Holiday Meal Preparation with Deborah Peterson
Chef/Owner Deborah Peterson at Vineyard Catering in Woodinville, Washington talks about holiday meal preparation.
View Episode Transcript
*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
The following is a podcast from a qualified senior care provider, hurt, on the answers for elders radio show. And Welcome back to answers for ALDERS radio. I am here with a very important person for the holidays, Deborah Peterson from vineyard catering. Deborah, you are a personal chef and a wonderful help for us as we are preparing for the big dinner coming up, and you also help work with families that have seniors, and thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me, Susan. You know, Deborah, tell us a little bit before we get into the holiday and everything like. Tell us a little bit about what you do. Well, as a personal chef, people have me come in and prepare meals on a weekly or bi weekly or monthly basis. This busy families or caregivers. Right now I have a couple of young people that I’m cooking for. I was hired by a friend of the family to go in and cook for them because they are caring for their mother at home. That’s amazing. Getting caregivers don’t always take care of themselves. That’s an understatement. We know this so so everybody’s situation is different. And then as a as a boutique cater I do private events. So we’re talking after memorial service, managing the kitchen when people come back to the home, whether I provide the food or of the friends and family have, someone has to manage that kitchen. And we also do celebratory dinners. Five thousand, sixty, seventy eight gift birthday, now that’s amazing. Any every celebration is important well, and you know, I love the fact that you really work with caregivers and seniors because obviously that’s who we target in in our show. And and basically talking about the holidays, because they can be overwhelming and certainly if you’re a family caregiver. I remember the days when I was a family caregiver and I wanted so desperately to make sure that every Thanksgiving holiday was the best ever for my mom, especially because I didn’t know if it was going to be there her last holiday right. So I would beat myself up, working a full time job and wanting to make sure that all the food was correct, not only prepared appropriately right but in many cases the way she used to do it, because it’s really important that I make certain things her way right. And so I just put so much pressure on myself as a daughter and, you know, to the point where I just burned out. And that’s not what to do. And and really, you know, one of the things that we really now, even on our newsletter, we’re talking about simplifying, and one of the ways in which families can sim simplify, obviously, is to bring some embody like you to help with these processes. So, you know, how do you work basically for the holiday season, like, what kind of ways in which can you help? You know, sometimes it can be helping with the grocery shopping, it can be helping to prepare a few sides. The main dishes done by the hostess. Right, might just have me help with the few sides. That will round things out. Just taking a little bit off of their hands. Absolutely and certainly too, I think just having the ability to say I don’t have time to go shopping, I don’t have time to do all this stuff, maybe I’m going to take care of the Turkey and that’s all I got the band with for. But for you to be able to come in and say I’ll do all the shopping, I’ll get all these things and I’ll deliver them to you and all you have to do is heat them up. That’s right. That’s amazing. Now, that’s amazing and certainly helpful, especially with so many families trying to do a million things and once right. So, you know, obviously, working with seniors, obviously there’s they kind of have special dietary needs that we may not think about being younger, and I know for my mom I was always one that I always wanted to try a new recipe and that always didn’t go over very well. Now it doesn’t, does it? So tell me a little bit about kind of what your rule of thumb is when working with seniors. YEA, a couple of things I recommend that people do be aware of special diets. Also remember that your elderly loved one on their own may not be eating a well balanced meals. If they’re doing it themselves, you might go to their homeriages boxes of cookies on the counter because they love sweets. This is a time that you can play on and prepare meals that are healthy during this holiday season. Absolutely the other thing I want to recommend people do is monitor your loved ones medications and alcohol intake, because it’s very easy for people to get caught me. Yeah, very easy people to get caught up in the celebrations, in the festivities and they lose track of what they’re doing. Well, and it’s interesting too, because you know, alcohol in many cases in families is flowing and you don’t think about maybe mom or dad or on a special kind of medication that they shouldn’t drink alcohol with. So how about creating some mocktails, yes, hey, that everyone can enjoy the fruit and fruit juice and clubs, soda and some fruits. They’re very festive and you can help with that right. That’s awesome. Do that. The other thing I recommend is remember food is more than about nutrition. It’s about bringing families together. Okay, and you are very it’s great that you were cognizant of bringing your mom into your home and wanted to do things correctly. For many the mother was the matriarch and used to be, as was my hostess, M She’s being the hostess on the chef. So how about, like you did, creating some integrating some of her recipes, heard her dishes into the holiday meal? You know, I have a perfect story with that. My mom was a stickler for gravy it had to be done a certain way, it had to do a certain thing, and so I used to even when she was in her wheelchair, I would actually bring her into the kitchen when I was making the gravy and I would let her be there with me and she’d actually prop herself up on the on the counter while I was making the