Monday 9/14

Stuffed Cabbage, Wild Rice Blend, Stewed Tomatoes, Cauliflower
Soup: Chicken Meatball Soup with Spinach

I use 90% lean ground beef, a little pork sausage and what the South American and West Indian folks call “sofrito” in the stuffing for the cabbage. Sofrito is a Spanish version of the French vegetable trio called mirepoix: carrots, celery and onions. In sofrito, we substitute sweet peppers for carrots and cook it with garlic and thyme. The stewed tomatoes are relatively low in sodium for canned tomatoes, with 430 mg for 4.4 ounces, which is more than a serving. As a reminder, if you are trying to stick to macronutrient parameters associated with a diet like the DASH diet, the sodium limit is 2,000 mg for the entire day. You can easily fit this meal in by limiting your sodium intake at breakfast and supper. It requires some planning, but it can be easily achieved! Wild rice is actually not rice but a grass. It is indigenous to North America as well as China. A popular variety grows along the shores of the Great Lakes in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. It is high in fiber and is an excellent source of non-meat protein. Four ounces has more protein than a cup of milk, and you get six grams of fiber towards your goal of 30 grams for the day! This is a new soup, and since I don’t create soups from recipes, I’m still thinking about what to do here. I’m thinking of a somewhat brothy soup with spinach, carrots and maybe a few tomatoes, thickened with cornstarch to keep it light and lower in calories. Onions, celery, peppers and garlic are a given! I am using chicken meatballs from “KidFresh” that contain no artificial flavors, no artificial ingredients and no preservatives. Per 6 meatball serving, they have 6 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated), 40 mg cholesterol and 440 mg sodium. You can estimate yourself as you fill your bowl of soup, but I doubt you put a full serving of meatballs in your bowl! Today, the soup, rice, vegetables and stewed tomatoes are gluten-free today.                                                                             
                 

Tuesday 9/15

Mediterranean Style Braised Beef, Gold Potatoes/Baby Carrots, Sautéed Summer Squash
Soup: Roasted Garlic & Cauliflower

The cube steak I start with has 189 calories,12 grams of fat (5 saturated), 65 mg of cholesterol and 58 mg of sodium per serving. The steak is seared in a cast-iron skillet and then braised with garlic, onion, celery and sweet pepper, with extra virgin olive oil, red wine, fresh rosemary and Kalamata olives suspended in stewed tomatoes. I leave the Kalamata olives whole so that those who dislike olives can remove them. So, if you don’t like olives, don’t let that discourage you from trying this classic Mediterranean flavor profile with a fork-tender braised beef. The summer squash is sautéed in olive oil with peppers, onions and Italian seasoning and de-glazed with white wine. The cauliflower and the garlic are both roasted. I use 2% milk instead of cream and Better Than Bouillon ham base instead of bacon. You can buy Better Than Bouillon Soup bases right down at Gene’s grocery store! Look for the “Chef Steve’s Grab Good” label in the aisle! Everything is gluten-free today except the soup.

Wednesday 9/16

Orange Chicken, Brown Rice/Green Beans, Egg Rolls
Side: California Roll
Soup: Hot & Sour

Many dishes you order in a Chinese restaurant are fried in a deep-fat fryer, making them exceptionally high in fat and saturated fat. That is the case with sweet and sour chicken, General Tso’s chicken and orange chicken. I use a breaded, baked chicken breast “nugget” that still retains the basic elements of fried chicken. It has a breading that gets somewhat crispy, like fried chicken and makes a very suitable base for a healthier version of orange chicken. A portion of this chicken has just 3 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated), 50 mg of cholesterol and 680 mg of sodium. The sodium is a bit high, but with some effort, it will fit into a 2,000 mg sodium diet like the DASH diet. The egg rolls have 7 grams of fat (2 grams saturated), 20 mg of cholesterol and 490 mg of sodium per serving of two. With those numbers, you have to consider them a treat item. You can see that if you have both the egg roll and the chicken, it will be half of the sodium allowance for a two-gram-a-day lower sodium diet. I make the fried rice as low in fat and sodium as I can, but you probably need to consider it another treat if you are watching your fat and sodium intake. There’s no health reason not to enjoy the California roll. The surimi, or imitation crab, contains a fair amount of sodium, but I use only about half a portion per sushi roll. One portion of a California roll is approximately one-third of a sushi roll. The hot and sour soup features dried shiitake mushrooms, strips of smoked pork and a pile of vegetables suspended in a chicken broth accented with garlic, ginger, vinegar and cilantro. If you can not tolerate the small amount of gluten in soy sauce, the soup, beans and California rolls are the only 100% gluten-free items today.

