Party Foods

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the appetizers we served at last night's party. No, they are not all low carb, but several are, and other can be made so with just a simple change of one ingredient.

Starting at the bottom are some toothpicks speared with Tuna squares, pickle, cheese and grape tomato. 100% carb legal. Now going clockwise, we have a dish of Little Smokies with a flavored mustard, another low carb choice. Above that, a dish of Raspberry Chipotle salsa, not too bad a choice if you have the right dipper. We also had two dips, both low carb. One is a garlic cream cheese, and the other is a bacon, sour cream and jalapeno dip. Yum. Either would be good with pork rinds, or a veggie plate such as we had in the center of the table. The punch was not sugar free, but easily could have been. Tropical punch flavored kool-aid made with the sweetener of choice, then mixed with diet Sprite, 7-up or ginger ale, would be a great thirst quenching punch. (I have never been a fan of ice cream or sherbet punches, but to each his own)

You can't really see them, but I made some mini quiches. These would be just a good crustless. We also used that infamous kool aid pickle recipe to make some tropical punch flavored sweet pickles. We made ours with Splenda sweetened pickles, so they are legal and too much fun. Ever eaten a bright red pickle? Great conversation piece. My niece is taking those leftovers for her 1950s themed party. We also set out a bowl of peanuts for the nut lovers.

On the tiered plate, I made some cream cheese pinwheels shaped like Christmas trees. These are tougher to low carb. I have never seen low carb tortillas that were green. I am wondering if you could use a green food color glaze on a Lavash bread? The trees are cute, with a little pretzel stick as the trunk. The center was cream cheese and chunks of red bell pepper. Very high in the cute factor.

Maybe we had a cream cheese overkill, but I also had some of my cranberry jalapeno relish poured over a block of cheese. It is divine that way. Low carbers would probably appreciate it on some Lavash bread crackers or almond thins.

Maybe this gets you in the festive mood. If you have any great party treats, please share your recipe with me. I host a New Year's Eve party, and we would love some new tastes.