Gourmet Feast

There are those (I won't mention any names, but I commonly refer to him as DH) who thumb their nose up to the idea of healthier meals in schools. He is of the opinion that people should have the choice of what they want to eat and no one should be forcing them to eat healthier. Part of my job is being creative with the healthier food options. I have many healthier options that look appealing and taste great so the challenge to prove him wrong went into full swing today.

Fresh Garden Salad made with fresh greens purchased at the Farmer's Market. After having to buy lettuce in the grocery store all winter long, fresh baby greens hit the spot!

Due to technical difficulties, there is no photo of the pasta salad made with whole grain pasta. Does not change the taste, and the slight color variation of the pasta isn't noticeable. I mixed in peas, red onion, white albacore tuna, a bit of mayo, and garden seasoning with no salt.


Jamaican Jerk Chicken hot off the grill. Made with boneless skinless chicken breast. Always a hit when I make it. I love cooking extra so I can add some of the leftovers to a Garden Salad for lunch. A vegetarian option - the jerk spice mixture would be awesome on a piece of firm tofu then grilled. YUM!


And what EVERY Gourmet Feast should have...Rich Dark Chocolate cupcakes with Whipped Icing. I seriously don't know what happened to the first two or three cupcakes. I certainly didn't go "healthier" on the dessert, although I do have a recipe for chocolate beet cake that is excellent and no one even knows they are eating veggies! I figured I best just break him in "slowly" with the healthier options. After all, he had baby beet greens in the salad and he didn't know what it was.

DH had no complaints, but the look on his face was priceless when I told him today's healthier food experiment worked. He really didn't notice anything different about the baby greens (won't tell him about the beet greens) and the whole grain pasta went unnoticed. It has made him think twice about his earlier opinion.