Thursday 9/17

Polish Kielbasa, Choux Croute au Champagne, Gold Potatoes
Soup: Red Bean

I make the meat sauce with 90% lean ground beef. It has 10 grams of fat (4.5 saturated), 65 mg of cholesterol and 66 mg of sodium. The tomato sauce I use is surprisingly low in sodium. The sauce base uses the stewed tomatoes I like to use in many menu items. It has only 190 mg of sodium per serving. I will also sneak some Italian sausage in with the ground beef to give the sauce a little East Coast authenticity. Folks trying to reduce their carbohydrate intake may like spaghetti squash as a pasta substitute. The garlic bread has 7 grams of fat (1.5 saturated), 0 mg of cholesterol, 240 mg of sodium, plus 5 grams of protein per serving. Minestrone is a famous tomato-based Italian soup meant to be a way to utilize leftovers. It always has the basic vegetables: onions, carrots, celery, peppers with beans and pasta. In the fancy restaurants and resorts I’ve cooked in, I would start a cream of mushroom soup out with bacon or a cured pork product and use the fat to make a roux to thicken the soup and finish it off with heavy cream. Here I use Better Than Bouillon ham instead of bacon, and 2% milk instead of heavy cream! You can buy Better Than Bouillon Soup bases right down at Gene’s grocery store! Look for the “Chef Steve’s Grab Good” label in the aisle! I still use a roux to thicken the soup, but the fat is Smart Balance, not bacon fat! The meat sauce and vegetables are gluten-free.

Friday 9/18

Steamed Salmon or Baked Cod
Fresh Asparagus, Steamed Gold Potatoes
Soup: Steak Soup

The salmon is simply steamed with a little Smart Balance, salt and pepper. The cod is baked, not fried and is VERY low in sodium coming in at under 20 mg per serving! The potatoes and asparagus are also steamed, making this a super healthy meal option no matter what fish you choose. The steak soup is for those who don’t eat fish. It’s actually a stew and is a meal in itself! If you are watching fat and sodium, you will have to make room for the soup in your diet, though. The soup and the cod are not gluten-free.

Monday 9/21

Spaghetti & Meat Sauce with Italian Sausage, Broccoli/Spaghetti Squash  Garlic Bread
Soup: Cream of Mushroom

I make the meat sauce with 90% lean ground beef. It has 10 grams of fat (4.5 saturated), 65 mg of cholesterol and 66 mg of sodium. The tomato sauce I use is surprisingly low in sodium. The sauce base uses the stewed tomatoes I like to use in many menu items. It has only 190 mg of sodium per serving. I will also sneak some Italian sausage in with the ground beef to give the sauce a little East Coast authenticity. Folks trying to reduce their carbohydrate intake may like spaghetti squash as a pasta substitute. The garlic bread has 7 grams of fat (1.5 saturated), 0 mg of cholesterol, 240 mg of sodium, plus 5 grams of protein per serving. In the fancy restaurants and resorts I’ve cooked in; I would start a cream of mushroom soup out with bacon or a cured pork product and use the fat to make a roux to thicken the soup and finish it off with heavy cream. Here I use Better Than Bouillon ham instead of bacon and 2% milk instead of heavy cream! You can buy Better Than Bouillon Soup bases right down at Gene’s grocery store! Look for the “Chef Steve’s Grab Good” label in the aisle! I still use a roux to thicken the soup, but the fat is Smart Balance, not bacon fat! The meat sauce and vegetables are gluten-free.

                 

Tuesday 9/22

Roast Turkey, Butternut Squash/Green Beans, Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Soup: Kale & Red Bean

We use a boneless white and dark meat combination turkey roast that has 3 grams of fat (1 gram saturated), 50 mg of cholesterol and 600 grams of sodium per serving. We steam the turkey, so some of that 600 mg of sodium ends up in the water left in the pan, which we then dilute heavily and use to make the gravy. The daily sodium allowance for a moderate diet like the DASH diet is 2,000 mg, so you can still fit this meal into your diet if you are careful with breakfast and supper today. I usually serve this roast turkey with a version of candied sweet potatoes called Harvey House Potatoes. Today we are using butternut squash with green beans. Both are simply steamed and dressed with Smart Balance salt and pepper. The cranberry sauce is made from whole cranberries with oranges, sugar and agave, a syrup made from the same cactus that tequila is made from. The soup will feature red beans, kale and will be thickened with cornstarch to keep it lighter and reduce calories. It will be meat-free (except for chicken and ham base), oil-free, dairy-free, gluten-free and relatively low in sodium. Everything is gluten-free today except the gravy.

