Delicious all white vegetable plate

If you think that vegetable platters need to be an assortment of colors, I beg to differ.  I served this all white crudités at last year’s holiday party and it was a hit!  Most people are so impressed to see that vegetables come in all sorts of different colors, like white asparagus.  It’s one of those “surprise” elements I like to incorporate into all my parties.  Alternatively, creating a colorful veggie plate with purple cauliflower or heirloom tomatoes, also gets “oohs and aahhs” from guests!

Recently, we had the pleasure of hosting a new family at our school.  It is always exciting to meet new students and their parents, so I was thrilled when asked to be a buddy family.  We set up a dinner date on a Friday night and although I thought I would have plenty of time to prepare, my day got away from me and I realized that after I picked up my children and stopped at the store for all the necessities, I would only have an hour to prepare a meal for seven.

Since Pizza night is typically Friday night at our house, I thought, why not stick with the theme and keep it simple.  Initially I thought of asking my husband to pick up pizza on this way home, but I actually wanted to impress this new family and since there was no time to make my own pizza, I thought I would offer them a variety of pizza flavors and styles.  I picked up a meat lover’s D’Giorno pizza, a California Pizza Kitchen Vegetarian Thin crust, and an Uno’s Chicago style pizza.  Then, I thought… if we went to a Pizzeria, what other items would be on the menu.  Mozzarella sticks, garlic bread sticks,  and salad… of course! I picked up garlic knots at the store and threw together a quick and easy Caprese salad.

Last but not least, I wanted to impress them with something sweet, but didn’t want to go overboard since  they mentioned they would bring dessert (which happened to be the most delicious Gelato I’ve ever had). I asked my son to quickly  cover some clementines in chocolate and sprinkle lavender sea salt on top!  They loved it!  For the recipe… click here.

I was so thrilled at how easy everything was to make and my dinner was ready in less than an hour!

What is one of the easiest parties to throw?  A wine and cheese tasting party, of course! Just ask your friends to bring a bottle of wine and a wedge of their favorite cheese, and before you know it, you’ll have a buffet worthy of royalty!!  You can even make a “theme” out of it.  Ask your guests to only bring a particular kind of wine (red or white) or narrow it down to a wine from a specific region.  You can also choose a single type of cheese you want your guests to bring.  For example, ask everyone to bring only their favorite sheep cheeses or only goat cheeses.  It’s fun to see what people enjoy and you don’t have to take on the financial burden of paying for all the cheese and wine, which can get pricey!

As the hostess, I love making fun recipes which guests can sample.  As I said in my TV segments, I don’t typically like to have all my dishes be experiments, but I at least try one dish which is a little bit out of the  box.  Here are three recipes which I find to be easy and very attractive and they are all perfect for a wine and cheese tasting party!!  One of the recipes, the easy Antipasto Plate, was contributed by a very talented florist and friend, Rhae Adams, owner of FOUND IN NATURE.  

Would you like to watch these dishes be prepared?  You can go to the videos page and find the recipes you like and watch how simple they are to create. http://www.partytipz.com/media/

Rhae’s Simple Antipasto Plate

Go to the marinated and canned section of your store and find what you love. I love purchasing these items at Trader Joes since they are all right next to each other. Some of my favorite things are:

1 can of Artichoke Hearts
1 jar of marinated olives (stuffed with almonds, onions, garlic, or whatever
you like)
1 jar of marinated red and yellow peppers
1 jar of pre-made tamponade
1 jar of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
additional jars of items you like
goat or sheep cheese
crackers

Make sure to drain all jars of the water or olive oil. Cut up the items (such as artichoke hearts and peppers into small pieces, carefully arrange all items on plate, making sure that the colors go well together. Use chopsticks to move and arrange items neatly on the platter and use paper towels to absorb any extra liquids which may mix on the platter. Lastly, add your favorite cheese have a selection of various crackers, and add some fresh bread. Enjoy!

Cheese Stuffed Strawberries

1/2 bottle of white wine
5-6 strawberries
25 small slices of Fontina cheese
Balsamic vinegar or balsamic reduction sauce

Soak strawberries in wine for 24 hours
Slice and fan strawberries
Slice fontina cheese into thin and small slices which can fit inside the
strawbwerry
Place each slice in the strawberry crevices
Drizzle balsamic vinegar or reduction sauce on the strawberries
Top off with almonds or mint and enjoy

Cheese Kabobs

Skewer Sticks
Mozzarella cheese
Salami
Meat or cheese tortellini
Heirloom Tomatoes

Grease the skewers with oil
Skewer a tomato, followed by mozzarella cheese, salami, tortellini and
repeat until you cap off with the last tomato. Arrange finished skewers on
platter and drizzle with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and serve

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup canned of pumpkin (you can add more if you would like a stronger pumpkin flavor)
• 1/2 large container of Light and Fit vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2/3 container Sugar Free Cool Whip
• 1/2 cup sugar

Preparation

I found a great idea for “Monster Eyes” on the web.  My favorite part about this appetizer plate?  This recipe is pretty much “guilt-free”!  The original recipe included a basil leaf, mozzarella cheese, a slice of a grape tomato, and a slice of olive.  To add a little zing,  you can drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar on top.

Of course, I had to experiment a bit more and maybe shave off just a few extra calories.  I added my own twist by using spinach leaves (I have both spinach and basil leaves in the below photo) and substituting mozzarella cheese with a flavored SKINNY COW cheese slice.  You can eat this whole plate and not even think about the calorie content!!  DONE!!

