EatandEvolve — Tasty Made Healthy
Hamida’s Kitchen, a 501(c)(3) was established in 2018 to honor the legacy of Prof Hamida Ahmad, beloved mother/mother-in-law of Nausheen Ahmad and Faisal Hasan. With all the academic success and an illustrious career in public service, one thing that only the closest friends and family know about Prof Hamida was about her “Kitchen.” It was not only always open to the extended family but also for all underprivileged people who came in her contact, especially traveling families coming to a local hospital to get treatment. Hamida’s Kitchen’s mission is to extend her personal wish that a little help in the shape of a hot meal can bring normalcy in chaotic and stressful circumstances, even if it’s for a short time.
From its inception, Hamida’s Kitchen has been supporting the local chapter of Ronald McDonald House in Peoria, IL. In addition to sponsoring a guest kitchen, Hamida’s Kitchen has been providing meals every Friday since 2019 to families staying in the Peoria Ronald McDonald House. During Covid 19 years, Hamida’s Kitchen also delivered meals to public school kids who depended on free lunches and served food to various homeless shelters and soup kitchens in Peoria.
The goal for Hamida’s Kitchen evolved further in 2023, to not only provide meals but to provide healthy nutritious meals and promote a healthier lifestyle. With this goal in mind, in October 2023 Hamida’s Kitchen purchased a local Peoria restaurant well known for its healthy meals—EatandEvolve at Junction City. EatandEvolve was the brainchild of Gabriela Moran where all the recipes are crafted using locally sourced high-quality fresh ingredients with a variety of gluten-free and dairy-free options available. The tradition of healthy offering continues under the leadership of the current CEO, Preeti Sarin.
With the primary goal addressed, of providing healthy food choices for the foundation’s charitable purposes through the restaurant’s infrastructure and providing exactly the same food that is offered in the restaurant, the secondary goal was to make Hamida’s Kitchen’s non-profit activities self-sustainable through the operation of this “for profit” restaurant— EatandEvolve. 100% of the profits from EatandEvolve now go towards providing healthy, fresh, and nutritious meals to Ronald McDonald House, and steadily other local organizations will continue to be added to the list proportionally to the increased profits. We are off to a good start on that goal also.
So now, when anybody asks how can they help the foundation help local charities, the answer very well could be…just go have a healthy and delicious meal at EatandEvolve.
Our tag line is simple and effective—EatandEvolve: Tasty made healthy.
With the increase in food-related diseases and adverse of various additives being used in food in recent years: we aim to provide fresh healthy meals for our customers by using only high-quality and organic ingredients, we offer chef-cooked meals in the comfort of your home or workplace as a convenient and delicious way to welcoming clean eating to your life.
We customize our meals, ensuring options of low-carb, dairy-free, or vegan options. At EatandEvolve we are very conscious of portion control—ensuring the right quantity of nutrients are provided in the meals. We often believe we eat with our senses—food acceptance is our passion. We aim to help the world to become healthier by making clean eating convenient and enjoyable.
With the increased awareness of food and extensive research done on food, healthy and right eating will be a big trend in 2024: we are committed to this new belief. Whether its plant-based or gluten-free, we are ready to serve healthy food options.
The Queen of Squash
Changing Your Mindset: Clean Eating and
Exercise are not Punishments!
Let me guess. You have been telling yourself, “In 2024, I need to eat healthier and actually use my gym membership.” With good intentions, you are carefully planning nutritious breakfasts and lunches to prep every Sunday night. Perhaps you even joined a fitness bootcamp or downloaded an app to calculate carbs, protein grams, and calories. This is the year you will stay on track. You will not gravitate to old comfortable habits by April. You defiantly vow to this, every single year. I can assure you that you are not alone in your struggles. It’s a vicious cycle year after year. We overindulge during the Holidays and then punish that behavior with restrictive dieting and obsessive exercise in January and February. It is time to change our mindset.
Clean eating and exercise are not punishments. Instead of regret, guilt, and atonement for the sins of eating processed fattening food and binging on Netflix, focus on 80%. Focus 80% of your energy on fueling your body and giving it the exercise, it needs for optimal performance. In reality, the vicious reward and punishment system is not sustainable.
The Queen of Squash restaurant, bar and market would love to help you in your health journey! Clean eating does not have to be restrictive, bland, or boring. From our Creole Chicken Smash Burger to our Tahini Drizzle Chickpea Flatbread, our flavors and creative approach to healthy food will leave you speechless! Our market has convenient grab and go meals sure to keep you in that 80% range. We are 100% gluten-free, and can accommodate all diets including vegan, vegetarian, keto, and more. Once you try our food, you are sure to become one of the Queen’s loyal subjects.
The Queen of Squash is located at 1108 West Glen Avenue in Peoria at The Metro Centre. Dine-in, carry out, and the market are available Monday–Thursday 11am–8pm and Friday and Saturday 11am–9pm, Delivery is available through DoorDash. To learn more about The Queen of Squash visitwww.thequeenofsquash.com or call 309-670-0948.
Terroir 3:17
Your Home Kitchen
Terroir 3:17 is a family-owned restaurant with a flair of Mediterranean cuisine, emphasizing traditional home-cooked, family-style gastronomy from the Middle East, mainly Lebanon, and Europe. From our passion and love of cooking, we hope to share the diverse Mediterranean dishes that we grew up enjoying in our own homes.
Terroir 3:17 offers a weekly alternating lunch and dinner menu that showcases different home-made specials and deserts in addition to the regular menu items of falafel, shawarma, grilled skewers, hummus, and baba ghanouj dips. Our menu is updated and uploaded weekly on our Facebook page. All of our dishes are made with fresh, quality ingredients hand-picked from local markets and grocery stores and cooked to order. We pride ourselves in serving healthy foods using mostly natural ingredients, free from harmful additives and preservatives, as if cooking for our own family and friends at home. Our meat marinades and traditional Lebanese and Mediterranean salads and veggie dressings are all hand-made with fresh herbs and seasonings. Our French fries are hand-cut from hand-peeled potatoes. We mainly use light and extra virgin olive oil to sauté, bake, marinate, dress, and cook with. Canola oil is used to deep fry, mainly our falafel and fries.
Our menu is also considerate of many different palates and diet styles including gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options. Almost all of our menu items are prepared from scratch, and we offer affordable prices for everything on our menu.
At Terroir 3:17 you have the choice of casually dining in our cozy restaurant, or you can pick-up a hot meal to enjoy in the comfort of your home. Our up-to-date hours, menu, and contact info can be found on Google and Facebook. We look forward to meeting you and serving you!
To enjoy healthy Mediterranean food, you can find Terroir 3:17 at 128 N. Davenport Street in Metamora and our phone number is 309-367-4256. Hours of food service: Monday 4:30–7PM, Tue: 12–2 and 4:30–7PM, Wed: Closed; Thursday and Friday 12–2 and 4:30–7:30PM, Sat and Sun: Closed. Also follow us on Facebook at Terroir 3:17 Your Home Kitchen. Thank you and we look forward to serving you.
