Holiday Spirit at Central Baptist Village: Culinary Choir!

At Central Baptist Village the holidays are celebrated throughout all of December. We kick off the holidays with an annual Christmas Brunch early December for all residents and their families. We feature a buffet style lunch with different action stations and dessert table for attendees to enjoy! Then every Friday in December, we hold different Christmas Socials in various parts of our community. Because we have residents with different levels of care, we make sure our celebrations are more accessible by coming to them, making it easier for families and staff to spend some extra time with our residents for the holidays. It has now become a tradition that some of the managers and supervisors from the Culinary Department pull their talents together to form the "Culinary Choir" singing polish Christmas Carols for all whom attend the socials. It gives the Culinary girls, featured in the picture, a chance to bring some holiday cheer to all the residents they truly care for! 

Giving Back at Weinberg Community

This is the season for giving.  Each December, my team and I give to a program called Pajamas at Bedtime.  We purchase pajamas for kids of all ages and donate them.  Also, we collect canned goods and donate to the Deerfield Food Pantry.  

I've attached a couple pictures to show our Hanukkah decorations for the residents as well as the team holding their pajama donations.

Alan Miller

Weinberg Community

Diversity Dinner at The Fountains at Franklin

For our monthly Diversity event, our team members were asked to bring a dish reflective of their heritage to our weekly Franklin Foodies Fan Club for a holiday luncheon.  The residents loved spending some time with our associates as well as sampling some culinary delights.  We had Iraqi, Hungarian and African American cultures represented, and all was delicious!

Cheryl Naftel, CDM| Director Dining Services | Morrison Community Living| The Fountains at Franklin

The Hospitality of The Italians at The Fountains at Bronson Place

To conclude this exciting and eventful year, it was fun to have a good old fashion Italian Dinner. The "Hospitality of the Italians" underscores what we do and live by at Morrison we deliver an enjoyable hospitable experience. Our themed dinner was cooked up with heart and soul, by Chef Paul and our honorary Cultural Ambassador for the month - Anthony. He is second generation Italian. He along with our entire kitchen staff were excited to serve up Caesar Salad and Marinated Mushrooms with Sautéed Zucchini, Beef Lasagna, Chicken San Remo with Alfredo Pasta as a side, Pesto Carrots, and Tiramisu to finish off this delicious meal! The meal was well received with the residents. They certainly enjoyed the ambiance of Italian music playing in the background as they dined on this authentic Italian cuisine. La bouna vita!

DavidAnsel | Assistant Director of Dining Services 

Free hugs at VSB

The culinary team at VSB went out of their way this year to make the residents feel the spirit of the holiday season. This time of year can be difficult for residents away from their families so we had our host, Demario Crosby, give away free hugs and "kisses" while greeting and seating residents for dinner. The residents loved the idea and one in particular was almost brought to tears saying, "I have not had a hug in a long time". The energy felt different that night and many mores smiles were seen in the dining room.

Katie Kunkel, MS, RDN, LDN | Director of Culinary Services | Morrison Community Living |­ Villa St. Benedict

Holiday Happenings at Smith Crossing

This year at Smith Crossing we put on a Christmas Pageant to get our residents in the holiday spirit.  The Dining Department had our residents laughing as we sang “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”  We also teamed up with the other departments to re-create Charlie Brown’s Christmas.  Our staff had a great time performing for the residents and the residents raved about the pageant for several days. 

This December, the Dining Department catered a Christmas party for the Marketing Department.  The team wowed potential residents with a champagne toast, finger sandwiches, gourmet chocolate covered strawberries, and cream puffs.  The party put everyone in the holiday spirit.

Using OZ at Christian Rest Home

When a breakdown in production during the Holiday Meal created a crisis, in the aftermath Chef Caitlin Hastings and Director Christina Bodanza looked to Oz Training,  and landed in the Land of Diversity.  Using a ball of yarn, they tossed it back and forth between team members, deflecting the blame yet never letting anyone “tagged” let go of the string.  The conclusion was voiced by Chef:  “We are all responsible.  We are strung together, like a web, and we can only improve by working together.”  We then did a Brainstorming Web for solutions, and made it our Production Team’s  New Years Resolution.

Out of crisis and breakdown,  come opportunities for improvement and development.  Thanks to Leadership training and development.  Happy Holidays.

Christina Bodanza CDM CDP | Director of Dining Services ♦ Christian Rest Home

The Fountains of Franklin Kwanzaa Celebration

We decided that we just weren't celebrating enough holidays this month at The Fountains at Franklin, so added one more last night.  For our Kwanzaa dinner the residents dined on African Peanut Soup, and had their choice of entrees of Fried Catfish with Grits & Eggs or Curry Chicken on Yellow Rice with Okra, Tomatoes and Corn.  Sweet Potato Pie rounded out the feast.  The residents loved it all, and were very happy to learn more about The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa.

