Healthier Meals? Bring Back The Relish Tray!
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Nowadays, with our focus on getting kids to try new things and eating more healthful foods, this is the perfect time to bring back the old custom of having a relish tray at meals, with a modern twist to tailor it to our own tastes. Don’t go thinking this is just for kids though! Adults love relish trays almost as much, if not more, than the wee ones. My mother always slices up cucumbers and carrots while we’re cooking at family get togethers. We nibble…and nibble..and then have to make a brand new relish tray before the meal because we’ve ate it all!
This also helps keep our portions of more caloric fare to a minimum as we’ve already partially filled up on the good stuff.
My typical relish tray includes: cucumbers, bell pepper strips, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and of course a little ranch dressing!
Now I know some of you are looking at this and thinking “That’s a veggie tray”. Well, its not. Why? Because I said so.
The reason I call this a relish tray is that the dish I am using is called a relish plate and I actually serve these things alongside my meals as a form of condiments so technically, in a highly technical fashion, this is a relish tray. It would just look more like one if my family ate pickles, but we roll with what we got here.
When the kids want a little snack, just pull the handy dandy relish tray out of the fridge and set it on the table.
This is a GREAT way to get your little ones to try out new things. Just set the tray out and go about your business. Without the watchful eye of a parent, you’d be surprised what kids will try!
Relish Tray Ideas:
- Carrots
- Tomatoes (sliced or mini)
- Peppers, sliced
- Green onions
- Diced onions
- Jicama (a new favorite of mine)
- Apples
- Spiced apple rings
- Canned fruits or veggies
- Pickles (all varieties)
- Banana Peppers (hot peppers if only for kids)
- Marinated mushrooms (soak mushrooms in Italian dressing..YUM!)
- Radishes
- Grapes
- Berries
- anything you can come up with!
You can include dips if you like but if you’re going for healthy, that muddles up the picture considerably. 🙂
If you enjoy Southern Plate, please tell a friend!
When I was younger, Mom always had me prepare the relish tray for those special occasion family meals. Now, I try to assign it to the next generation when we get together monthly for family dinner at my parents’ house.
We’ve always had olives on our tray (Dad does love them so!), pickled peaches, sweet gherkins (or Mama Brown’s 7 day pickles while we still had her), apple rings….
Thanks for reminding me. Tomorrow’s Easter, and we’ll be gathering at Mom and Dad’s. I almost forgot the relish tray!
My husband makes trays like this for the kids all the time — might have boiled egg, cheese, veggies, crackers, etc. – we call them Daddy plates!
My grandmother always had a relish tray for Sunday meals. It was my job to fill the celery with cheese spread (the kind that was in a small glass jar). She would save the jar and use it as a juice glass. I remember how much I loved having my morning OJ in that little glass. It’s funny how family meal time brings back so many memories.
I’m a fan of the relish tray. Thanks for posting.
I met this sweet lady where I work(Waffle King) I love her Website with all the old southern cooking. I have been cooking since I was 9 years. My daddy taught me how to ccok and I have been doing it for 40 years and I love to what I do.
Thank You
Alice
LOVE a good relish tray! And I never thought about using jicama on one. I enjoy stuffing celery w/ low-fat cream cheese & line up craisins on top. Delish!
Being raised up as a Yankee, our “supper club” restaurants (you can even look it up on Wikipedia!) always featured a relish tray on a lazy Susan as part of the free appetizer that you didn’t have to pay for! In addition to the usual olives, sweet gherkins, pickled beets, radishes, celery, etc., many of them also featured cottage cheese or cheddar cheese spread and crackers (especially in Wisconsin). My ‘Bama boy (er, husband) always had a relish tray at home too when he was being raised by his Nanny Selma and said it was okay but when I put my relish tray on a lazy Susan and added cottage cheese, he went crazy for it! Thank you for your awesome blog, you help me keep my southern man happy with proper food!
Christy!
What a wonderful idea! We always have a relish tray or dish out at holiday get-to-gethers…but I never thought about doing in for regular meals. I don’t think it would work for my 20 year old, but it is still a great idea for me and my husband… Instead of looking for a cookie or candy bar, if I had a relish dish out or ready in the fridge…we could easily snack on that and avoid the carbs.
Thanks for brightening my day with this wonderful idea
Dianne