Simple Shifts Podcast: Healthy Dinner Ideas for Company

In this episode of Simple Shifts: Conversations to Fuel Your Body, Mind and Soul, Martha and Peter discuss how to host a healthy dinner party without sabotaging your own, or your guests’ dietary goals. They explore the importance of menu planning, meal preparation, and the role of appetizers, while also emphasizing the need for flexibility and communication with guests. The conversation provides practical tips and templates for creating a balanced and enjoyable dining experience.

Key Takeaways

It is important to consider dietary needs when planning a meal.

A general template can help guide menu planning.

Grains can be prepared ahead of time for convenience.

Dishes often taste better after sitting for a while.

Keep appetizers simple to avoid overwhelming guests.

Encourage guests to contribute to the meal.

Healthy meals can still be delicious and satisfying.

Communication with guests is key to a successful dinner party.

Planning is often more enjoyable than the actual cooking.

Flexibility in menu options can cater to diverse preferences.

Healthy Dinner Ideas for Company That Won’t Sabotage Your Goals Podcast

Video Transcript

Martha McKinnon (00:00)
Hello, to Simple Shifts conversations to fuel the body mind and soul. I’m Martha McKinnon from the blog Simple Nourished Living and with me is my brother and partner Peter Morrison. Hi, how are you doing?

Peter Morrison (00:18)
Hi there. I’m doing good today, how are you doing today?

Martha McKinnon (00:22)
I’m doing really well, happy to be here.

Peter Morrison (00:24)
As am I.

Martha McKinnon (00:28)
Yeah. So today we’re going to answer a reader question that was submitted recently from Char, who wrote in to ask for some ideas and suggestions on how to put together sort of a healthy dinner party that wouldn’t sabotage your goals. And I thought that was a very good question. And I think I’ve come to know that if one person has a question, then that means probably many other people do too.

And so that by answering Char’s question, we can help other people who sometimes struggle with what to cook when you’re getting a group of people together, especially if you know they’re all struggling with their weight and wanting to eat healthier. So you want to make something that’s healthy, but also relatively easy, but you know, a step up from what you might cook on a regular weeknight. So I thought that would be something I responded to her, but I thought it would be something to talk with you about too, because you guys entertain quite a bit, get some thoughts about how you might approach this, so that we can help people who are trying to figure out how to put dinner together for a group of friends or several other couples. But before we jump into that, let’s new and good in your world.

Peter Morrison (01:44)
We are now on episode 30. We’ve reached a milestone.

Martha McKinnon (01:51)
Okay. That’s awesome.

Peter Morrison (01:54)
So that’s positive news for us.

Martha McKinnon (01:56)
Mm-hmm. We’re still showing up.

Peter Morrison (02:02)
We are, we’re having beautiful weather here and let’s see what else. I’ve been playing, still playing a lot of pickleball. I’ve played, I think since we’ve talked, I’ve played at least one tournament. Tournaments haven’t been going so well lately. I’ve been kind of bouncing around with the people I’ve been playing with trying to find someone, a partnership that works well and you’re kind of on the same page.

Martha McKinnon (02:30)
Mm-hmm.

Peter Morrison (02:33)
I guess it’s a lot like dating in a way. Never really thought about it that way before, but.

Martha McKinnon (02:37)
I for some reason I thought of figure skating popped into my head because I just don’t know. I think there’s a lot of talk during the figure skating about how it’s so important to find the right partnership, especially when you’re going to trust somebody to like throw you hurl you in the air and catch you. So.

Peter Morrison (02:56)
Well, luckily we don’t do that in pickleball. Sometimes you’d like to, you want to, but no, the more important thing is – I was watching this podcast this morning and it talked about these two guys, they’re friends and they’ve played together and they always kind of, hadn’t been doing as well as they thought they should. So they kind of took a break and now they’re coming back together to try again.

One of the guys was very sort of vocal and supportive because we’ve all had bad days, right? Where you just can’t, you just can’t hit the ball over the net or you can’t keep it in the court. And it’s like, you feel bad, but so it’s really good to have a partner that’s really supportive. And in this one guy, he recognized that he was just very quiet and he didn’t really reciprocate that sort of type of support and he acknowledged he didn’t think it was important I guess was his own personal take.

