Chef’s chicken souvlaki is a delicious way to pack recommended nutrients into a meal

Streamway Villa’s Litsa Christodoulou entered this delicious and nutritious meal in the March Madness recipe contest

When the Streamway Villa nutritional care team asked residents what they would like for their residents’ choice meal, a favourite Greek dish, chicken souvlaki, was at the top of the list.

It just so happens that one of the Cobourg long-term care home’s nutritional care team members comes from a Greek background and can expertly prepare this meal of grilled marinated chicken.

Litsa Christodoulou says her chicken souvlaki is not only a meal residents enjoy, but it also delivers the recommended daily nutrients residents need.

In addition to the marinated chicken, Litsa serves her chicken souvlaki with sides of lemon rice, warm pita bread and a classic Greek salad made from tomatoes, cucumbers black olives and feta cheese.

This meal is so good that Litsa entered the recipe in OMNI Health Care’s March Madness recipe challenge.

“Speaking with residents regarding the residents’ choice (meal), this was one of their requests, and coming from a Greek background myself, it was my pleasure to introduce and prepare for them a famous Greek dish,” Litsa says in her submission form.

“(This recipe) provides all the recommended nutrients for a meal protein, carbohydrates and vegetables … (and) for that reason alone I am submitting my dish.”

While Litsa keeps her recipe a secret, she’s willing to share that she marinates chicken breast cubes in a mixture of vegetable oil, garlic powder and mustard for two hours before cooking.

Chris Weber, OMNI’s operations manager of nutrition and food service, says the March Madness contest, which saw 16 recipes compete in a bracket contest where votes were cast each week between April 14 and May 6, was close.

The winning entry was a Mediterranean omelette, created by Josephine Goddard at Country Terrace, which won “by a very thin margin,” Chris says.

OMNI launched the first annual March Madness recipe challenge in March in recognition of Nutrition Month in Canada.

Chris came up with the idea to encourage nutritional care managers and cooks to showcase their most-loved recipes and to highlight the high-quality meals served in OMNI homes.

Throughout March, nutritional care managers and cooks prepared their favourite meals, plated them and took photos that were sent to head office. The photos were accompanied by the name of each meal and its recipe.

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