Kitchen Stewardship

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I figure this time of year is the perfect (only?) time for me to host a home sales party of any kind.  Those of us with frugal friends don’t usually make many sales unless people can think of Christmas wish lists for the yearly splurge!

Now that I’m becoming known as a food fanatic and a nutrition freak, I have a lot to live up to when I serve food to others.   I decided that while the Pampered Chef consultant talks up her products, I can talk up real food, explain how we modified some recipes and why I make the food choices I make.  Here’s what my guests will be enjoying tonight:

• Deviled Eggs from pastured chickens with homemade mayo
• Crudite Platter with homemade Garlic Dill Dip
• Homemade sourdough bread with honey on top (pictured above), and my homemade raw butter if I’m feeling really generous (UPDATE: I forgot the honey, did share the butter and delighted in pointing out its gorgeous yellow color vs. the store butter next to it, and I JUMPED for joy when I saw that my loaves of sourdough rose properly for the first time today!  I added a smidge of extra starter to the sponge since it’s so c-c-c-old around here and used about half white whole wheat flour for the first time.  Whoopee!)
• Water Kefir with pomegranate juice
• Sarah’s Spiced Apple Cider (I forgot to include this one in the original posting, but OH yummy, it smelled so good and went over really well!  A new party favorite!)
• Pumpkin cookies made with white whole wheat flour  and flax meal and 100% whole wheat Chocolate Chip cookies made with butter and coconut oil
  

The PC gal, who is the mastermind behind my much-loved California Chicken Wraps and Homemade Chicken Rice-a-Roni, will be preparing:

• Jerk Chicken Salad
  • The PC master will grill the chicken and pineapple and put it over salad with a homemade limey dressing.  We altered the recipe a bit for “real food”:
  • using real pineapple mashed up instead of preserves
  • 1/2 cup homemade mayo instead of 1/3 cup reduced fat
  • real garlic with extra virgin olive oil instead of garlic oil
  • dry beans instead of a can
  • If I was really a generous real foodie, I would use pastured, organic chicken and nitrate-free bacon.  But I’m not. 
• Healthy Fruit Pizza with kiwi, banana, and pineapple on top

I cannot wait to watch her in action — it’s totally the Food Network in my own house, I’m telling you.  I’m excited to pop in with real food notes, too.  At least as exciting, if not more so, is my first blogger in-real-life meeting.  Donielle from Naturally Knocked Up will be in attendance! (Here’s a photo of us and here is Donielle’s post-party post!)

My PC wish list includes a new baking stone and a deep stoneware baking dish with a lid for roasting chicken and every recipe that asks me to cover for baking a casserole.  The Le Creuset Enameled Stoneware Covered Oval Baker at Amazon is similar, but more expensive (a nice surprise!).  I also see they have a stainless steel grill basket, which is something I’ve been looking for to avoid aluminum foil in one more place.  Here’s one a lot like it at Amazon (use your Swagbucks!).  I love that they have lots of glass dishes, and the stoneware is such a safe option instead of Teflon or aluminum bakeware.  You can see Pampered Chef items by clicking on “Shop Online” here.

My prep for the party has included:

• making lacto-fermented mayo
• making and straining homemade yogurt to make yogurt cheese (for the fruit pizza and veggie dip)
• culturing kefir
• boiling eggs

The day before I’ll need to:

• bake the fruit pizza crust
• soak dry black beans
• start the sourdough
• make veggie dip

Today, I’ll have to:

• cook the black beans and store the leftovers (mental note: plan black bean soup for this week!)
• cut veggies
• make the deviled eggs
• bake the sourdough

Oh yeah.  And I’ve been cleaning my house like a madwoman!  (My husband is such a blessing – he swept, dusted, vacuumed and made the stovetop shine while I was at Advent by Candlelight Sunday night.  My hero!!!)

What are your stand-by healthy party foods?

***Note to email subscribers:  I wrote a pivotal post last week that somehow didn’t make it into your emails.  If you’re interested, here it is:  Overwhelmed?  Start Here.  (10 Foundational Kitchen Stewardship Habits)

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Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

See more menu plans from around the blogosphere at I’m an Organizing Junkie. My favorite carnival, Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet, features inexpensive real food every week.

Hungry for more? Related posts:

1. Bean and Veggie Meal Plan Analysis no. 1
2. Real Food, Real Moms: Working to Feed a Family, Freezer Style
3. Why My Five-Year-Old had No Toys at his Birthday Party
4. Bean and Veggie Meal Plan Analysis no. 2
5. WFMW: How to Throw a Messy Party (The Best Summer Kids’ Gathering You’ll Ever See!)