Holiday Recipes Party Food Low Fat Low Carb

Holidays can be Low Carb

Offering your guests a low fat and low carb appetizer is a great way to offer them tasty treats while minding their diets. Usually appetizers are full of fat and loaded with carbs. Canapés based on pâte sucrée with high fat toppings are traditional at holiday gatherings but by reaching out to Asian and Mediterranean menus we can find a lot of great tasting appetizers that will please your crowd and cut the fat and carbs. To keep these holiday recipes party food low fat, low carb you can make some simple substitutions. Rather than use recipes with tartlet shells use recipes that include romaine leaves. Swap out bread and chips for fresh vegetables so the carbs from the bread would be removed.

Holiday Recipes: Party Food Low Fat Low Carb

Asian Salad In Romaine Cups

Serves 4

Ingredients

Salad

• 8 leaves from a Romaine heart
• 2 carrots
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 cup of baby corn
• 2 scallions
• 2 cups of bean sprouts
• 2 tablespoons of roasted peanuts chopped

Dressing

• 2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons of lime juice
• 3 tablespoons of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of fresh grated ginger root
• ¼ teaspoon of red curry paste.

Instructions

1. Wash the lettuce leaves and hold them in your refrigerator covered with a damp paper towel so that they do not wilt.
2. Julianne the carrots and the celery
3. Cut the baby corn into half lengthwise
4. Slice the scallions finely on a diagonal
5. Put all the sliced ingredients and the bean sprouts into a bowl
6. Toss the ingredients together
7. Divide the tossed salad between the lettuce leaves
8. Add all the dressing ingredients in a bowl
9. Whisk until smooth
10. Dress each salad
11. Top with the chopped peanuts

Aїoli

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 large garlic cloves
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 ¼ cups of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• A selection of cut veggies including but not limited to carrots, celery, bell peppers, radish and blanched green beans.

Instructions

1. In a food processor mince the garlic
2. Add a pinch of salt
3. Continue to process until the garlic becomes a paste
4. Add the egg yolks
5. Process until smooth
6. Slowly drizzle the oil into the garlic paste.
7. Add the lemon juice
8. Taste for salt and pepper

Tzatziki

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 2 large cucumbers
• 2 ½ cups Greek yogurt or strained plain yogurt
• 3 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. Grate the cucumbers into a bowl lined with a cheese cloth or paper towels
2. Squeeze as much water out of the cucumbers as you can
3. In a bowl add the yogurt and cucumbers
4. Stir in the garlic, dill and olive oil
5. Add salt and pepper to taste
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve
7. Garnish with cayenne or paprika
8. Serve with fresh or steamed vegetables

Mussels with Pesto In some families it is a tradition to have seafood at Thanksgiving or on Christmas Eve. Even though this recipe has breadcrumbs in it there are only 17 grams of carbs. Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of mussels
• 6 tablespoons of fresh basil
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 tablespoon of toasted pignoli nuts
• 2 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese
• ½ a cup of olive oil
• 2 cups of bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Prepare the mussels by cleaning them and removing any beards.
2. Put the mussels into a pot and cook them over a high heat for three to four minutes shaking the pot occasionally
3. Discard any mussels that do not open
4. Save the cooking liquid.
5. Pour the cooking liquid into a sauce pan and reduce until it is a tablespoon full.
6. Pour the liquid into your food processor with the basil, garlic, pignoli, and parmesan.
7. Process until finely chopped
8. Add the bread crumbs and olive oil
9. Process until well mixed
10. Open the mussels throw away the empty shells and loosen them in their shells
11. Cover each mussel with the pesto bread crumb mixture
12. Heat under the broiler on high until the crumbs are crisp and the mussels are heated through.