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Almost ready

Well, tomorrow is my big theme day meal. I will be serving food to 60 employees for the monthly employee banquet at the Lakeside Nursing Home. I could not be more nervous about serving my "Farm to Table" selections to individuals who don't quite appreciate the benefits of healthy eating. Everyone at the facility is super nice but the rumor around the halls is that many of the employees are not too excited about trying my meal.
This leaves me a little sad about tomorrow but I'm hoping for the best. I really compromised with my menu and I believe that the employees are really going to enjoy some, if not all, of my items.
For the menu:
Turkey Burger on Whole Wheat Bun
Sun Chips
Homemade Mango Salsa
Walnut, Mandarin and Strawberry Salad
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I spent several hours in the kitchen preparing my homemade salsa and cookies. The cookies came out fantastic! So moist and yummy. I will be posting the recipes to my items (with pics) after tomorrow. While I was spooning the cookies onto the baking sheet, an employee asked me if I made the cookies from scratch. I said yes and she was impressed. In my mind, I thought to myself "how else would I make cookies?". I guess I am just so use to making my meals from wholesome foods that I didn't even consider using a cookie dough mix.
The salsa is super spicy which I am a bit nervous about. I tried to de-spice the jalepeno peppers with a little vinegar and sugar but I will likely pick out some of the peppers so that it isn't too hot. I LOVED my hot mango salsa but just to be on the safe side, I decided (last minute) to make a non-jalepeno mango salsa. I decided on sun chips because they don't have a lot of ingredients and I want the employees to enjoy the salsa with something crunchy and familiar.
I'm most worried about the salad because I don't know how it will go over with the staff. I decided to take the word "turkey" off my menu because I am also worried that "turkey burgers" may deter people from even trying it.

I was a little creative with my theme meal and I made several cut-outs of fruits from construction papers and put tips on healthy eating all over them.

My goal tomorrow is to give the employees something delicious....perhaps, maybe even open some eyes to how wonderful "healthy" eating can be. Although I am sad that many people are not too excited about me preparing the foods for the October Employee Banquet, I look forward to the opportunity to share my passion for healthy eating and to show people that you can take any favorite food and make it heart-healthy. I am very passionate about the way I eat which reflects the way that I live. I try to live life to the fullest and I know I couldn't do so without putting wholesome and healthy food in my body.