It was a busy week here for the Fare Maven.  Besides the normal one-on-one coaching appointments and health education seminars, I got invited to do two really big cooking demo’s and food sampling for one of my corporate clients.  I want to preface this with the fact that most of the cooking demo’s I’ve done in the past have been for around 25 – 50 people.  With an estimated 200 people per demo, there was a lot of slicing and dicing prep work before I got there.  Oh, did I also mention the grocery shopping?  It was really fun doing the demo and learning what will and won’t work for me as I move forward with some of these larger demonstrations.  It was super fun.  I thought I’d share a couple of the recipes that I prepared for the folks on Tuesday.

EASY PEASY FRUIT SALAD

Seriously – it just can’t get any easier than this.  Trust me.  It’s a great dessert, topping for plain Greek yogurt (a nice balanced, metabolically efficient snack!) or good as the fruit component of a smoothie.  You can easily double to take to a party.

• 1/8 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/8 cup of honey
• 1/8 cup of fresh chopped mint
• 4 cups of fruit (NOTE: buy what’s in season, on sale or you favorites – the sky is the limit on what you put into this!  My favorite combo?  Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.)

In a large bowl, whisk the lime juice, honey and mint.  Add your fruit and gently toss.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes up to 3 hours before serving.  Will keep for a few days after you make it.

MEDITERRANEAN TUNA SALAD

I’ve been making this salad all summer long.  It’s especially great here in Arizona if you decide to dine al fresco.  There’s no mayo – just tasty olive oil and lemon juice.  It’s perfect for lunch or dinner on top of  a huge green salad.  Plus, it literally takes minutes to pull together.

• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 5-ounce can of tuna packed in olive oil, undrained
• 1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (garbanzo beans work well, too!)
• 1 sweet bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped (just say no to the curly parsley)
• 1 lemon, juiced

Smash the garlic clove on the cutting board.  Sprinkle the salt on top of the smashed garlic and use the side of your knife to make a garlic and salt paste.  Put into a bowl.  Add the undrained tuna, cannellini beans, bell pepper, onion, parsley, black pepper and lemon juice to the garlic paste.  Stir.  Adjust the seasoning to taste if necessary.