Women in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada gather at a friend's home for an evening of heart health education and fun. Photo courtesy of Carolyn Thomas.

How to:

• Choose a favorite recipe from the WomenHeart’s All Heart Family Cookbook and pair it with an appropriate wine. Example: Spaghetti with Puttanesca Sauce and Chianti
• Invite a group of friends over and make this food and wine pairing.
• Before the dinner party, order enough Red Bags of Courage ® for each of your guests. These can be used as party gifts.
• Include in the Red Bags of Courage ® a copy of the recipe for that night and be sure to include all of the heart healthy tips that are included in the book. Example: “Many Italian sauce recipes start with ½ cup of olive oil, but too much good fat can still be too much. We use just 2 tablespoons oil and let the tomatoes take center stage in the sauce.”
• Include information on women and heart disease, risk factors, and prevention tips.
• Identify sponsors for gift bags with either a bottle of wine or coupon for a bottle of wine and recipes with the heart healthy dinners or a heart healthy cook book.
• During the dinner party, be sure to talk about heart health for women and use the educational materials provided on the WomenHeart website.

Options:

• Invite a popular local restaurant chef to make a recipe from the WomenHeart’s All Heart Family Cookbook.
• You may want to advertise to a larger audience and you may need to host the event at a community center with a kitchen, a large home, or at a local restaurant. Include information on women and heart disease as above.