Wednesday 9/23

Curried Chicken Rice Bowl, Curry Braised Thigh, Braised Lentils “Dhal”  Basmati Rice/Baby Carrots, Mango Chutney
Naan Bread/Tzatziki
Soup: Tomato

This is a West Indian version of curried chicken. It is marinated for three days with celery, onions, sweet pepper, garlic, ginger and curry spices, similar to how Jamaican jerk chicken is marinated. We’re serving the curry with white basmati rice, well-cooked braised lentils called “Dhal” and vegetables. Be careful with the naan bread; it has 3.5 grams of fat (1 gram saturated), 5 mg cholesterol with 340 mg of sodium and 21 grams of carbohydrate per piece…and you can eat a bunch of those! The surprise of the meal is the tzatziki, which for a yogurt-based condiment, doesn’t have enough of anything in it to worry about unless you are on a very strict weight-loss diet. We’re also serving an apple and mango chutney. Chutney is a fruit “preserve” with sugar and vinegar that is served with curries. The tomato soup is made with the fabulous, stewed tomatoes I use throughout my menus. It’s even relatively low in sodium for a canned tomato product, clocking in at 360 mg per portion. You can buy Better Than Bouillon Soup bases, I use liberally on this meal, right down at Gene’s grocery store! Look for the “Chef Steve’s Grab Good” label in the aisle, and look for a video of me making this tomato soup on the same page! Everything is gluten-free today except the curried chicken and naan bread.

Thursday 9/24

Club Wrap, Baked Chips
Soup: Cheeseburger

We have whole wheat, spinach, tomato-basil, garlic herb and jalapeño cheese tortillas. For fixings, we have turkey, ham, beef, a variety of cheeses, as well as lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, arugula, sprouts, peppers, olives, pickles and too many other fixings and dressings to mention. Make this meal what you want it to be. Lunch meats and cheese are always a little high in sodium, but we don’t use much. Be careful with dressings if you want a low-calorie wrap with less fat and sodium. Remember, we have honey and spicy brown mustard, which are tasty options with zero fat and not enough sodium to mention. On average, the baked chips we offer have 50% less fat than regular chips. Some of them are also very low in sodium. Check the nutrition facts label on the bags. All of the Lays products and the Doritos are under 200 mg of sodium per bag! Remember that you are shooting for 2000 mg of sodium a day on a moderate diet like the DASH diet. I use 2% milk instead of cream in the soup. It is thickened with an oil-based roux so it does have some fat in it, but it is a healthier version of a cream soup than you will find in other restaurants. It is hard to estimate the fat and sodium in the cheeseburger soup, but it isn’t for the faint of heart and if it was as high as 30 grams of fat and 600-700 mg of sodium it wouldn’t surprise me at all. You can fit this into a moderate diet like the DASH diet, but you will have to be careful with your sodium and fat for the other two meals today. The wrap, as a salad without the tortilla, is gluten-free. The soup is not. Check the ingredients list on the chips you select for gluten guidance.

Friday 9/25

Steamed Salmon or Cajun Catfish
Fresh Asparagus, Steamed Gold Potatoes
Soup: Steak Soup

If it’s Friday in Smith Center, it is fish day at the Hometown Café! The salmon is simply steamed with a little Smart Balance, salt and pepper. The catfish has just a bit of Cajun seasoning on it and is baked, not fried and is VERY low in sodium, coming in at under 20 mg per serving! The potatoes and asparagus are also steamed, making this a super healthy meal option no matter what fish you choose. The steak soup is for the non-fish eaters. It’s actually a stew and is a meal in itself! If you are watching fat and sodium, you will have to make room for the soup in your diet, though. The soup and the catfish are not gluten-free.

Open for dine-in or carryout weekdays from 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Due to supply shortages for some products, menus listed may change.

Full hot lunch (includes one cold side) – $7.99
Just entree – $3.99
Just vegetable or starch – $2.50
Pre-packaged side salad – $2.50
Full Salad Bar (unlimited trips, includes soup and roll) – $11.99
Children’s Salad Bar (8 and under, unlimited trips, includes soup and roll) – $3.99
Children’s Full Meal (8 and under) – $3.99
Senior Salad Bar (65+, unlimited trips, includes soup and roll) – $5.99
Senior Full Meal (65+) – $5.99
Salad only (unlimited trips) – $9.99
Soup only (unlimited trips) – $3.00
To-Go/One Trip Salad Bar – $7.99
Other sides priced specifically.

Chef Steve’s community health partnership with Gene’s Heartland Foods makes finding exciting, healthier ingredients a breeze. Look for Chef Steve’s Grab Good labels on the ingredients he selects at Gene’s. Scan the QR code for instant access to Recipes, Pro Tips from a Registered Dietitian, and How-To Cooking Videos. It’s never been easier to cook healthy and tasty meals.

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