Special Diet and Menu Services
Personal Chef Services
For our clients with special dietary requirements, we understand that making the transition to preparing foods that are free of allergens may present a challenge. Suddenly, many of your favorite foods are unfriendly, and it may be difficult to find a balance between comfort and sustenance. We are here to assist your transition to a diet that is health-supporting for you and your new dietary restrictions. For serious allergies, we follow strict protocals that allow us to work in our clients home without risk of cross-contamination.
Together, we will customize a Master Menu full of suitable options that suit your new dietary guidelines, then prepare them fresh in our clients’ homes on a weekly, biweekly, monthly or as-needed basis. High quality, fresh ingredients possible are procured from local natural foods markets, and used to create a menu that suits your specific dietary needs, including pescatarian, omnivore, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and multiple allergy diets. This will be your opportunity to try new recipes and become accustomed to the tastes of foods made with body & belly friendly substitutes for your family favorites.
Our chef will come to your home to prepare the menu items selected, then package, label and store the food in your fridge or freezer. Come home to a clean kitchen, enjoy the delicious aroma of home-cooking and find your refrigerator and freezer stocked with delicious, nutritious meals. Mealtime will be a culinary adventure again!
Catering Services
We work with clients to create naturally wholesome & delicious foods for their special events, and will create menus to suit any special dietary requests, including vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and multiple allergy diets. We cater to green business luncheons, anniversary and birthday parties, and specialize in creating local & whole foods wedding menus.
Private Cooking Lessons
We offer one-on-one, personalized instruction of recipes that match your specific dietary needs. Each class includes planning & shopping and preparing a balanced, 3-4-course whole foods meal, customized for your specific dietary limitations. Printed copies of all recipes will be provided so that you may develop your own repertoire of wholesome and delicious gluten-free meals.
Testimonials
We sought out Laura for our CEO’s birthday brunch, and were very impressed with her quick response to our initial request for information. We had been speaking with two other personal chefs, and neither measured up to the professional standards that Laura displayed. She was extremely thorough in the menu detail and the planning setup, and made sure all of our dietary needs would be met. We have a couple people who suffer from Celiac disease as well as some lactose-intolerance, and Laura went above and beyond to make sure everyone was able to enjoy a delicious meal. The entire staff loved the omelets, baked goods, and fresh fruit, and we will be keeping Laura’s service at the top of our minds for our next company function. Alison and Natalie, DRBM Inc., February 2011
Hi Laura, and thanks again for a delicious lunch, with the gluten free options for our celiac participants. I heard many positive reviews! Take care”. Kat Z., Lead Delegate, Rights & Democracy Delegation at UVIC.
Hi chef Laura, I just wanted to say a quick thank you for your wonderful presentation this afternoon. You are by far the most professional of the celebrity chefs we have met, and I daresay, a real celebrity, given all that you do. Enjoy your Sunday! Ellen Baynes, November 2010,www.theceliacscene.com
I’d suggested your name to the Greater Victoria Teacher’s Association because I thought you’d be excellent with handling severe allergies to foods. I attended the function last night and wanted to tell you that we were thrilled that they decided to use your services and thought you’d like to know what great feedback we overheard. It was great to have delicious whole foods at such a function and to not have to worry about allergies. There is another teacher who is much more allergic than I am and she was thrilled to be able to attend a Christmas function where her needs were considered. ps. My husband couldn’t get enough of your gingerbread cookies and wants me to get cracking on baking some as good as yours! Michelle & Peter, January 2008
Laura, So far we have enjoyed your Wild Salmon and Basmati Rice Pilaf, Spaghetti and Meatball and the Chicken Pot Pie – all wheat free, and delicious. Your service has been a god send to us: it was terrific not to have to worry about supper. It has taken a lot of stress off my shoulders, with my husbands special diet – thank you. Please send me suggestions for more meals. Thanks so much. Happy cooking. Cheers, R, August 11, 2008
From our first meeting, Laura was totally engaged in the task of catering the BC Green Party AGM here in Victoria. Her vast knowledge of healthy vegetarian foods ensured that each meal was a well rounded, nutritious and delicious feast. When planning the all-organic, vegetarian menu, she was quick to incorporate our special requests. From including pumpkin scones with the whole grain breakfast muffins, to accommodating special diets and allergies throughout the day-long event, Laura’s expertise shone! We highly recommend Conscious Kitchen as a natural foods caterer, and look forward to having Laura cater future functions! Alan D., November 2004
Hi Laura, Thanks so much for a fantastic and delicious day on Saturday!! 🙂 Excellent excellent excellent!! From start to finish, the private lesson had me excited to prepare delicious and healthy meals. Coming into the class, I knew my way around the kitchen alright and could get through most recipes but this class was invaluable for learning the “How” and “Why” to make a meal really shine. Shopping together was fantastic and provided a great opportunity for me to ask questions about gluten-free products, differences between brands, and what can be substituted. Navigating around the fruits and vegetables with a food expert is an awesome experience for learning little tricks to make the most of the food you purchase. I thought I knew how to pick a perfectly ripe lime – not so! 😛 One of the things I liked most about this lesson was a kind of Food Whisperer approach to cooking – close your eyes and let the food talk to you! Squeeze a pepper to feel it’s weight and ripeness; feel the subtle bend of noodles while they’re cooking and listen to how hard the water is boiling. Cooking gluten-free can seem incredibly intimidating but this lesson proved to me that with a little know-how, I won’t even miss the wheat. I also appreciated learning about ways to make the most of my time in the kitchen – cook once, eat twice or more. Wash my veggies once home from the store to minimize prep time. Sharpening knives, the physics of pastry, how to cleanly chop an avacado – the pearls of wisdom go on and on. Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us and providing such a fun afternoon! 🙂 Anna
