We’ve all been there — the fast food drive-thru at lunch. Or chowing down on that frozen dinner riddled with high amounts of sodium. Life gets busy, and when you’re on the go, sometimes, you don’t have time to make a healthier meal for yourself or your family.
That’s where Steel and Grace comes in. The new health food line is being launched by Mary Heysek, who has worked in the medical field with her company, Medstat Healthcare Services, since 1989. She has designed four different salads all with fresh ingredients. They come packaged in an air-tight jar to make it easy to take along to work, the beach, parties and more. The best part? She delivers.
“My philosophy is you don’t need an overhaul to become healthier,” Heysek said. “Just cut something out or add something in.”
Heysek has packed her salads with a variety of ingredients, such as pine nuts, strawberries, blueberries, gourmet cheeses and spinach. Of course, she makes the dressings herself, including a honey vinaigrette or a lemon vinaigrette with grape seed oil. The menu will rotate throughout the year to match the growing seasons for different ingredients. She wants to use as many fresh and locally grown products as possible.
The most popular salad so far is the power salad. It contains sunflower seeds, pine nuts, onions, spinach, chickpeas, beans and more. She’s also created a bean salad, southwest salad and an evergreen salad that has fruit in it.
Heysek just rolled out the idea to family and friends, and it’s already taken off.
“It’s so much fun to do this,” Heysek said. “I’m surprised how well people responded.”
The idea for Steel and Grace came about while Heysek was working out at the Plant City Family YMCA. Often, she would hear mothers talking about their busy schedules and dinner plans.
At first, Heysek thought of making a compact stacked meal that would resemble a cupcake. Something like lasagna or meatloaf piled on mashed potatoes. But, it was too hard to package to stay fresh. Then, she thought of salads. What could be fresher than that?
“You just feel so much better when you eat healthy,” Heysek said.
The salads come in 32-ounce jars and are layered so when emptied on the plate, everything is distributed evenly in a colorful display.
Heysek already has booked parties and a wedding shower to cater. She delivers to offices and homes. As the line grows, she hopes to add snack cookies that are chocolate and peanut butter based as well as breakfast fruit cups and 12-ounce dessert jars.
“Almost every month I can have something new,” Heysek said. “I’m excited.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
INTERESTED?
For more information or to place an order visit facebook.com/steelandgrace. Orders can also be placed by calling (813) 763-4660.