Five Star Senior Living Dining Experience at MorningStar
At MorningStar, our senior living dining experience is inspired by the belief that diet is the centerpiece of personal wellness. Through proper diets and healthy choices, food is a healing medicine unlike any other. It is also one of the great joys of living, especially when enjoyed in community. Breaking bread together provides far more than physical nutrients; it bonds us as family and friends.
At MorningStar, we not only recognize that fact, we celebrate and elevate it. Our trained Executive Chefs and Certified Culinarians design seasonal menus that feature the freshest ingredients from the highest quality producers, often homegrown and locally sourced (sometimes from our own resident gardens). There is nothing like fresh produce to stimulate the senses and the appetite.
MorningStar meals are largely prepared from scratch, just as our residents would have done in years past. We welcome resident feedback, and tailor our menu to their suggestions shared in the dining moment or at Resident Food Council. And like all great chefs, ours love exhibition cooking. Today it might be Bananas Foster in our dining room. Tomorrow, a lesson on pastry in our Life Enrichment kitchen.
We also understand diets alter as we age. Our Chefs are trained in how best to modify menus and recipes to accommodate changing needs and tastes. Our nutritional choices include low sodium, sugar free, no sugar added, vegetarian and low fat for residents to self-manage.
Our innovative dining approaches within Memory Care won us this online coverage:
“4 ways memory care dining has gone beyond finger foods”
Dining Amenities
- Trained Executive Chefs
- Restaurant-style Service
- Private Dining Room
- Bistro
- Seasonal Menus
- Resident Feedback Welcomed
- BrainWise
- Prescription Diets
Brain Wise Foods are Featured in Our Senior Living Dining Services
BrainWise is as much a lifestyle as it is a program at MorningStar by which we prioritize the use of ingredients known to support brain health by their high concentrations of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. The charge of MorningStar’s culinary team is not just to create flavor profiles to delight the eye and palate, but to leverage the phenomenal benefits of these aptly named “Super Foods,” items like acai berries, Omega 3 fats, dark chocolate and dark greens.
Memory Care: Dining with a Tender Touch
In our memory care neighborhoods, dining is as much about community as it is about nutrition. Team members sit with residents to enjoy a meal and encourage the appetite (of course, family members are welcome anytime too). We regularly serve meals “family-style,” offering dishes from serving bowls and platters, as in any private home.
Out of respect for the residents and the compromised abilities at table for some, we serve finger foods, texture-modified diets (mechanical soft and puréed, thickened liquids), and easy-to-recognize balanced meals that taste as good as they look.
For other residents, the best nutrition may be gained through pureed meat and vegetables. When prepared with finesse, these can, to the surprise of many, be some of the most elegant of dishes: pate en croute (in pastry), terrines (molded and sliced), mouisselene (bound with egg white and poached). All can be beautifully plated. All are purely delicious. And packed with nutrients.
MorningStar communities are private pay.
The MorningStar Senior Living Company exemplifies the best in senior living with a unique mission statement “to honor, to serve, to invest.” Our foundation is built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and hiring staff with a felt calling to serve to create true homes for residents amid a beautiful, serene setting. We invite you to join us for lunch and experience first-hand our exceptional senior living dining experience.
Wellness
BrainWise Super Foods
Beautiful Berries
Blue, black, acai: all these “brain berries” contain anti-inflammatory properties and mega antioxidants which inhibit free radical movement.
Nuts
Nuts and seeds are a terrific source of protein, are rich in omega-3 and Vitamin E, both known to fight cognitive decline.
Go Fish
Omega-3, a category of polyunsaturated fatty acids vital to our nervous system, are not produced by our bodies and are obtained through diet. An ideal source: cold-water fish.
Fabulous Fats
Our brains are 60% fat, the fattiest organ in our bodies; to function optimally, they need to be fed fats.
Chocolate Rx
For a heart-healthy, antioxidant treat, choose dark chocolate with high cocoa mass. It improves concentration, and increases endorphins that mood lift.