NEED IDEAS!

OK so I am going to a little get together of friends this Friday night.  There are going to be about 10-12 of us and most all of us are trying to get healthier and eat better.  I believe most are following more of the weigh****chers type plan.  I am looking for some brilliant ideas for a side-dish or maybe even a dessert I could take to this shin-dig. Please please give me some of your favorite ideas! Thanks! 

My daughter (10yo) made this easy easy easy dessert the other night which tasted yum, looked colourful and was healthy:

Strawberry Jelly Custard cups: (makes 4) -triple recipe for 12 people

You need 4 see through dessert glasses to serve (but I imagine it would work in a glass/crystal bowl- but might take longer to set)

Ingredients: 

1 sachet of low joule strawberry jelly

1 600ml carton of low fat custard

A few fresh strawberries per serve

To make:

Make up LOW joule jelly sachet as per recipe on packet

When jelly is COLD but not set pour into glasses evenly

Now (trust me... this works...) just blob the custard straight from the carton into the liquid jelly.

It makes a pretty marbles effect and the custard ends up at the bottom, some marbles through the jelly and jelly on top.

Put in fridge overnight.

Serve with fresh strawberries.

I haven't tried it with any other jelly flavour BUT imagine it would be just as nice with raspberry jelly and fresh raspberries, mango jelly and fresh mango slices (but the colour may not show the marbling as well as the red colouring)

Very easy, very simple, very tasty. For a tiny 'ingulge' you could serve it with the strawberries dipped in a little chocolate.  But it's nice as is.

 

Tasty nibbles:

All festive season I have made trays and trays of sushi- bit carby but at least lots of veggie in them.  If you make your own lean chicken simmered in soy, white wine, ginger and garlic makes a nice filling.

Another nice idea is to make some salad/lean meat filled lavash roll ups and cut them into 1 inch rounds as nibbles.

I also made a sensationally easy low fat dip that everyone raved about:

Roast Pumpkin Dip (sorry it's in metric)
1 kg pumpkin cut into 2cm chunks
spray of olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons cumin
125g light sour cream (I suspect natural yoghurt would be OK too.)
salt and pepper
Heat oven (while I waited for it to heat I par boiled the pumpkin to speed up the roasting)
sprinkle pumpkin with cumin and sugar, spray with oil
Bake until browning a bit and tender.
Cool.
Puree, then add sour cream -salt and pepper to taste.
Makes about 2 cups worth (what we had at Christmas was about 1/2!)
 
Pita chips
Cut pita bread into chunks- put on cookie sheet- bake in 190c oven 8 minutes (or until golden).  Cool on tray then store in air tight container. These keep ages in tupperware!

Oh... and don't forget the good old dessert standby- a platter of fresh and dried fruits presented prettily and cut into bit sized pieces.  A low fat yohgurt or low fat creme frache dipping sauce is nice too.

Have a great party!

Em

 

 

Asian Lettuce Wrap filling

 

 

 

 

 

4 large chicken breasts

 

 

Cook well, chop into ½ cubes.  Cool slightly, then add:

 

 

3 TBS rice wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

2 TBS soy sauce or Ponzu (lemon soy sauce)

2 tsp sesame oil

1/3 c chopped water chestnuts (or ½ c various frozen Chinese vegetables, thawed, chopped)

 

 

Hold at warm temperature (not hot)

 

 

Toppings:

 

Serve raw:

¼ c chopped green onion

¼ sliced almonds or chopped peanuts

1 c shredded carrots, raw

1 c shredded green/red cabbage

 

 

4-6 butter lettuce leaves – spread leaves with peanut sauce, add meat filling and choice of toppings

 

 

 

 

Peanut sauce:

 

Mix well, set aside:

1/3 c peanut butter

3-5 TBS ho****er (add enough to make sauce spreadable)

1 tsp lime juice

3 tsp plum sauce

2 TBS soy sauce or Ponzu (lemon soy sauce)

3TBS chopped cilantro

½ tsp dried chili peppers

Yummy!