By
Korina Richmond
How to host a healthy morning tea
Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea (ABMT) is an iconic Cancer Council fundraising campaign. It’s a special occasion to get together over morning tea and raise money to fund Cancer Council’s life-saving research, prevention programs, advocacy and support services for people impacted by cancer.
Did you know?
One in three cancers can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle.
Enjoying a diet that includes plenty of fruit and vegetables and doesn’t include many high kilojoule foods and sugary drinks is a simple way to reduce your cancer risk.
ABMT provides an opportunity to serve some healthier food and drinks to promote positive health and nutrition messages to the wider community.
Top tips for a healthy morning tea
- Make colourful fruit skewers – easy to eat and easy on the eye! Mix in season fruits like grapes, apples, mandarins, kiwi, pears, watermelon and guava.
- Have a selection of dips and vegie sticks served in cups to be COVID safe! Give our healthy hummus, guacamole or tzatziki dips a go.
- Include some options that have fruit or vegetables in them, such as banana bread, carrot and zucchini muffins or pumpkin and sweet potato scones.
- Serve indulgent foods like chocolate cake and slices in small portions.
- Have a big jug of water flavoured with slices of lemon, cucumber, strawberries, or mint and ice to serve along with teas and coffee.
Our nutrition experts’ favourite morning tea recipes
We asked our nutrition team at Cancer Council NSW to share their favourite ABMT recipes.
Hummus and wholegrain crackers
Clare’s go-to recipe is a vegie-based dip such as hummus served with some carrot, cucumber and red capsicum sticks to balance out the sweeter cakes and slices. She also likes to add wholegrain crackers or crispen up leftover wholemeal pita bread in the oven to make pita chips.
To satisfy her sweet tooth, Wendy loves apple and date muffins. Using fruit to sweeten the muffin rather is a great way to cut sugar in your diet. If apples and dates aren’t your favourite fruits, swap them out for blueberries. Check out our variation on the apple and date muffun recipe.
Lyndal’s favourite morning tea item is a delicious fritter served with a lemon wedge and some tzatziki. What’s better is that one of these tasty fritters is equivalent to 1 of the 5 recommended serves of vegetables per day.
Mini crustless chicken quiches
A perfect size for morning tea, Jane loves this crustless chicken quiche recipe. As an alternative, use leftover roast port and roast vegies for the filling. These dainty quiches will be a hit with your guests.
Don’t know what to do with those overripe bananas sitting in your fruit bowl? Korina has the perfect recipe for you! Save the bananas from the bin and whip up a batch of banana pikelets. This recipe is super easy, quick and tastes great. Why not make a double batch and freeze half so that it’s ready for a healthy morning or afternoon tea at a later date!
Sign up to Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea and make it a bit different this year. Check out all the delicious recipes at the healthy lunch box website, and start planning your morning tea today!
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