AARP Rewards Healthy Plate Contest, Week 4, May 24-31st

My plan for this Holiday weekend is to prepare 2 raw veggie salads (including cucumber, celery and zucchini for hydration), 1 fruit salad for the house and make 2 dozen deviled eggs to take to a BBQ.  I have gas for the grill.  I'll keep meal prep to a minimum and prep as much food as I can on Friday.  On Thursday I will grocery shop and I'm also making a large pan of brownies (no sugar, w applesauce) for the sweet tooth.

Here's my plan: drink more water (than beer/wine); choose a smaller plate at the buffet instead of filling up a large dinner plate; select  proteins and fruits and vegetables without sauces and dressings. Engage in another activity and not to hover over the food table.

Cucumber and watermelon salad with fresh mint and feta cheese! It is a very refreshing dish that goes well with another delicious salad: the 5 beans salad, with chick peas, red beans, black beans, wax beans, green beans, red onion, bell pepper, red wine vinegar, olive oil and fresh herbs. These 2 salads, a few black olives, a few raw almonds and a hunk of sourdough bread, healthy and scrumptious! What a heavenly picnic!

Burgers are 97% fat free turkey meat. Side dish of corn on the cob, plain, no butter. Salad with red and orange pepper, dry roasted almond slivers, no dressing.

Maintain a healthy by portion controls.. Lots of fresh veggies and fruits -esp w spring there is so many available. Lean meats and exercise regularly. 

Here is a Mix and match menu for an outdoor barbeque. (A healthy plate cuts back on fats, sugars, and sodium.) You can always add heart-healthy options to a regular menu. Ask your diabetic friends for suggestions too. I attend parties for groups of 50, what I'd make for myself is heart-healthy and diabetic friendly--we've relatives and friends that are on Keto diets too! PS--the brought and bought desserts are too numerous to mention, so, I'll just add bring desserts that don't have to stay cold or hot--that is unless you're bringing an ice cream churn. 

Regular Barbeque Menu

Grilled chicken or hamburgers or kosher hotdogs or barbeque pork or barbeque chicken.

Grilled steak

Buns

Lettuce

Tomato slices

Onions

Cheese

Chili

Chips

Pasta salads

Baked beans

Chopped onions

Slaws

Potato salad

Mustard, mayo, ketchup

Water, tea, lemonade

Heart-healthy options include the following in appropriate amounts for each individual.

Remember to plan a way to keep the cold foods cold and the hot foods hot. 

Grilled chicken breast over a bed of spring mixed greens.

A black bean and corn side salad with purple onion slivers, slivered carrots, thinly cut radishes, cubed Roma tomatoes, Italian seasoning, yellow vinegar, olive oil, fresh ground black pepper

A punch bowl salad containing the following--cauliflower and broccoli florets, celery and carrot sticks, squash and zucchini rounds or sticks, sweet pepper strips, Italian seasoning, fresh ground pepper, olive oil. Salt in a shaker. 

Zucchini chips with a fresh salsa dip.

Fruit platter, including watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes, and orange segments, could make kabobs for the platter.

Spinach salad with strawberries, feta, pecans on a spinach bed of green. Raspberry vinegerette. 

I grill long slices or zucchini, yellow squash. I also wrap baked potatoes and put them in the fire. I boil a cut up chicken before I grill it. Then I grill chunks of watermelon and pineapple, thick slices of peaches and have that for dessert with chopped basil.

My friends and I will have grilled salmon as our main course. I may bring some veggie burgers to grill as well. 

I switch to veggie burgers there are so many yummy varieties out there you don’t even miss the meat and when you dress your burger with lettuce tomato and red onion you don’t even notice

I invested in a $20 kitchen scale. I weight everything that goes into my mouth. I have lost 52 pounds since January 1st, 2021! 

You really know how many calories in you're portion??