The best cooking demos for the fall are making half the plate fruits and vegetables. This also coincides with the USDA’s quarterly message to fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables - they will be working on different messages the next two years. We have these on our health calendar - log in to the member area and you can see them.As part of our duty for being the National Advisory Member for USDA MyPlate we undertook a project to show how you can make half the plate fruits and veggies with little labor.Here are fun ideas:Sandwich or grill plate - use a skewer for fruit and some slaw. For the slaw we bought ready-made shredded cabbage and tossed with light ranch or caesar dressing.2 salads - use fruit salad and lettuce/tomatoes for a no cook treat that is great for lunch or dinnerVeggie face - we used a combo of pineapple, shredded and baby carrots, steamed broccoli and potatoes to make a delicious face. Use light margarine or salad spritz for the potato.A great demo for MyPlate fruits and veggies is to assemble an “artists palette” of many ready-made items and let everyone create their own fun plate. Frozen veggies, prepared veg- gies and items like potatoes, broccoli and carrots are always easy to prepare. You can find a PDF handout for these recipes at foodandhealth.com click on “what’s cooking” and Labor Day.