ACC Online

Find out what is happening at ACC and in the neighbourhood.

ACC Online

connecting our community
Posts in ACC news
Recipes - garden to plate

‘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.

This week

Budgets, grants applications and acquittals, Council submissions … last week was flat out behind the scenes … and busy in person as well.

Lots of people attended the Embracing Life and Death discussions on Thursday afternoon. Crunch was a small group this time (but lovely - we did still life painting with gouache paint), we got a delivery of a couple of cubic metres of compost to keep us busy in the garden on Friday (thanks Nat at Darebin Council for organising this again!) … and two birthday parties were held at ACC 🥳 on Sunday.

This week CWA is meeting at the Gleeson Centre on Monday night, Garden to Plate is on Thursday at 11.30am … and it’s the long weekend … so we’ll see you back on deck next Tuesday.

Hope you make the most of it. I am planning to go to Rutherglen (to check out the wineries) with some of my oldest friends from university. Should be fun!

Cheers Leanne

Footy tipping update

We’re in round 12 … and a big congratulations to Adopted Crupi (Corrado) … with ‘Soarin’ (Thomas) coming second so far … only one point behind. Then we have a tie for 3rd - Dansuri and Richicog … with Alex and Rose coming a bit* further down the ladder.

However, they (Alex and Rose) are diligently coming in to ACC every week on Friday to update the IRL ladder for all to admire. See below for the latest photo of the results.

I (Leanne) started taking an extra interest in the footy a week or so ago when Jack Ison got his first game with Carlton - he and his family were at Fairfield PS with my kids and he played at Parkside Footy Club etc. So lots of local families were pretty chuffed to see him play in the AFL (I saw posts all over Instagram).

Anyway … I digress. We’re all looking forward to the rest of the season. I am sure we will rustle up a fabulous prize or two for the winners.

And a big thanks to those who are participating. It has been a super talking point through the week for everyone at ACC - particularly on Fridays.

* oops … second last (but they’re taking it in their stride)

Darebin funding and leasing agreement

This week Darebin Council endorsed new funding and leasing agreements for our neighbourhood houses.

We now have secure tenure for the next 8 years (4 + 4 lease) and funding for 4 + 4 years (with a review process built in along the way).

It is a great outcome and it was lovely to attend the meeting and hear just how much our local Councillors value neighbourhood houses.

A photo from the Alphington Show - Leanne with Mayor Emily Dimitriadis and Cr Alex Sangster.

This week

Choko, choko, choko.

We had a week overflowing with choko this week … on Tuesday we used it to make a Choko Chutney in Preserves Group, and on Thursday we used it in a Thai Green Curry AND also as an ingredient in vegetarian spring rolls at Garden to Plate (yes my plans to cook from our own garden were waylaid temporarily - but next time for sure!).

Everyone loved them -.flavour absorbing and little bit crunchy … only Monika had some complaints as the sticky resin got stuck all over her hands when she peeled them (by Thursday we’d learnt our lesson and used gloves …).

Also this week we had a wonderful time celebrating all the people who volunteer at neighbourhood houses across Yarra at our shared afternoon tea event on Wednesday. Thanks to those who came along to the new Fitzroy Neighbourhood House! See the post below for some great photos taken my colleague Tony.

Councillors, council staff, neighbourhood house staff and volunteers all attended - and it was heart-warming to soak up all the goodwill from the lovely community minded people in the room!

This week I am pretty boring and in budget mode in the office (we’re getting our $$ plan together for the next financial year), whilst in other office news poor Kalimna has broken her finger! She’s all splinted up … and waiting to hear if she needs an operation. In the meantime she is soldiering on. Say an extra kind hello to her if you see her …

This week we have CRUNCH on Thursday at 12.30pm. Come along for some yummy food and an arty experience. Book in online. In the evening Keiko is back from Japan and running Sound Healing at 7pm. Book in with her directly.

And then there are all the usual things happening … Playgroup, Line Dancing, AAA Art, AAA Bowls, Community Lunch etc.

Hope to see you soon! Can’t believe we’re nearly at June (yikes).

Cheers Leanne