Martha McKinnon (04:03)
Mm-hmm.

Peter Morrison (04:05)
Because he was criticizing himself and felt bad and was doing the best he could, but he found it hard to be vocal and supportive.

So today he fessed up and was like, I was wrong this whole time. Cause what happened, they went away and there was a tournament where they paired people up with a much higher rated player. And he said the guy he was playing with was just extremely supportive and no, you know, no eye rolling, no like, what am I doing playing with this person?

And he realized sort of the error of his ways in the past, how it really, no matter how your partner’s playing, you have to sort of try to lift them up. And I’m kind of guilty of that. I tend to be quieter and I don’t, I’m not always as vocal as I could be in a good way.

So I just went off this crazy tangent. I don’t even know what we were talking about. I guess pickleball tournaments and how they haven’t been going well. So there’s just a lot. There’s a lot to learn about, I think, life. It’s not just you’re not just out there running around hitting a ball around. I mean, there’s a lot that you could take from it. So.

Martha McKinnon (05:28)
Yeah, and I think that’s true of everything. I mean, we can learn in every aspect of our life, right? It applies to, I think it applies to, but whenever we learn something or we have an insight in one area of our life, I think it does have application across many aspects, especially when you’re talking about this year, because you’re really talking about communication, listening support. And that has implications across our lives, not just on the court. So whatever we learn there, we’re going to apply to all of our relationships and be benefited.

Peter Morrison (06:08)
Mm-hmm.

Martha McKinnon (06:10)
So good. That’s wonderful that you continue this exploration, that you’re looking to find the partnership that feels right and feels mutually helpful. And it takes as long as it takes to find that person.

Peter Morrison (06:25)
Mm-hmm.

Martha McKinnon (06:27)
Well, good, good for you. That’s wonderful.

So, Char had a question and I thought it was a good one. She’s having, I think she said three couples in for dinner and she was just looking for some guidance on how to put together a healthy meal that would work, that wouldn’t sabotage the goals. Because sometimes we have people in and we just say, forget it, we’re just going to make whatever. But she decided she wanted to combine having people in with also not sabotaging everybody’s goals, when everybody’s trying to lose weight, eat healthier.

And the first thing I thought was that it’s kind of hard from the outside. I thought what we could do is provide some general guidelines, but it’s really hard if you don’t know, first of all, who’s doing the cooking, and what they like to, so the considerations would be like, what do you like to cook, you know, how much time do you like to spend in the kitchen? So that’s considerations.

And then when you don’t know, for me, it’s hard to just blindly offer specific suggestions, but I found that I could offer kind of a basic template because you gotta kind of know who you’re cooking for. Do they have any special dietary needs? Are you cooking for vegetarians? Are you cooking for carnivores? Are you cooking for people who have gluten issues? Are you cooking with people who like fancy food or who like simple food? So those are all important considerations.

But I think we can think in terms of something like a general sort of template that could then apply sort of across the board and be helpful just to as a starting point of sort of crafting your menu. And this is something I love to talk about. I think I could talk all day long about putting menus and meal plans together.

Years and years and years ago, for a short time, a friend of mine up here and I had a little business where he did some personal chefing. And we would sometimes, you know, do a little really small scale catering. And I found the most exciting part of the work was the planning and coming up with the menu and thinking about putting it all together. The actual work was sometimes overwhelming, but the planning part is always kind of fun to just think about.

So one suggestion that I had was to just, I always think in terms of the protein to start, know, come up with some basic simple protein, be it like grilled. And I thought about grilled or roasted or sheet pan, either of the any of those are could work and be pretty simple. But, you know, grilled salmon, or grilled chicken thighs or chicken breasts that you could marinate ahead and then just toss on the grill with grilled or grilled veggies.

And what I thought would go nicely would be some type of like grain that you could even do a little bit ahead that could be served kind of at room temperature. So I thought about like an orzo salad or a farro salad or a simple rice or couscous that would work well with the grilled veggies and the grilled protein.