Are you ready for an easy (and healthy) Halloween treat?!  These wonderful fruit cups are made with oranges and… as you can guess… various fruit.  I made these two jack-o-lantern fruit cups this evening for dinner and served them to my boys.  Surprise! Surprise! I was officially the”Coolest Mom Ever”! Needless to say, after such a positive reaction, I made sure to add this to my recipe collection.

Making the Jack-O-Lanter was incredibly easy.  I cut the top off each orange and scooped out the insides into a separate bowl.  I washed the oranges, made sure they were completely dry, and drew jack-o-lantern faces on each with a permanent marker.  I put the discarded oranges in a blender and blended until the entire orange was nothing but juice.  In a separate bowl, I cut up apples, grapes, pears, mandarin oranges, and bananas.  I poured some of the orange juice over the salad (use as much as you like) and refrigerated the salad for about an hour.  Once the salad is chilled, I spooned it into the oranges and served.

If you are having a party and planning on serving many kids, you can place the jack-o-lanterns on a bed of kale to make it look like they are sitting in a “pumpkin patch”.  It’s a beautiful presentation!

This may be the most classic Halloween food that there is, breadsticks made to look like bones.  Let me just say, if you are having a Halloween party, whether it’s for kids, teens, or adults, this absolutely is a MUST for your table.  It’s easy and delicious and requires very little skill.  Below are the bones I created on my very first try.  Trust me, it’s a “no fail”.  Just make sure to serve them fresh, unless you want for people to gnaw on them like croutons, which could be a whole different kind of snack!

Ingredients

• 1 pkg Refrigerated Breadstick Dough
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
• Dried Dill, Rosemary, or any herb of your choosing

Preparation

Presentation

Sometimes the simplest thing can be the most beautiful on your table.  That is what I love most about fruits and vegetables, they are so gorgeous and no matter how you arrange them, they WILL look beautiful.  This simple vegetable platter was created by my sister for one of our parties a few weeks ago.  I bought a large vegetable tray at Sam’s and I’ve used it non-stop for YEARS!!  I don’t even bother putting it away, because it gets used on a regular basis.  It looks great with all kinds of things, but it looks the BEST with fruits and vegetables.  My sister also made sure to separate the colors, which plays a big part in presentation.  But all in all, it was one of the simplest food items at our party and the most popular!

I don’t know if you heard the news, but the Kansas City Royals won the World Series!!  It’s a pretty big deal in KC.  In fact, they closed all the schools yesterday so that everyone can enjoy the Rally and Parade.  Over half a million people attended and it was a celebration like no other!  And while most of Kansas City was enjoying the parade, I decided to skip the crowds and instead, had a watch party at my house.   My friend brought over delicious Dean and Deluca salads, while I created this vegetable platter.  Unfortunately, no blue vegetables (Royals color)… but this  Kaleidoscope of colors did the trick!  The Beet and White Bean hummus was delicious.  I found the recipe on Marthastewart.com and played around a little with the ingredients, which I will post at a later date.  But for now,  Martha’s Beet and White Bean Hummus recipe is very good!!

If you are hosting your holiday dinner this year, you are in luck, because I am about to encourage you to create something healthy, easy, and beautiful.  A crudité platter! For those of you who have never heard the term, a crudité plate is simply a pretty way of saying a vegetable platter.  However, it just sounds so much more schnazzy saying “crudités”.

What is a crudité, you may be asking?  Wikipedia defines Crudités as traditional French appetizers consisting of sliced or whole raw vegetables which are sometimes dipped in a vinaigrette  or other dipping sauces.  Crudités often include celery sticks, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, bell pepper strips, broccoli, cauliflower,  fennel, and asparagus spears; sometimes olives, depending on local custom.

With crudités, its all about the “look”, which makes them a popular draw to the buffet table.  But for me, serving raw and cooked vegetables creates a “healthy zone” at my buffet spread, and healthy, is always good at a party!

As you can imagine, few rules apply to vegetable platters, but here are some that you may find useful.

1.  Don’t get caught up in the complexity of the arrangement, sometimes simple is better.  All of my crudités platter below are super simple, but still look beautiful.

Color goes a long way. But did you know that you can create beautiful monochromatic vegetable platters?  Here are two examples of easy vegetable platters where we went with a white look.  It is beautiful and unexpected!  Vegetables like cauliflower, endives, white squash, asparagus, cucumbers and even peeled radishes, can easily be incorporated into a white crudités platter.  Don’t worry, the vegetables do not have to be stark white… but even a hint of white adds impact.

Don’t be afraid to go with a theme, especially during the holidays.  Why not make your vegetable platter look like a Christmas tree or a wreath.  If there is anything that brings a smile to your guests’ faces, it will be your fun element you bring to your veggie plate.

Think outside the box when it comes to presentation.  Many of us think of veggie platters and crudités as the round plastic trays filled with celery and carrots at the grocery stores.  But don’t be afraid to be daring and out of the box.  The more creative you get, the more you’ll love putting the platters together.

Last but not least, don’t feel like the round plate is your only option to display your vegetables.  There are lots of different serving pieces you can use.  Various sized glasses, baskets, Chinese food “to go” boxes, and many more.

Last but not least, enjoy the process of putting a credités platter together.  There is NO WRONG way to do it… except not to do it at all!