And then the Up Community were here for a week doing their fabulous recycling things - Project Stationary (recycling stationary) and Project Pair-Up (matching up the tops and bottoms of lunchboxes and plastic storage containers). It’s great that our space is in use over the school holidays - and for such excellent activities!

Coming up this term we have some new things on the cards:

• The Momentum to Write (Start your Novel) - Monday evenings for 4 weeks starting in August.

• Heart Centred Breathwork - for the early birds (starts at 7.30am on a Tuesday morning)

And lots of old favourites:

• Cook by the Book (a new version of Garden to Plate where we’ll choose a cookbook to cook from for the term) - 6 weeks on Thursdays from 11.30am

• Crunch (Creative Lunch) we’ll be focusing on printmaking this term using our new printing press - 6 weeks on Thursdays from 12.30pm

• Alphington Arts - from 7.30pm on the 3rd Thursday of the month in August and September this term

• Preserves Group - our next one is coming up on Tuesday 21 July from 1-3pm.

• Op Shop Adventures - save the date Thursday 10 September, we’ll head off for a day of op shopping and lunch from 10am-2pm.

You can book into all our upcoming programs here.

We also have our Winter Arts Salon Show coming up … please note that the original advertised date has changed, and it will now run on the weekend of the 14-16 August. We’ll be opening up our booking system mid week - please encourage any artists you know to enter works. The more the merrier!

Did you know you can hire our space for bithday parties on Sundays? We have quite a few birthday parties booked in this year, but there are still spots available in Term 3 and early Term 4. The price starts at $165 to hire our space for 4 hours which is enough time to set up, host and pack up your party … and all the kitchen equipment is provided. it is a great way for families to both minimise waste and avoid having to spring clean their own house for guests! You can check out the available dates and book here.

We look forward to seeing everyone back for Community Lunch and for our Community Morning on Friday this week. And to catching up with everyone who comes along for various activities throughout the week, including book clubs, playgroups, ukulele, toy library, line dancing etc. etc. etc.

On to bigger ‘world news’ type things … gosh the World Cup soccer has been exciting. So many great matches. I have been glued to the telly in the early hours of the morning most days. Lucky it all happened over the school holidays and is ending soon - so I will be able to concentrate on work again!

Cheers Leanne

Next semester, John who has been running our fantastic men’s breakfast will be beginning a new early morning program here at ACC focussing on heart-centred breathwork. Here is some further information, and if you are interested you can book in at this link…

Does your fur baby need a walk? If you own a dog in the Alphington area, are over 65, and for some reason (health etc.) can’t walk it as much as you’d like … or if you know someone in this boat, check out this program below!

Sarah at Council has contacted us because she has volunteer walkers already lined up, ready to make connections and take a dog for a walk regularly in Alphington.

Just contact the positive aging officer at Council … details in the flyer.

What a super neighbourly community service hey? Thanks Yarra Council for contacting us … and organising this terrific program.

We love Alphington Farmers’ Market! Always great to buy some local produce.

‘Tis the season for mushrooms, walnuts, spinach, onion and lemons. Here is the delicious food we cooked for lunch on Thursday at Garden to Plate.

Lemony chicken (using a lemon from Jill and a lemon from Sheryl) … and green onions and spinach from our garden, stuffed mushrooms (cheese and walnuts - amazing) and a roast pumpkin and potato mash. So very yum!

Stuffed Mushrooms (blue cheese and walnuts)

Ingredients

• 4 large mushrooms

• 100g blue cheese, crumbled

• 40g walnuts, coarsely chopped

• 6 fresh thyme sprigs (or dried thyme is ok too)

• 2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs

• 1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil or butter

Directions

• Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan-forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and finely dice. Arrange mushrooms on the tray.

• Mix mushroom stalks, cheese, walnuts and thyme.  Fill mushrooms. Top with panko breadcrumbs. Drizzle with oil or a small knob of butter and season with pepper.

• Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese melts and mushrooms are tender.

• Serve sprinkled with baby herbs if desired.

Mashed Potato and Pumpkin

Ingredients

• ¼ pumpkin, cut 3 cm chunks

• 4 potatoes, peeled and cut in 3cm chunks

• Salt and pepper

•  Butter

• Cream

• Nutmeg

Instructions

• Roast the pumpkin in the air fryer for 20 minutes, then microwave with a little water for 5-10 minutes to ensure they are well cooked.  Drain and whizz with butter, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

• Boil the potato in salty water until soft, drain and mash, then add in the pumpkin mash. Add additional cream and butter to get to the right consistency. Taste and season as needed.

Creamy Lemon Chicken with Sage

Ingredients

• 2-4 chicken breasts, sliced in half and pounded thin

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

• Handful of sage leaves

• Salt and pepper

• Olive oil

• 1 onion, thinly sliced

• 1/4 cup chicken stock

• Zest of 1 lemon, minced

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 2-3 cups packed spinach (or use 1 bag)

• 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

• Mix oil, garlic, sage and salt and pepper and cover chicken breasts. Marinate until cooking.

• Heat a large, flat-bottomed sauté pan to medium high heat, set aside the sage leaves and fry the chicken breasts for 3-4 minutes on each side, until done through. Remove the chicken from the pan and set on a plate while completing the rest of the dish.

• To the hot pan, add the red onion slices, letting them soften for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth. The pan will sizzle. Stir the onions and let cook another 2-3 minutes until they soften more.

• Then add in the sage leaves, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix well.

• Fold in the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes.

• Turn off the heat, stir in the heavy cream and season once more with salt and pepper.

• Add the chicken back into the pan and reheat in the sauce.

• Serve immediately.