gravy and she’d say now, that’s perfect. And even though I knew how to do it, it was important to her and it was kind of a ritual that we had over the holidays and it gave her a role that, you know, I contributed, which I think is so important. It is very important give mom or grandma or Grandpa a roll, a piece, a part of Ye that host. Yes, yes, I love that. So we are talking again to Deborah Peterson from vineyard catering. And Deborah, what areas do you serve here throughout Greater Pugas Hound, primarily Seattle, North Uh, Huh, okay and the east side. Okay, so you are basically how do you work with families? Do they call you then and say this is what I need, and then do you deliver food? How do you quickly? I’d for most of my clients I cook in their home. Oh wonderful. That’s but primarily what I do, and that’s great because now you have all the in you know, the knowledge of what goes in there, and you also don’t have to run all over hire there and yon with food and and you tend to what you know you can. I’m assuming what you do is you make for like a week. So you’ll do things and then and in have things. We in freezer bags, or how do you now? They’re in glass containers. O, purfect glass goes from freezer, refrigerator of her microwave. So it makes it very easy. Yes, so everything they can see through see what’s in there. Yes, and so obviously this is a great thing service that you can offer for seniors that are still at home. Yes, and they don’t like meals on wheels now, they don’t. So you know, and they might have a little bit more to be able to pay somebody like you to do that. So that’s a wonderful option. All the meals are customized for their personal preferences and the Dietarian Needs, uh Huh. And and then you’re obviously really trained to understand, you know, what those dietary needs are. So somebody’s a diabetic, you understand about how that diet is supposed to be laid out and things like that. Is that correct? And if I don’t, I have nutritionist that I tap into. There you go. The Internet as a wonderful tool. Yes, it is. Yes, it is, and I actually have a couple of nutritionists on answer or for elders, and they’ve been amazing to provide a lot of resources for us in knowledge, which is really great. So and so, so, when I’m a family member and obviously getting ready for a Thanksgiving dinner, what are some kind of guidelines that I should look for? Well, you want to remember that our taste buds change as we age, so the food becomes more or less appealing to seniors. So you want to maybe, maybe, make some changes, some accommodations. Let’s call it reducing sugar instead, add some sweetness with citrus, Vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, molasses. Okay, it’s probably healthier to well, it is healthier for them. Substitute some fat with Apple Sauce, bananas, prunes. And for Salt, I found the best substitute for salt if you have a member who is salt sensitive. Sue Mac sum AC. It’s a spice in your inner go into the grocery store in your folk food section and you can find just buy the amount that you need sum AC. It is the closest to salt that I found. Wow, and it’s healthy for you. I’ve never heard of it. Vice. Yeah, I’ve never heard of that. That’s why I wanted to spell it out, because I had not heard about it either until I was cooking for a client who had been released from Rehab and she was on a salt free diet and I wanted to find the best salt substitute I could find. And you know, we’ve I’ve learned that obviously the very first taste that a child senses is sweet and it’s the last sense our taste. But that see that seniors experience in the end of their lives. So obviously it’s wanting that sweet but now’s but that sugar necessarily isn’t that healthy for them, especially if they have a diabetic type situation. So understanding how you can meet that sensitivity, and I know that you know it may not be the most healthy thing to go with artificial sweeteners either. So sometimes that’s not right solution right. So that’s like the apple sauces in the Prune puree are really nice substitutes for the sugar. And obviously, like I know that you can bake breads or things like that. Instead of throwing oil in there, you can throw an apple sauce in there. So that’s healthier, obviously, and not so it’s overwhelming for the healthwise and also for the children in the house to yeah, so in in preparing the meal for holidays, I guess what are some just is. In a nutshell, what would you say is the number one rule? First, patients, okay, and and again a commentating you want to provide dishes that are familiar, as we’ve talked about, but also balanced. Make sure it getting a balanced meal, because they may not be doing that at home right. Well, Deborah, I’m so glad to have you on the show today and so grateful that your hair there for our many, many families out there and very, very happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and to yours. Thank you. And how do we reach you? Well, my website is vineyard catering dotnet. Okay, and did you want phone number? One? Four to five, three, four, six, seven, three zero. And, Deborah, I know that you’re probably going to be very, very busy this Thanksgiving season, but you know what, I bet if somebody calls you you could probably find a way to make to help them with their holidays. Is that correctly? Want to help? Absolutely well. Thank you so much for being on answers for others. Thank you, Susanne. Answers for elders radio show with Susan Newman hopes you found this podcast useful in your journey of navigating senior care. Check out more podcast like this to help you find qualified senior care experts and areas of financial, legal, health and wellness and living options. Learn about our radio show, receive our monthly newsletter, receive promotional discounts and meet our experts by clicking on the banner to join the Senior Advocate Network at answers for elders RADIOCOM. Now there is one place to find the answers for elders
No post found!
Popular Articles About Woodinville and Washington
Popular Articles About Home Care
Originally published November 17, 2018