Cheryl Naftel, CDM| Director Dining Services | Morrison Community Living| The Fountains at Franklin

Community Service at Villa St Benedict

This Month at Villa St. Benedict, our team raised money for the Feed My Starving Children Foundation by hosting a bake sale for the residents. A hand full of our employees spent the morning boxing food up for children in the Philippines! It was a fun and rewarding experience for us all.  
Nikki Beckus

Lieberman Center Talent Show

Mary Lanigan, Nutrition Care Manager at Lieberman Center for Health and Rehab participated in the annual talent show.  Mary and  Arnold Rosenthal stole the show by dancing the waltz.

Thank you Mary for making Arnold’s day a little brighter! 

Jennifer Reiner MS, RD, LD | General Manager 

Chanuka Celebrations

Holiday Board Dinner with Traditional Menu

Thank you Chef Andrew Koziol and Rabbi Aron Musat for your efforts in making this a great celebration.

Arugula, Avocado & Citrus Salad

Oven Fried Cornish Hens

Potato Latkes

Zucchini Latkes

Braised Swiss Chard

Vegetable Purse

Jelly & Carmel Donuts

Fresh Fruit

Park Plaza celebrated Chanuka with a beautiful party for our residents and over 250 community members. Besides the hor devours and pastries prepared by Chef Carol and her team, there was also a cookie decorating station, a popcorn station, a hot cocoa bar, sufganiyot (traditional chanuka donuts) and chocolate chanuka coins. 

Aliza Musat | Director of Dining Services 

Holiday cheer at Fulton Manor

Happy Holidays from Fulton Manor,

We made fudge ( Vanilla & Chocolate ) Rum Balls and Truffles.  We boxed them up.  We donated to the kids food basket program. A great program that makes sack lunches for the kids to take home, so they have something to eat.

We gave them to all department heads, with a card.  We put on our holiday hats and set out to deliver our goodies.

Many of the people we gave them to had a little tear, because of the kindness of the donation to Kids food basket.

Jane Card |Assistant Director Dining Services - Fulton Manor 

Community features Chef Yunker

Chef David Yunker was featured in the Local Newspaper for the Beverly neighborhood in Chicago for his volunteer efforts for working with teenagers from the Chicago Agricultural School to prepare a Thanksgiving meal for the seniors in the local community.  Along with Isagani Alma, a cook from Smith Village, Chef Dave was able to prepare dinner service for 400+ seniors and families with food donations from local businesses including Smith Village. 

Art Youkerd | Director | Morrison Community Living

Diversity at work Fulton Manor

For the December Diversity Activities at Fulton Manor we made a Christmas tree and filled it with wishes: some wished for good health, some for teamwork and some just fun things to do.  It was a lot of fun and everyone got into the act of filling the tree with ornaments. It's a great feeling to be able to work together.

Jane Card |Assistant Director Dining Services - Fulton Manor 

National Cookie Day Celebration

The residents at Sanilac Medical Care Facility enjoyed National Cookie Day with their personal favorite holiday cookies.  The cookies included homemade Molasses cookies, Stain glass windows, and Spritz cookies.

Happy Holidays
Billie Duvall, Director of Dining Services 

Diversity Moment: Thankful Tree

The "Thankful Tree" at Central Baptist Village. On display throughout the month of November for all to see, with each leaf containing a message of what each of our culinary staff was thankful for this year.

Tree of Thanks at Smith Crossing

In celebration of Thanksgiving at Smith Crossing, our department created a Tree of Thanks.  Cooks, servers, and utility aids all wrote they were thankful for this year and we displayed our tree for our residents to see in our Main Dining Room.

Native American AMITL from around the region

When Christopher Columbus "discovered" the new world there were 55 million Native Americans already living there and they were enjoying an amazing variety of foods unknown to the Europeans. Today, it would be hard to imagine Ireland without potatoes, Switzerland without chocolate, Italy without marinara sauce or anywhere without corn, the number one raised crop in the world, but all these foods were unique to the Americas at that time. At Fulton Manor we decided to feature some of these items in a healthy eating demo and our monthly wine and cheese party. First we demonstrated, for our PACE program, a healthier alternative to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The baked turkey is not so bad, it's all the calories and fat grams in the side dishes that do you in. So the dinner example we demoed was (with new world foods in italics): turkey breast medallion braised in white wine and low sodium stock, three sisters plus 1, corn, squash, beans & tomatoes sautéed in olive oil, wild rice pilaf and a fruit relish,pineapple, blueberries, cranberries, toasted pecans, flambé. For dessert we offered a gluten free, vegan pumpkin cookie. All the participants were given samples of the items to taste. At the appetizer party for our independent living residents in the main dining room we prepared some foods that Native Americans might have enjoyed, including some "wild" game. 

There was house smoked salmon, house smoked duck with cranberry relish and toasted pecans, corn fritters and rabbit stew in phyllo cups with horseradish cream. A surprising number of residents had fond memories of skinning rabbits in the back yard and not having anything to eat for two weeks except rabbit and squirrel. One resident claimed it was the best rabbit he ever had but it might have been the wine talking. We are still searching for a USDA inspected source for squirrel. 

