We had my son’s graduation party last weekend. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with friends and family. We chose to have a salad with lots of toppings. Salad is my son’s favorite food! It was very well received and quite inexpensive. Three-packs of romaine lettuce were 10-for-10, 11th free last week. What a blessing! Although I think I’ll have to find some creative ways to use up the leftovers. Lettuce soup, anyone? ;-)
We had romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, diced ham, grape tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers, radishes, grated carrots, grated beets, olives, snow peas, diced red peppers, roasted sunflower seeds, and grated cheese. Of course, we made our own salad dressings, including the Balsamic Basil Vinaigrette. I also tried making ranch dressing for the first time since going dairy-free. It turned out very well. I’ll have to post the recipe sometime, once I get the measurements written down. We also had Greek dressing, Caesar, raspberry vinaigrette, spicy red vinaigrette, and one of my son’s creations called spicy rav. We had a big fruit salad. Beverages were iced tea (unsweetened of course) or bottled water.
My Mom went to a graduation party a couple weeks ago, and they had bags of popcorn with a sign saying “Thanks for popping by”. We loved the idea, so we copied it. My 9-year-old is a pro at making kettle corn, so he was our popcorn man.
We also provided cake from a bakery (full of gluten, sugar, unhealthy oils, etc.). I did struggle with that decision, but my son wanted a cake at his party. I have to agree that cakes are more festive than cookies and popcorn. I have yet to make a palatable egg-free, gluten-free cake. Eggs are super-healthy, but half of our family are allergic to them. And why go to all the trouble of making a gluten-free cake with eggs, when most of us wouldn’t be able to eat it anyway? We did make some cookies for the gluten-free egg-free folks. Of course we could have the popcorn as well. I did spoil my children with M&M’s, too. They only get M&M’s a couple times per year. Thankfully the food coloring doesn’t cause major problems for them.
We don’t usually have ham or cheese. Ham is a processed food and has several questionable and possibly dangerous ingredients. Here is a post that gives a good look at the typical ingredients in ham and their safety:
http://www.eatlikenoone.com/whats-in-ham.htm
The two main ingredients that are problematic are sodium phosphate and sodium nitrate. Sodium phosphate can cause kidney disease. https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/food/phosphate-foods
Sodium nitrate can cause cancer and circulation problems. http://www.livestrong.com/article/283850-why-is-sodium-nitrate-bad-for-you/
Both kidney disease and cancer rates are ridiculously high and rising higher.
Garbanzo beans would have been a better choice, but I wasn’t sure if that would have been well-received.
Dairy (not including butter) is not good for those with asthma, constipation, and skin issues. It is also a problem for diabetics. Cheese is hard to digest. Many people are allergic to the lactose and/or casein in dairy products. It is hard to give up the foods that we enjoy, but sometimes reducing or eliminating certain foods will help give you your life back! And you don’t have to give up macaroni and cheese! We make a very good macaroni and cheese with gluten-free noodles and a combination of nutritional yeast, broth, and spices. I’ll share the recipe in the future. If you would like a more thorough explanation of why dairy should be consumed in moderation please read this article:
https://wellnessmama.com/1276/is-dairy-healthy/
I’ll leave you with a quick recipe I made up with leftover salad toppings. Absolutely delicious!
Grated carrots
Grated beets
Chopped snow peas
Diced red onion
Cinnamon
Salt
Saute everything in ghee until tender.
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