And then adding in you always serve such beautiful salads when you have us into dinner. So then having some type of leafy green salad that again could be done ahead, put in the refrigerator and then you’d only have to add your dressing and maybe anything crunchy like nuts or something at the end, that could all be done ahead.

So it wouldn’t be overwhelming. It would be a pretty basically simple meal. So that’s all very light and healthy. And then for dessert, again, depending upon the season at this time of year, you know, you could just have berries with a little dollop of whipped cream or a little dollop of frozen yogurt or maybe you do a some type of fruit. I love fruit crisps because they’re so much easier than pies in my mind. You know just some type of fruit with a simple crisp topping that again can be baked ahead and then maybe you just need to warm it at the end.

So that was my thought and that was what I shared just as a basic template that gives you lot of flexibility in terms of how to customize it, you know, in terms of what sauce or marinade you might use, you could have different themes, whether you go a little bit Asian, a little bit Mediterranean, depending upon the sauces and seasonings that you chose for those proteins.

Peter Morrison (10:57)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Martha McKinnon (11:01)
So what do think about that? Is that something that sounds good?

Peter Morrison (11:04)
No, that all makes sense to me.

Martha McKinnon (11:07)
Do you have other thoughts about how you might approach it?

Peter Morrison (11:10)
Well, I do sort of, but you had said one thing about grains or something to make it ahead of time. We had a meatloaf recently. It just made me think of sometimes dishes are so much better after they sit for a little time.

Martha McKinnon (11:33)
Mm-hmm.

Peter Morrison (11:36)
And it just made me think when you mentioned the grains, because we had this meatloaf the day it was mixed and made and it was good. But then we had it as leftovers, I don’t know, three or four days later. And it was just so much better when we both commented how after heating it up in the microwave while I was making a salad and it just tasted so much better. And it just is the importance of the flavors having a chance for all the ingredients to just sit and mingle.

Martha Mckinnon (12:14)
Yeah.

Peter Morrison (12:16)
So I just think that’s an important consideration because sometimes when it’s freshly made, just, it’s just not quite as flavorful.

Martha McKinnon (12:25)
Right, and so that’s an important consideration too. And again, if you’re having people in and you don’t want to overwhelm yourself, the whole being able to cook ahead can be great. So I mean, there is this classic recipe that’s been around, I think, since the 1980s called Chicken Marbella that takes a little bit of work, but it’s chicken that is marinated and then roasted. And it’s with a lot of ingredients with olives and dried plums and all of these garlic and all of these wonderful flavors. And it’s definitely a dish that’s better once it sits.

Peter Morrison (13:07)
Mm-hmm.

Martha McKinnon (13:09)
So to make it, put it in the fridge, and then pull it out and reheat it. And stews, right? Soups and stews. So if it were that time of year, a braise, anything like that could definitely be done a day or two ahead and then just pulled out and warmed.

Peter Morrison (13:22)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Martha Mckinnon (13:24)
You know, a vegetable lasagna is another great dish that again is often better once it sets up and then it’s just gently reheated. So that’s another great approach for when you’re having folks in and you want to keep things easy and not overwhelm yourself to consider what you might be able to do ahead that would be even better because it did have a chance to rest and sit. Yeah, that’s a great tip.

Peter Morrison (13:46)
Mm hmm. One thought I had was if you are cooking for vegetarians or vegans, to try to find something that you could serve everybody, but then add some chicken or shrimp or something too, so that it also would be enjoyable for the carnivores. It just makes it easier.

Martha McKinnon (14:14)
Right, because you don’t want to, yeah, you want to keep it simple, so you’re right. So if you’re cooking for a vegetarian or vegan, think about something that would make everybody happy that you might then just embellish or bump up a little bit for the people who aren’t, without having to cook like two separate meals, which is kind of a no starter. So I know Brenda has a great, that it’s on our website. It’s a great dish that she’s done. It’s more fall and winter, but it’s a roasted acorn squash that she fills with, into beans with an enchilada sauce, which, everybody who’s ever been served it loves it.

