What a great weekend it has been in terms of healthy eating, mostly because of a great dinner my husband and I were able to share with friends on Saturday night.  And, best of all—I didn’t have to cook the great dinner.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love cooking, but it’s nice to have a break every once in a while from boiling carrots and chopping cucumbers.

Our friends—the Jaszkowski family of Boise, Idaho—invited us to dinner and have been following along in my journey to eat more fruits and veggies and—Wow!  They packed the evening with healthy goodness that started with carrots, hummus and homemade pepper jelly.   Then we moved to the dinner table where we shared a delicious salad laced with grapefruit and topped with a light balsamic dressing, perfectly steamed broccoli and steak pinwheels weaved with spinach and roasted red peppers.  Yum!  Is your mouth watering yet?  Just when I thought it was over—they brought out an unexpected poached pear sauced perfectly with a wine glaze.  The evening was filled with a minimum of six servings of fruits and veggies.

The lesson of the evening was how a dinner with friends can be made special with fresh produce.  Sometimes it’s easy to focus solely on a slab of meat and the giant potato—my regular mode of operation for guests.

Another thing I thought of during the evening was the importance of eating and sharing good company.  Even though it may mean the impossible—CLEANING THE HOUSE FOR COMPANY—it’s so important to take the time to invite outsiders to your table to break a little broccoli together.   It’s certainly a way to eat healthier.  I had to laugh as I saw my husband sitting next to me eating his broccoli, something I’ve never seen him do in almost 18 years of marriage.    Because in the end, we are all like children.  Peer pressure works.