At Home

Keri Glassman's Nutritious Life Tip: Stress-Less Hostessing

July 20, 2012 | At Home

Every other week on Hamptons-Magazine.com, I’ll focus on one pillar of a Nutritious Life, and give you a Nutritious Life Tip (NLT) Hamptons-style. Last time was all about Drinking Up, now we’ll focus on how to Stress Less...especially when hostessing a party.

Stress Less: So, you planned on celebrating summer in style with an outdoor soiree for you and a couple friends? That all sounded good and fun until you started to hammer out the details—you have to become a critically-acclaimed chef, transform your dining room into looking like it belongs in the pages of Hamptons magazine and get yourself gorgeous all before you can sit back and enjoy your company (and a cocktail).

Don’t panic! Your problems can be simply solved with one of my favorite very special kitchen staples—lemon. This tiny, vibrant fruit can pose as a beautiful centerpiece, a fancy garnish on each plate, and the standout flavor of your meal. So what are you waiting for? Head out to the market, grab a bag of these bright yellow party savers, and get ready to throw a dinner fête your friends will be raving about till Labor Day.    

NLT Hamptons-Style: Lemons add a citrus kick to any dish you squeeze them over, and they also enhance the flavor of other ingredients, nixing your need to add salt. Lemons aren’t only useful in the kitchen, they can also be part of your beauty regimen with enough vitamin C to repair skin and keep wrinkles away. Lemons can take any dinner table from drab to fab with their vibrant yellow hue. Once you’re done using them in the recipe below, the leftovers can be used as part of your tablescape—here’s how:

Simple Lemon-Infused Halibut Recipe: Place halibut, or any fish, in a foil-lined broiler pan. Blend a pinch of thyme, tarragon, and pepper with 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Spread this mixture over the halibut and place in a preheated broiler for 3-5 minutes. Turn the fish over, and bake another 3-5 minutes, or until flaky and lightly browned. This recipe serves one person. Each fish is cooked individually in its own foil packet, so multiply the ingredients by the number of guests to figure out how much of each you need. That whole process takes only about 20 minutes, so no need to waste the entire day cooking.

Lemon Garnish: Slice leftover lemons until you have enough to place about three on each plate. Put the lemon-infused fish on each dish, between your slices. To add a little more color to the mix, take some of the herbs used in this recipe and sprinkle over the entire plate before serving.

Lemon Name Tags: Placecards make any dinner table a touch more elegant, but who has the time to buy, cut, and decorate little tags? Grab as many lemons as there are guests and write their full names or just their initials in script over the skin in a black Sharpie marker. Voila—in no time at all you made thoughtful place cards while adding a little lemon flare to your table.  

Lemon Mason Jars: There’s no reason why you have to spend tons of money purchasing special centerpieces to fancy up your dining table. Just buy a bunch of mason jars, slice up enough lemons so each jar has about ten. Then add water and close the lid. If you have time, pick up some bright yellow flowers to turn these mason jars into vases.

Lemon Fresh and Clean: Lemons even take the stress out of cleaning! Squeeze a lemon into a spray bottle and wipe down your countertops. It works beautifully to remove grease without chemicals.

—KERI GLASSMAN, MS, RD, CDN

Live by Keri Glassman Nutritious Life’s eight pillars for a healthy, happy summer:

Drink Up, Eat Empowered, Exercise Steady, Pamper Thyself, Sex Ed, Sleep Deep, Stress Less, Your World

Keri Glassman is the founder and president of Keri Glassman, Nutritious Life, a nutrition practice based in New York City, and Nutritious Life Meals, a gourmet, healthy, daily diet delivery program available in major markets in the United States. For years, Keri has been a leader in advancing a “whole person” approach to health and wellness. She has dedicated her career to creating services and promoting education through her brand.  

Keri is a member of Women’s Health Magazine’s board, and has authored three books, the most recent being Slim Calm Sexy Diet (Rodale, March 2012). Keri’s expertise is regularly featured on several national television programs including NBC’s The Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, Access Hollywood Live, The View, The Talk, The Chew, Dr. Oz, The Doctors, The Wendy Williams Show, MSNBC, The Fox News Channel, and CNN. She is also the nutrition and health contributor for NBC’s New York Live. Keri hosts an original series called “A Little Bit Better” which will be featured on Youtube’s LivestrongWoman channel. She is a spokesperson for national brands that align with the Nutritious Life mission, and is a prolific writer and commentator for numerous publications, such as OK! Magazine and Hamptons Magazine. Keri also regularly contributes articles and recipes to several websites including Equinox, Martha Stewart Living, and Youbeauty.com.