Welcome to The Portion Queen. I created The Portion Queen to share my experiences of the best food life has to offer, consumed in a way that is compatible with good health and wellbeing.
Here, you’ll find recipes that deliver BIG flavor, with an emphasis on healthy portions and simple preparation. It is absolutely possible to eat all of the types of the foods you love, in portion sizes that promote optimal health and weight. No calorie counting!
The Portion Queen will also take you to travel destinations around the world, to experience new flavors, ingredients and food experiences, and meet the people who make them possible. As Julia Child once said, “People who love to eat are always the best people.”
I’m Rae Ann Alton and my friends call me “The Portion Queen.” I love to entertain and have thrown countless dinner parties over the years. About 15 years ago, I got the name because newbie guests were shocked (dismayed?) by the seemingly small portions they were served at my dinner party. They expected to leave hungry and have to pick up a pizza on the way home. To their surprise, they enjoyed what they said was one of the most delicious meals they had ever had and felt comfortable, not bloated and uncomfortably full as they normally would have.
Now, in my 60’s (the photo is of my wedding on the eve of my 60th birthday October, 2021), I tip the scales at my college weight of 118 pounds, yet food is still my absolute passion. I walk and do Pilates twice a week, so it’s not exercise that keeps me trim. My secret is adherence to the wisest eating advice I’ve ever heard, the words of food author Michael Pollan who famously said:
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
The message there is about eating whole foods rather than processed food, in healthy portions (we Americans eat far too much) and focus on dishes that major in vegetables and other plant-based ingredients. Simple, huh? Yes, it actually is. Join me on my continuing search for (the best of) everything in moderation.
