4 Tips for Simple Summer Entertaining

Entertaining. Some people love it. Some hate it.

I’m firmly in the “love it” camp. So much so that some may say that I have a pathological need to feed people. I know that not everyone feels the same way.

Often, people are in the “hate it” camp because they think that it’s a lot of work. It certainly can be. But you can host a fantastic, fun event without a lot of work. In fact, what I’ve learned over the years is that people have the best time at a party when the food is simple. And, summertime is the easiest time to create simple, delicious food.

Here are some tips to make feeding your friends easy:

1. Start with good ingredients. I’m often told that I’m a good cook. But in reality I keep things really simple. The secret isn’t my skill. It’s good ingredients. When your ingredients are delicious you don’t need to do much to them. This time of year so many veggies and fruit are at their peak. Mother Nature’s done the work for you, all you need to do is highlight the abundance. Green Earth Organics only sends you good ingredients all year long. Start with the ingredients in your box and you’ve got the makings for a delicious menu!

2. Serve healthy food. Often we feel that because it’s a party, we need to be serving rich, indulgent foods. But I find that people appreciate that I serve healthy food. They get to come and enjoy fantastic food and friends, without feeling guilty afterwards. All the pleasure without the guilt – sounds good to me.

3. Offer a variety. In this world of food sensitivities and special diets, serving a variety of foods makes everyone happy. People can pick and choose what works for them. For example, attending the evening gathering in the photo that I snapped, I had a vegetarian, two pescatarians (they eat seafood but no meat or poultry), an allergy to stone fruits, a hazelnut allergy, a blueberry allergy, and someone who eats gluten-free. The event was at 7pm so I knew that some people would have eaten dinner at home before coming out and some people would be arriving hungry for dinner. It was also during one of our summer’s heat waves so I didn’t want to spend all day in a hot kitchen, nor did people want to eat hot, heavy food. What did I serve?

• Cucumber topped with smoked salmon pate
• Quinoa salad in endive boats
• Sweet & spiced nuts (no hazelnuts)
• Cherry tomatoes
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Local melon
• Cherries, apricots, and peaches.
• Apricot-almond tarts
• Meringues  

4. Know when to outsource. Stick to what you’re good at, otherwise you’ll stress yourself out. For example, I don’t have the gift of baking. So I either plan a dessert without baked goods (e.g. a mixture of fresh fruit and some good-quality chocolate), or I ask a guest to bake dessert (many people love to help out), or I buy dessert at a bakery. At the event in the picture, I bought the tarts and meringues at an amazing local gluten-free bakery.

Don’t let the perception that it’s a lot of work get in the way of enjoying getting together with your loved ones. Keep it simple and enjoy their company.

Kristen Yarker, MSc, RD helps moms and dads support your picky kids to get good nutrition today…and instill a life-long love of healthy eating. After 7 years of moms asking for help with their eating too, Kristen created 40 Days to a Healthier, Happier You women’s weight loss program. Find out more at www.KristenYarker.com


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Introducing Over the Hill Orchards

Did you know they can grow cherries in Saskatchewan?

From Dean and Sylvia Kreutzer, the owners of Over the Hill Orchard and makers of Prairie Cherry products:

"The cherries we grow have been bred at the University of Saskatchewan by crossing the Mongolian cherry (Prunus fruticosa) with the Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) to create a wonderful fruit that is totally adapted to our harsh climate. Prairie Cherries bloom in mid-late May and depending on the cultivar, ripen from late July until late August. Here at Over the Hill Orchards, we are doing breeding with different selections of Prairie Cherries to continue to improve the fruit quality. Prairie Cherries are used for fresh eating, pies, dried, juice, and are canned."

About Prairie Cherry Splash:

If you are able to find cherry juice in the stores, you'll know that it doesn't taste very cherry-like. Some juices don't even have any real cherry juice in them. Companies don't cherry juice from cherries because it's expensive; it takes approximately 5 pounds of cherries to make 1 litre of cherry juice concentrate. No one wants to 'sacrifice' cherries for juice when there are so many other, and more profitable products that can be made with them.

At Over the Hill Orchards, they consider cherry juice to be a very important product, not only for its high quality, but its health benefits. It is difficult to get a product that is more rich in anti-oxidants than cherry juice.

Prairie Cherry Splash isn't 100% pure cherry juice, as that would be much too strong. After lots of taste testing and trial and error, they've created a drink that is the perfect blend of sweet and tart.

Prairie Cherry Splash is now available from Green Earth Organics! Regular price is $10.90, but it is on sale until the end of February for $10.35. Also, check out Prairie Cherry Spread: regular: $8.30, on sale for $7.89.