MyPlate is celebrating its first birthday on June 2, 2012. Join the celebration with this fantastic fruit cheesecake that features MyPlate's great design.

My daughter's school principal is requesting ideas for alternative snacks for parents to sendto school to celebrate their child's birthday, rather than the usual cake/brownies, etc. Do you have anyhandouts/suggestions that I could use?

Here is a light, reduced-calorie cheesecake. It is perfect for summer. You can make it more elegant by serving it with fresh fruit. You'll save 100 calories and 11 grams of fat per slice as compared to the same-sized piece of traditional cheesecake. Better still, this one is creamier than most cheesecake and we know you will love the double lemon flavor.

Do you want to serve a creative birthday cake made from sorbet and berries? This one doesn't need batter, baking time, frosting or hours of preparation. It is colorful - made "a la minute" (at the last minute) right at the table. We used chocolate and strawberry sorbet, fresh berries, fresh whipped fat-free cream and vanilla frozen yogurt. The whimsical candles made a nice topping.

We know it is not so warm everywhere as here so we thought we would share some tropic love and particularly to get ready for Nutrition Month - back to basics - why not develop a love of fruit and learn about new ones!?

If you use a large serving bowl for dessert you will probably fill it. Does this mean the portion size is right? No.

How lucky we were to find quite a few farm stands! Here is a shot of the summer fruit that is from this area: raspberries, peaches, sour and sweet cherries, yellow plums, currant and blueberries.

We have also prepared grapefruit sections, peeled tangerines and berry salad.

This recipe is a great way to use over-ripe bananas and the muffins are a nutritious low-cal snack for being on the go.