New recipe for senior living

With a degree from Le Cordon Bleu, chef Krista Adams is expanding the WesleyLife menu.

Writer: Micaela Cashman
Photos: Duane Tinkey

A Guthrie County beef burger with Prairie Breeze cheese, cabernet caramelized onions and roasted garlic aioli. Cuban picadillo with lentils, raisins, olives and capers. Avocado Louie with housemade Russian dressing, pickled beets and radishes, cucumbers, pea tendrils and ribbons of carrot and celery.

You might not expect to find these dishes on the menu at a senior living facility. But at WesleyLife, chef Krista Adams is changing that.

“There’s so little choice residents have in the skilled nursing level of living,” she said. “Food should be one that excites them and brings back that positive memory of their childhood. I want to make sure those meals are outstanding and nourish them with healthful options.”

As WesleyLife’s director of culinary excellence since September 2024, Adams has been shaping menus and dining experiences in all 10 of its communities across Iowa to surprise and delight residents with Michelin-caliber cuisine and hospitality. And she brings two decades of experience with her, from The French Laundry to Bouchon Bakery to culinary leadership roles in food service.

Trained at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Adams has had a “heart for seniors” since visiting her grandparents in a nursing home. When she had the opportunity to move into food service for a senior living organization, she knew she could make a real difference in the industry.

“My first career experience with senior living in 2016 was going around to my group in Maryland and seeing the same iceberg salad and dinner roll every night,” she recalled. “I thought, there’s got to be a better way to give these residents the best culinary experience they can have.”

When WesleyLife came calling, Adams jumped at the chance to work for an organization with a strong reputation for creating healthy, happy senior communities. Over the past two years, she’s developed what she calls a “culinary ecosystem,” which includes support for Meals on Wheels.

Her new menu strategy emphasizes fresh and scratch-made food, including salad dressings and sauces, vegetarian and plant-based versions of culinary classics, and humanely raised, minimally processed meat from nearby sources. That includes a new partnership with Guthrie County Quality Meats, which supplies the majority of WesleyLife’s beef and pork, plus some chicken, as well as a line of co-branded products that WesleyLife residents and staff can buy in its bistros and markets. In 2025, about 11% of WesleyLife’s total food spend went to Guthrie County instead of a general food-service distributor. That’s an unusually high percentage for a senior living group, Adams said.

Residents are noticing the difference. Satisfaction scores have increased from 69 to 83 out of 100. The national average is 70.

“In one year we moved the needle to 45% more fresh and scratch-made and minimally processed food. That’s huge progress,” Adams said. “With the menu strategy we have, everybody gets to have what they want.”

Now, she’s taking her culinary ecosystem to the next level with new programs rolling out in the coming months.

WesleyLife’s Culinary Excellence Pledge

F Food is medicine
R Relationships are key
E Ethical sourcing and safety
S Surprising and delightful
H House-made and chef-driven

In the first program, FRESH Puree, chefs pipe and plate pureed foods for residents living with dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, turning blended foods into meals that are safe, nutritious, visually appealing and enjoyable to eat. For example, an orange-colored puree is piped onto the plate in a long, thin triangle with a stem of green puree at the top to resemble a carrot.

FRESH Freedom will help residents with limited dexterity and cognitive decline eat with dignity. The program, launching in early 2027, transforms common menu items into finger foods for easy handling. For example, barbecue salmon will become a salmon cigar wrapped in puff pastry, and macaroni will be served in a zucchini cup with roasted tomatoes.

FRESH Fuel is being developed for residents with cognitive impairment or confusion who are prone to wandering or leaving a safe area, known as “elopement.”

“Residents who are prone to elopement burn three times the amount of calories that we do, so they’re at risk of losing weight,” Adams explained. When seniors lose weight, they’re at risk of falling. If that fall leads to a broken rib, a bruised lung or a long period of bed rest, they become prone to pneumonia, which can be fatal.

The fortified food program will increase nutrients and calories in common menu items to keep residents fully nourished.

Adams said the progress WesleyLife’s has made so far with its culinary programs wouldn’t be possible without the support of the culinary directors at each community.

“Some people perceive all this as more work, but it’s the right thing to do. It’s what we’re called to do,” she said. “If you’re called to be a doctor, there’s an oath you take. We’re called to provide amazing culinary experiences for whoever we serve.”