Monday, June 2, 2014

Healthy Dinner Party Menu Plan

Hi Beach Dwellers

As Winter clicked over, it got decidedly quieter here last weekend.  With one Beach House Brat at band camp for 3 days and another who is very social and out alot, at one point, we actually had a window without kids at home.  Boy did that feel weird.  Anyway, all's right with the world and they are all back home now in the nest.

Considering all of the above, I decided it would be a good weekend to entertain friends.  The sailing season has well and truly wrapped up as well, so we went with it.  Our guests are very health conscious, even more so than me.  They are absolutely lovely people and one couple of several of our friends, who consciously decided not to have kids.

I alternate between commiserations and thinking they are the smartest people on the planet.  Either way, we love their company and it was a joy to have them in our house for a meal.

The friendship actually started between Mr Beach House and the woman of the couple.

Birgit is a gorgeous, German girl, inside and out and she happened to meet a guy in Bali 25 years ago, as you do.  That guy happened to be a great friend of Mr Beach Houses, who we actually no longer see, for reasons unknown.  Birgit followed this guy to Sydney after a whirl wind holiday romance, only to find out he had a girl friend here too.  So who did he ask to put up the beautiful Birgit, whilst he sorted out his life?  My future husband of course.

Birgit and Mr Beach House ended up becoming flat mates and Birgit is now part of our circle of friends.

Happily she broke the cycle of break ups with the holiday romance guy she met in Bali, and met the lovely Mike, whom she married, on a beach in Hawaii.   He is an all American guy, only he grew up in Fiji and he is very interesting, because he has been very much exposed to the manyana life style of the beautiful Fijian people.

All in all it was a lovely meal in great company.

I cooked from my blog archive.  It was a great dinner party menu because the main could be done the day before. I love doing that because it gives the flavours a chance to infuse and develop.  I still had the sport run on Saturday and did not want to be tied to the kitchen, so this one worked really well.

For a starter we had

Easy Guacamole Dip with Homemade Pita Chips


This is so yummy and takes about 15 minutes to make.  It all got eaten very smartly.

For the main

Healthy Chicken with Leeks Tomatoes and Olives


I served this with a simple sweet potato mash, because of its low GI index.
This chicken dish is a little like chicken cacciatore, with an intensly flavoured tomato sauce.  Yum

For dessert we had

Vegan Chocolate Mousse


I adapted this from Kim McKosker's 4 ingredients recipe.  It has no dairy or sugar and you need to try it, because it's fantastic.

I must say it was great to feel very light after the meal and we had a really nice night.

For any of these recipes, just click on the titles

You can find more easy recipes by clicking on the recipe links in my side bar.

Have a great week Beach Dwellers

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4 comments :

  1. Sounds and looks delish!
    ~Liz

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks amazing! Whoever said healthy food is boring!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just delicious! And now I'm back on my healthy eating routine I'm keen to read recipes such as these!

    ReplyDelete

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