By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

With schedules full of after school activities and work obligations, it can be difficult to find time for a family dinner, let alone cook a healthy meal. But don’t worry, Katie Strickland has you covered! Strickland’s business, Katie’s Plates, provides healthy, freshly cooked meals delivered right to your door.

“I like to call it innovative and creative nutrition,” Strickland said. “It’s all cooked fresh every night, the most you’ll ever have to do is maybe put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.”

Strickland and Katie’s Plates dietitian, Sarah Ware, create a fresh menu every week. Each menu contains a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner options, from a ham, apple and sweet potato egg scramble to teriyaki salmon with sriracha cream sauce over jasmine rice.

“Planning the menu is the fun part,” Strickland said. “(The food) is really good for you and you enjoy eating it.”

Each week’s menu is posted the prior Monday and customers are asked to place orders by Sunday so Strickland can plan a shopping list.

Strickland and Ware work together to not only plan healthy, but also allergy conscious meals. For example, Katie’s Plates turkey sloppy joe stuffed sweet potato is both paleo and gluten free.

“We make classic stuff healthy,” Strickland said. “It’s very conducive to people with allergies, we try to stay paleo and gluten free.”

Strickland, an Oak Mountain High School graduate, was inspired to start Katie’s Plates while she was in college studying nutrition at Mississippi State University. She began the business on her own, and was the sole employee at first.

“The first time we ever had 12 deliveries, I thought ‘Oh my gosh, I’m never going to be able to do that!’” Strickland recalled. “It was scary.”

Since then, Katie’s Plates has grown, attracting more customers and deliveries. Katie’s Plates added three more employees and recently moved into it’s own dedicated storefront and kitchen on Montevallo Road.

“It’s just the four of us in here every day,” Strickland said. “Starting your own business is really scary, and it takes a lot of gusto to really go for it.”

Although it has been a lot of work, Strickland said seeing health improvements in her clients has been very rewarding.

“Doctors have noticed a real improvement… it’s really cool to hear about that,” Strickland said. “I just want to help people.”

Katie’s Plates delivers through the Birmingham area, including parts of Hoover and North Shelby up to Valleydale Road. For more information and to place orders, visit Katiesplates.com.