[Panserbjorne]

A nutritionally sound appetizer? All I can come up with are wierd and yucky things with cheese PRODUCT-lol. What are you all making for the holidays?

 

[crunchy_mama]

how about hummus and whole wheat pita bread? Maybe not very festive, but a great nutritious appetizer.<br>
amanda

 

[homemademomma]

artichokes w/lemon butter dip!!! yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[girlndocs]

For Longest Night, I made stuffed mushroom appetizers. They're fatty, but far from nutritionally void. They're really good with dry sparkling cider (Trader Joe's has a nice brand that's cheaper than Martinelli's).<br><br>
For 25 mushrooms:<br><br>
1/2 pkg firm tofu, mashed<br>
1/2 lb bacon, fried crisp & crumbled<br>
2 bunches green onions<br>
1c grated cheddar cheese<br>
1c slivered almonds (chopped pecans are good too)<br>
mayo<br>
garlic powder<br><br>
Mix it all up using just enough mayo to lightly coat & garlic powder to taste. Stuff mushrooms by twisting out the stems & packing a spoonful of tofu mixture into the cavity, rounding the top nicely. Bake 10 minutes at 425 and drain on paper briefly before serving.<br><br>
For a vegetarian version, you could substitute some hearty seasoning blend & a little more tofu, or maybe some breadcrumbs, for the bacon.<br><br>
Another idea might be to mix cottage cheese, egg, shredded mozzerella and/or parmesan, and some chopped frozen spinach, stuff the mushrooms with that & top each one with a dab of thick pasta sauce.<br><br>
Scuse me, I hafta go raid the leftover stuffed mushrooms <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/yummy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="yummy">

 

[MamaMonica]

mmm...those mushrooms sound good.<br><br>
My friend makes a simple dip using a can of marinated artichokes with a can of navy beans in the food processor (don't purree the can of course) and serves with corn chips. It's yummy.<br><br>
I always do the raw veggie plate with dip.

 

[SarahTorg]

A fruit and veggie tray!!! You can put several dips out. Hummus, ranch, peanut butter, or what ever dips you like with veggies. I love peanut butter on everything, and that is healthy as long as you buy a good brand.<br><br>
Take whole wheat tortillas, and spread refried beans, low fat sour cream, some shredded cheese, and some salsa or Pico de gallo, and roll up tight, and slice into one inch peices.<br><br>
Home made chicken nuggets, or "popcorn chicken"<br>
Cut chicken in tiny bite size pieces, and dip in egg, then roll in seasoned bread crumbs. Bake. Serve with plain honey, or make honey mustard sauce, ranch or bbq sauces<br><br>
You could make tiny little spinich quiches!!<br><br>
hOpe these help. I'm not doing ANY cooking for the holidays this year. Whew. It will be NICE. I like to cook, but darn it, I've been working so hard making last minute christmas gifts, I'd hate to keep on going with cooking. I'd be a real B#$%^ when all is said and done. LOL<br>
Sarah

 

[mamaliss]

cold shrimp with cocktail sauce

 

[ShannonCC]

I like veggies and dip too. Very easy on the cook and nice and crunchy for the eaters <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="orange big grin"> Whenever we have a party we have a veggie tray with carrots, celery, bell peppers and sugar snap peas. Sometimes I put out dip with them. Last party I was lazy and didn't put out anything and they still got 'et <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/yummy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="yummy">

 

[shelley4]

we like to make little wraps two ways.. one: take a whole wheat wrap, spread hummus; sprinkle cut up green pepper and red pepper.. roll the whole thing up in a tight roll, and slice into little circles two: same as above, but use cream cheese with a little ranch dressing YUM... if you want it to be more festive, use spinach and sun dried tomato wraps.. red and green <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">

 

[melissa17s]

One of my favorites is Samosas, which I posted a recipe for in in the Dec. Veg Thread. Also, a neat variation on the wraps is to take whole wheat tortilla, spread cream cheese on it, sprinkle on artichoke hearts and black olives. Roll and cut into bite sizes and hold together with toothpicks.

 

[alsoSarah]

Bruschetta! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up">

 

[pioneermama]

fresh plain yoghurt with veggie soup dip from fantastic (natural dry soups) with carrot sticks and whatever else. It's yummy and, if you eat dairy and view dairy as healthy, very healthy <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up">

 

[chalupamom]

Guacamole and baked chips?

 

[carolsly]

A slice of lean lunch meat with cream cheese spread thinly inside with one green onion (all pieces still intact..except for the root of course) wrapped inside. These are so yummy. I make them with turkey, my friend makes them with that processed ham stuff..yuckola.<br><br>
I bet you could also use hummus inside these..oh oh now I know what I want for a snack this evening...

 

[girlndocs]

Ooh, Carol, I do something like that, only I use ham, cream cheese & a crunchy cucumber wedge <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/yummy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="yummy"> Another way to do it would be to use a round cucumber slice, a dollop of cream cheese or ranch dressing, and a cube of ham with a toothpick. Or little cucumber-ham canape's, mmmm.<br><br>
For that matter, cucumber sandwiches. Use a little mayo or herbed butter & slice those cukes thin.<br><br>
Pizza (veggie or carnivorous) on whole wheat crust. If you don't fancy working with yeast dough, you can make up a batch of biscuit dough using whole wheat pastry flour instead of white.

 

[girlndocs]

Great, now I'm jonesin' for a cucumber-ham sandwich. We've got cold ham from dinner with the IL's today, but the produce stand with the really <i>good</i> cukes is closed <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/crap.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="crap">

 

[BusyMommy]

Oh how funny. I was totally going to say homemade Hummus w/ww pita, too! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/yummy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="yummy">

 

[kavamamakava]

It's probably too late for you, but we had baba ghanoush and pita triangles today. We also had a baked brie with raspberry chipotle sauce and tamari almonds but that doens't quite fit. heh.