springdellgirl

 The Dieters Plate

Picture from the Internet

When I was a little girl we used to love to go out to dinner with our Grandma and Grandpa McKinnon quite a bit. One of our very favorite places to go was the Coachman Pancake and Waffle House in Provo, Utah. You could order a regular dinner OR breakfast anytime of the day or at night. It was amazing. I would always order the Strawberry Belgian Waffle which came with ICE CREAM on top. Oh yes. It was heaven. Sometimes my sisters would order cheeseburgers or sometimes they would order breakfast as well. My grandpa usually ordered a steak of some sort...but my grandma would order this mysterious dish called "The Dieters Plate." It usually consisted of some sort of lean meat, crackers, fruit, veggies, boiled eggs and a generous scoop of cottage cheese on a bed of lettuce. I remember looking at her plate and thinking "Sad. Glad I am not dieting!!" as I dug into my Strawberry Ice Cream Waffle Delight. Oh those were the days!!

Fast forward to a rainy Springbreak many years later when I had children of my own and was trying to avoid a dash to the grocery store in a frigid downpour. As I opened the fridge and looked to see what meager lunch offerings were to be had a BRILLIANT idea popped into my mind. THE DIETERS PLATE!!

As the kids were playing downstairs I grabbed all the random leftovers that were in the fridge and put together several delightful and colorful plates...complete with a big scoop of cottage cheese in the center (we are big cottage cheese lovers around here), then circling around the cottage cheese I put cherry tomatoes, canned peaches, pineapple, baby carrots, wheat thins, olives, grapes, a few strawberries...whatever I had on hand. When I called the kids for lunch they pretty much squealed with joy!! They were absolutely delighted by the colorful...and yet healthy lunch that awaited them. "What is this?!" they asked. "That would be the Dieters Plate" I said as I related memories of my Grandma McKinnon. They LOVED it!!

Since then it is an oft requested special lunch and now it has taken on an even bigger role at our house...an oft requested summer dinner. When the weather is hot, I have zero desire to cook. We pretty much rely on salads, pasta salads, sandwiches, grilling and the occasional crockpot dinner in the summer. We are just too busy and usually don't feel like eating a heavy meal. This summer has been particularly hot and weirdly humid. Humidity in Spokane? Seriously odd and I hate it. It has been hanging around for over a month now. My hair is in severe rebellion.

Anyway...back to my point...in asking around for dinner ideas this summer the kids continually request the Dieters Plate. They love it!! It's pretty much a perfect meal of lots of fruit and veggies, protein from the cottage cheese and whole grains from the crackers etc. You could add meat to it as well if you wanted to. So if you are stumped for a quick and easy, non-cooking summer meal that is healthy. Give the ol' Dieters Plate a try. The Johnson kids give it a big thumbs up!!