The Bonney Lake Senior Center’s lunch menu now includes such unique tastes as baked pork marinated with lemon pepper, olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. There’s even a Bavarian Oktoberfest.

Those are just some of the many selections its cook, Lara Wheeler, has added to the menu since the beginning of summer.

“June was a ‘new tastes month’ for the seniors,” she said. “We tried new flavors and some were a big hit.”

Wheeler came up with the changes after the center changed from publishing its monthly newsletter to a quarterly format.

“To come up with this menu, I kept in mind my budget and what I’d served over the past couple of years,” she said.

Known for serving seniors’ favorite meals – her recipe for liver and onions is a continual crowd pleaser – Wheeler sought out several resources to aid her in planning 60 lunch ideas at a time.

Through the menu planning process, she double-checked each recipe to make certain it featured a “variety of foods and flavors to whet the appetites of our senior citizens,” she said. “With help from the Internet, recipe books, seniors’ suggestions and past menus, three months of menus were successfully created.”

One of those creations will be served Thursday when the senior center hosts a luau. On the menu are Kahlua pork, an island yam bake, steamed rice, Hawaiian slaw and dessert. Like all of the center’s lunches, the public is invited. Meal prices are $3 for seniors or $5 for nonseniors.

As for the Oktoberfest – set to take place Sept. 21 – diners may view it online, along with Wheeler’s other menus selections, at www.ci.bonney-lake.wa.us/section_community/community_resources/senior_center.shtml.

The Bonney Lake Senior Center is located at 19303 Bonney Lake Blvd. E. and its phone is 253-863-7658.

Lemon pepper pork chops

Courtesy Lara Wheeler,

Bonney Lake Senior Center

Serves four

4 pork chops

1 tablespoon lemon pepper

8 tablespoons each of butter and olive oil

4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Tear off a generous square of foil for each chop, enough to wrap and seal completely. Coat both sides of each chop with lemon pepper.

• Put 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in the middle of each square of tin foil and place the peppered chops on top

• Add 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil on top of each chop; add one 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce over the top of each chop.

• Wrap each chop tightly. Place on middle rack of oven. Bake for 35 minutes.

 “These chops were fantastic – the seniors were treated with this meal, since pork chops are not a regularly affordable item to purchase. They loved it!” – Lara Wheeler