Friends, this is so cool. I prepared food for a delightful party last week with an eye towards health and variety. The hostess was awesome. She wanted to make sure everyone had enough to eat and was happy, but essentially left it up to me to plan the menu.
Portions were planned and the desserts were bite-size. Everyone loved that! No one felt guilty about eating too much and the variety of food offered made sure that there was something for everyone.
We offered three protein-based items (pulled pork sandwiches with angel slaw on small rolls, grilled prawns, and Dungeness crab salad on endive), vegetable platters with an assortment of hummus, artisanal cheese platters with dried fruits, walnuts and my homemade figgy jam, spiced nuts, pineapple skewers, and the desserts.
A sister of the hostess flew in from South Carolina and told me about the disparity in portion sizes between California and her home. She discussed how, in the south, everything is really, really big. Instead of bite-size sweets, her parties include huge portions of cake or pies for dessert. Large platefuls of food are the norm. And then, after the party, everyone exercises and starves for a week or more after to atone for overindulgence. That doesn't sound very fun to me. I personally hate that sick stuffed feeling from overeating.
She loved our small portions. The sandwiches were three or four-biters. Each endive leaf contained a generous 2 tablespoons of crab salad and was a two-bite item. The pineapple skewers acted as an alternate dessert as well as a palate cleanser and paired well with the sandwiches. Treats were mini-sized carrot cupcakes and one-bite cheese cakes topped with lemon curd and homemade raspberry jam. Except for the grilled prawns and spiced nuts, every course contained some type of produce.
California cuisine is conscientious, but we still have a long way to go to make this the norm for the rest of the United States. As we look forward, think about how you can bring more fresh fruits and veggies into your meal plan and for entertaining. And... PORTIONS! Serve smaller portions to start. If someone is still hungry, they can go back for another nibble. The trouble is if you start by eating too much, you have gone beyond comfortable. That is a buzz kill!
Experiment and enjoy.
- Kim Fielding
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Welcome to Alpha Living! Let’s be realistic – it’s easy to gain weight and hard to lose it. Almost everyone has a relative with diabetes or heart disease and is aware that they have to watch what they eat. Everyone should know that if they watch what they eat, most people would never develop diabetes, heart disease or cancer. Alpha Living is a premium, yet old-fashioned, lifestyle that allows for the enjoyment of eating foods you like and staying away from metabolic diseases.
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