Brian Brookman CEC | Executive Chef - Fulton Manor 

'A meal in the life"  this month at Masonic Pathways is celebrating "The Traditions of the Native Americans". We offered a variety of Native American foods campus wide in the community. The meal on November 20th consisted of Three sisters Soup, Catfish with Pinenuts, Creamy wild rice gratin, Hominy with Bacon, traditional Native American Fry Bread and for dessert an Indian Pudding. There were educational flyers posted for the residents, it was added to our communication channel for staff and scheduled into the daily announcements. The residents and staff enjoyed the meal and we received many compliments.  A very nice job by Executive Chef Patrick Young and his culinary team.

Jennifer Hudson CDM, CFPP| Director of Dining Services

This afternoon for "A Meal in the Life - Native American" we prepared various items for our resident's to try at an activity event here at Bay County Medical Care Facility.  

Our resident's are almost always willing to try new things and always let us know what they think.  Prepared was the peanut butter mousse, hominy casserole, and the salmon croquettes. The consensus was they enjoyed all three!

Submitted by Bay County Medical Care Facility - Essexville, MI

November was filled with Native fun at the Gilbert Residence. 

We began with a Native American Gathering, which included Native inspired snacks such Buffalo and Elk sausage, Bannock, Haupia, Tortilla and more. 

We followed that up with a Native American Dinner: Candy Salmon, Honey Apple Chicken, Wild Rice, Hominy and a Mixed Berry Crumble.

Through out the month we learned many things about the Native American people from their famous leaders to celebrations.

It has been fun and educational. We are really looking forward to next month and all we will learn and eat for Italy!

Teresa Clark

Director of Dining Services

Morrison Community Living

Gilbert Residence

his month for AMITL at The Episcopal Church Home we featured Native Americans by serving Roast sliced Mutton w/ Cranberry Sauce, "The Three Sisters", Roasted Acorn Squash, Cornbread and a Cranberry Jello Parfait. We created placemats with descriptions of a meal in the life for a Native American accompanied with pictures. Our tables were set with centerpieces resembling a campfire for the resident's to enjoy.

Natasha Jones Food Service Manager, RD LD Episcopal Church Home

AMITL at Walter Reuther

Walter P. Reuther celebrates A Meal in the Life in November by preparing a warm delicious Three Sisters Soup as well as Navajo Beef Fry Bread. Along with this incredible meal, dining services shared a story that has been passed down through generations in Native American History about the origin of the Three Sisters Soup. It is said that Native Americans planted three types of seeds in each mound, corn, bean, and squash. The corn stalk gives something for the beans to climb. The beans take nitrogen from the air and put it in the ground for the corn and squash. The squash growing around the mound prevent weeds and preserves the moisture of all three plants. All three work together and are able to be more and do more then they could if they were by themselves. This story highlights teamwork and what we can accomplish as a team versus on our own. Both residents and the dining services team enjoyed a great taste of Native American Culture.

Ashley Aughton | Director of Dining Services | 

Veteran's Day Celebration from around the regions

For Veterans Day, Smith Village honored our Residents by serving a classic traditional service dish of Chipped Beef on Toast, commonly referred to as SOS in our Marketplace Café.  Pastry Chef Michelle Sandifer also prepared mini patriotic cupcakes that we sold to residents but provided complimentary to our Veterans.  We also provided free flag pins to our residents and guests to show our appreciation for all our Veterans.

Here at ShorePointe, we don’t have a large group of veterans, but we make sure to honor them appropriately. Our resident veterans enjoyed a Surf and Turf style menu of grilled ribeye and shrimp scampi, finishing out with fresh baked cherry pie. We had a guest speaker from Saint Michael’s Episcopal Church, who shared veteran news and encouraged the men to speak about their time in the service. Our veterans also brought their own war-time memorabilia to share with the crowd, including medals and letters from overseas. A great time was had by all.

As a proud mother of a future Sailor, I salute our veteran’s and give a heartfelt “Thank You” for your service!

“Non Sibi Sed Patriae!”

stacy henderson | director of dining services 

Every Veteran's Day at The Fountains at Franklin, Dining Services invites all of the Veteran's in our community to a private dinner.  This year was the largest gathering yet, with over 50 vets attending!  They brought pictures and mementos to share with their fellow vets, and their camaraderie was evident as they shared stories and reminisced.  Though they enjoyed the dinner of Shrimp Scampi or Salisbury Steak, the big hit of the evening was Chef Austin's creation 'Walking Tacos'.  Chef set up a table in the dining room lobby with all the taco fixings, then put them right into a bag of Doritos, and gave to everyone as they were entering the dining room.  This was reminiscent of war time MRE's when the troops would have to eat on the go.  The residents enjoyed them along with a beer as they were socializing before dinner.      

Cheryl Naftel, CDM| Director Dining Services 

Veterans Day Celebration at Sanilac Medical Care Facility.

It was a very festive day filled with memories and stories from our heroes. We served colorful red white and blue Sunday's to honor our veterans!

Sanilac Medical Care Facility. #16191