Vitamin Expert
Dinner party setting

Nutritious dinner party ideas this autumn

Covid rules may be restricting how many people we can see but you can still treat your chosen group to a healthy dinner party and welcome the new season together.

Why not create one of the at-home nutritious dinner party food ideas from clinical nutritionist Suzie Sawyer.

 

Immune-boosting vegetables

A tray of roasted vegetables

One of the easiest, tastiest and, healthiest routes to enjoying loads of vegetables is to serve up a colourful roasted tray-bake.  It’s also another great way of bringing the Mediterranean to your home.

All vegetables contain vitamin C in varying amounts  – one of our most important immune-boosting nutrients.  However, by using aubergines, courgettes, butternut squash and red peppers, you’ll enjoy the benefits of vitamin C, and also beta-carotene (another great immune booster). It will also provide you with plenty of antioxidants. Importantly, courgettes (also called zucchini) are packed with powerful antioxidant carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which are especially great for eye health. They help protect the eye-lens from free radical damage.

This dish really benefits from a balsamic and mustard dressing topped with feta, mint and basil.  Serve it to your special five friends with other treats from the Med such as swordfish, couscous or stuffed peppers.

Smile with salmon

Baked salmong with a side of asparagus

We all need some help at bringing a smile to our faces right now.  The great news is that what we eat can have a very positive effect on how we feel.  So here’s how to bring some cheer to your dinner party guests.

Top of the list of ‘happy’ foods comes salmon because it’s loaded with omega-3 fats that are essential for good brain health and great mood.  Go for roasted salmon with lemon juice, broccoli florets, soy sauce, spring onions and a few chopped chives.  It’s so easy to cook and prepare and delicious served with a colourful salad and baby roasted potatoes. A super-easy weekday dinner party delight!

Alternatively, why not spice it up a little by marinating the salmon with lime, chilli powder, garlic, turmeric and ginger. These spices also bring their own health benefits, especially to the immune system.

Colourful cod

Life needs to be as bright and colourful as possible right now.  One of the easiest and healthiest ways to do this is by eating a rainbow diet.  The more colours you eat in the day, the more nutrients you’ll consume, as food colours all represent super-healthy antioxidants to protect our bodies against damaging free radicals.

An easy and impressive colourful dinner party treat is tray-baked cod with a delicious lime, chopped mango, avocado, cherry tomato, spring onion and chopped coriander salad.  This would also work just as well with chicken instead of the salmon and your favourite vinaigrette for the salad.

 

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