Tip of the Month: Entertaining

One of the scariest things about trying to eat a different way is figuring out what to eat if you have company.  Sunday was supposed to go like this: wake up, church stuff, dinner with in-laws.  That meant I didn't have to cook.  All I had to do was pick and choose between what my mother-in-law cooked and decide what would make me feel the best after I ate it.  However, that is not how the day went.

About halfway through the day we got a call from my husband's mother saying that their basement had flooded again.  Another pipe had burst in the middle of the night and they extracted gallons of water out of the carpet.  She sounded exhausted on the voicemail and we knew that she would not be cooking dinner.  My husband is a very caring person and suggested that we have them over for dinner so they could relax and eat more than just scrambled eggs.  This normally is a great idea because I love to cook.  However, I must admit I was feeling a little lost at first.  What do you make for dinner when all you have is a houseful of low carb and unrefined and your guests have a house full of carbs?

What is the lesson of the story? You don't have to be scared to have guests. AND you don't have to compromise the way you eat.  Your cauliflower rice might not go over well, so just find what ever you have that is the closest to what you guest normally eat.  So what did we come up with.  We had the stuff to make an amazing Cobb Salad and it was a hit!  And so easy!

You have a bowl of greens:

A platter of abundant toppings:

and voila! Dinner is served!

Everyone could pick the toppings they want and create their own salad.  This is great for having guests.  Everyone can be happy because they are eating what they like.  We had a large salad so there was more than enough for the four of us and we got several compliments on how good of a salad it was.  So don't fear the dinner parties and guests!  Just try to get a close to what every eats as possible and you can have a wonderful meal without compromising what you eat.

As a side note...We had some cooking fun this weekend and cooked some fresh beets.  I had seen my mother do this many times but had never done it myself.  So with a couple hints from my mother I set out to try it.  And for a little effort we had delicious beets!  I highly recommend trying it.  For those of you who are wondering the easiest way, just boil the beets in water until they are done.  Do not cut or peel them first.  Just cut off the greens.  Large beets (size of softball) can take up to a hour to cook, so plan ahead.  Once they are cooked let them cool then simply squeeze the beet and the skin will come off nicely in pieces.  Be very careful though because the juice of the beet will dye any cloth and won't come out.  When you are done you have a beautiful bowl of beets!