Peter Morrison (14:45)
Mm-hmm.

Martha Mckinnon (14:51)
Carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, and it works for everybody. And that’s always a big hit. it’s more, it’s more fall-like, but what comes to my mind is that it’s a recipe actually that I’m looking to make soon for, it’s in Giada’s new cookbook.

Peter Morrison (15:13)
Mm-hmm.

Martha McKinnon (15:15)
Giada’s Super Italian, I think, but it’s for a zucchini parmesan terrine. So it’s kind of done in a loaf pan and so it’s thinly sliced zucchini that she salts and then presses with some weight so it doesn’t have to be precooked and it’s layered so it’s not breaded and it’s not real heavy.

It’s that layered with, she has this wonderful recipe for these – that’s going to be on the website soon or probably by the time this goes live – for what she calls Crunchy Garlic Panko Breadcrumbs. So it’s just with the breadcrumbs and some sauce and some cheese layered. And it just looks so delicious and I think that that would be something that would make carnivores and vegetarians alike happy.

Peter Morrison (16:00)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Martha McKinnon (16:04)
So yeah, so that’s another consideration to try to find something that will work for everybody without creating extra effort for yourself.

Peter Morrison (16:10)
Mm hmm. Right. I was thinking in the appetizer world, like some type of board or something again, where you could add some meats and cheeses, but also olives, nuts, dried fruit. Again, it’s one item, but it has many different components that you know, everybody can find something.

Martha McKinnon (16:35)
Mm-hmm. Right. And one thing I didn’t include was the appetizer in this particular discussion. So I think with a meal like that, I think sometimes we go overboard with the appetizers and we end up ruining our dinner and our appetite. So I find staying less is more, especially because I can be a greedy eater. If I see it, I want to eat it, and I can end up ruining my appetite.

Especially in summer, I think you could keep it really simple with maybe just some seasoned almonds and some olives, just something very light. Maybe some type of simple veggie dip with a few crackers or something. But I think less is more in the appetizer world as far as I’m concerned, just because you don’t want to end up ruining the main event.

Peter Morrison (17:21)
Mm-hmm. Sure.

Martha McKinnon (17:24)
And you can always ask, I’m sure the guests, if you’re inviting three couples in, they’re going to ask what they can do, how they can help. And that’s another thing to sort of take the load off you. You could invite them to bring an appetizer or to bring a dessert. And that would then make, you know, what you’re responsible for, would lessen that and make it easier on yourself.

Peter Morrison (17:46)
Yeah, personally, I’ve never been good at handing out assignments. You know, I tend, yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, I mean, with family, it’s one thing, but it’s hard for me to do that with non-family members, I guess.

Martha McKinnon (18:01)
Yeah, which is fine. I think you have to do what makes you comfortable for sure. Yeah.

Peter Morrison (18:06)
Yeah. Yeah, that’s a personal flaw.

Martha McKinnon (18:11)
So, I hope everybody finds this helpful. I know I love talking about food and menus and if anybody’s like me, they’re gonna enjoy this conversation. And what I do intend to do is just link out to some specific recipes on our site that would work. You we have a couple of really good grilled chicken recipes and we have a nice miso-glazed pork tenderloin and I think of…

We’ve got a couple of great orzo salads (Vegetable Orzo Salad and Trisha’s Orzo Salad Made Lighter) that could be done ahead.

Peter Morrison (18:47)
I think there’s a ratatouille recipe.

Martha McKinnon (18:51)
Yep, ratatouille would be great, you know, because that would taste better after it sat for day or two.

Peter Morrison (18:59)
Mm-hmm. And if you have any ideas or suggestions or favorite meals to prepare, please share them below. Would love to see what you’re cooking.

Martha McKinnon (19:09)
Yeah, absolutely. I love learning from others.

Peter Morrison (19:16)
Very good. Please like and subscribe if you like this video, help us grow our channel, share with anybody you think might find this helpful and we’ll be back. Have a great day. Bye.

Martha McKinnon (19:29)
We’ll be back soon. All right, take care. Bye bye.