Making Holiday Entertaining Easy

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At my house, we’re already into the swing of holiday entertaining, or at least booking dates so we can spend time with friends and family sharing a meal over the holidays.    When our kids were younger, entertaining   was often a family event.  I don’t know what it’s like in your part of the country, but here in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, baby sitters are hard to find.  So we often planned stay at home events where we enjoyed some adult time with friends, while their kids and our kids got to hang out and stay up well past their bedtime.

The trick to the evening would be finding a meal that was delicious, easy to prepare and sure to please the palates of the adults and the kids.  That’s why I love Mediterranean Pasta Bake.  It’s a big one dish meal.  If you want to – you can make it ahead and reheat in the oven.  It has the ease of lasagna for larger group entertaining, but the flavours in this dish mix it up a bit.   Small amounts of pesto and feta cheese really punch up the flavour.  Best of all the kids always loved it.

The recipe makes an 8 inch casserole, but you can easily double it to make a 9 by 13 pan (or quadruple it!).  I love this kind of dish for entertaining with a crowd.  You get to spend more time with your guests instead of running back and forth to the kitchen.  Add a great salad, some fresh bread (and of course a good wine!) and you’re all set.

My kids are teenagers now and often aren’t part of our entertaining evenings, but this recipe is still part of my entertaining repertoire.  Give it a shot.  I bet you’ll love it.  What are your crowd pleasing recipes?

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Post by Janet Bryson, Communications Manager with Canada Beef Inc.

Janet has been working with Canada Beef Inc (formerly Beef Information Centre)for 10 years and loves discovering delicious new ways to prepare Canadian beef.  It’s a good thing too, since she lives happily in “man world” with her hubby  Steve and sons Ryan, 18 and Ben, 14, where there isn’t a great meal, unless it includes beef (and perhaps an energy drink. :))

Setting the record straight on beef fat

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This is a guest post by Karine, Registered Dietitian with Canadian Beef.

As the registered dietitian for Canadian Beef, if I could accomplish one meaningful career goal, it would be to set the record straight, once and for all, on the issue of fat in beef.  More than anything else, I hear “I love beef but shouldn’t I avoid it because it’s full of bad fat?”.  So let me start here, by debunking some of the myths…

Canadian beef is a nutrient rich food that is an important contributor of many essential nutrients in the diet of Canadians.  Beef is an excellent source of high quality protein, and is a particularly good source of zinc, iron, niacin, vitamin B12, phosphorus, selenium, riboflavin, pantothenate, and vitamin B6.     

Contrary to public and media perceptions, only a small proportion of Canadians’ fat intake (total and saturated) comes from beef.  As measured by Statistics Canada (CCHS Cycle 2.2, 2004), red meat accounts for only 5-7% of total fat intake, and 6-8% of saturated fat intake, among Canadian adults. 

This shouldn’t be too surprising.  A ½ cup serving of trimmed strip loin steak for example, only has just over 5 grams of fat (5.6g). To put that into perspective, 5 grams of fat is about what you’d find in other healthy food choices like 1 cup of 2% milk (5.1g fat) or a large egg (5.0g), so beef is certainly comparable to other staples in our diets.

Here are some little known facts I wish I could scream from a mountain top, but I’ll settle for this blog post:):

  • The fat in beef is not all saturated – in fact, less than ½ the fat in beef is saturated.  Most of the other half is actually healthy monounsaturated fat, the same type we find in olive oil. 
  • Many other healthy foods contain saturated fat.  Beef sirloin tip and sockeye salmon in fact, have the same amount of saturated fat, about 1 ½ grams per food guide serving.  It’s rare for anyone to point out salmon contains any saturated fat whatsoever!
  • With beef, the fat is visible… so you’re in control of how much fat to keep or remove.  You can’t say that for a lot of other foods (think muffin for example), which can be loaded with hidden fats.   Where you see the fat on beef, just trim it either before or after cooking. 

The bottom line is Canadian beef can be a lean, heart healthy food.  And research supports this.  Two large and high quality recent studies have shown there isn’t a connection between red meat consumption and heart disease:

 1.  Micha R, et al. Red and Processed Meat Consumption and Risk of Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes Mellitus – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Circulation, 2010;121:00-00

  • Conclusion:  Red meat not associated with higher incidence of coronary heart disease, stroke or diabetes

2.  Mente A, et al. A systematic review of the evidence supporting a causal link between dietary factors and coronary heart disease. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(7):659-669

  • Conclusion:  No evidence to support causal link between consumption of meat and heart disease

Canada’s Federal Government recognizes beef as part of a balanced diet.   “Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide” recommends 1-3 servings of meat and alternatives a day, and even includes a beef recipe as an example of a healthy meal.

The bottom line is, we often think of beef as an indulgence.  And perhaps it is!  But unlike some other foods, beef is a healthy indulgence and one you can feel good about serving to your family.  I know I do!

Check out beefinfo.org for more information on why we’re not kidding when we say: “Canadian Beef… Goodness in every bite”.

Does this set the record straight? We’d love to hear your questions and continue to share the truth about Canada’s favourite protein:)