Holiday Double Duty Dishes

The holidays can be so expensive; with office parties, gatherings with friends, and family celebrations a person's budget can really be stretched (if not blown to smithereens all together). There are several solutions to this common problem, but one simple solution is to make your food do double duty. Instead of buying a floral center piece for the table or decorative candles for the coffee table simply make editable decorations for the guests when you play host(ess).

For a family with children entertaining can be doubly stressful because it is nearly impossible to focus one's attention in the kitchen with the chaos of bored children running a muck throughout the house. The solution? Put them to work! Kids love to use cookie cutters and one simple appetizer that is beautiful and busy work are fruit and cheese flowers. Simply buy thick slices of cheese (as many or few flavors as the family will enjoy) and use small cookie cutters to stamp out shapes, flowers, stars, and basic shapes work the best but all shapes are usable. The same can be done with thick slices of fruit. Apples, bananas, kiwi, and melon work well for the cutters. **To keep the fruit looking fresh dip the slices in a solution of one part lemon juice to two parts water after cutting.

After fruit have dried, use stick pretzels to skewer the fruit and cheese on the tips of the pretzels. If any of the pieces are difficult to skewer, use a wooden skewer to start a hole in the middle of the cheese or fruit for the pretzel to fit into. Thick cut lunch meat and summer sausage also work well with cookie cutters and can be skewered with pretzels. The vegetable, fruit, and meat "flowers" can be arranged on a multi tiered server or on several serving platters along the table or buffet area. Most vegetables are too crunchy to put on pretzels, but another appetizer can put the vegetable in a starring role.

To showcase some veggie goodness for your guests try veggie votive candles. For a small gathering shot glasses can be used but for a larger party (more than ten) small plastic or paper cups would be cost effective (and some of the paper cups feature very nice designs). Carrot sticks, celery sticks, and grape tomatoes perched on a tooth pick work well as the vegetable for the snack and dip can be whatever your family happens to like ranch and French onion are usually safe. To make the dips healthier use one packed of seasoning to half of a container (16 oz) of sour cream and one (8 oz) cup of plain yogurt. The yogurt adds lots of calcium but has a mild flavor so mixed with the sour cream no one will ever know the difference.

For a thicker consistency dip, use a cheese cloth to drain the yogurt over night in the refrigerator: Use a tall container and drape a cheese cloth over the opening, allow the cheese cloth to sink a bit into the container but not touch the bottom, secure the cloth with a rubber band (if able, if not try using a couple of clothes pins) and cover with plastic wrap. The next day the yogurt will be thicker because the access moisture will have seeped out over night, and then simply make the dip. Put about two tablespoons of the dip in the bottom of the cups, then stick three of each of the vegetables into the dip and arrange the cups on a decorative platter. These single serve snacks are a great and healthy choice that shouldn't spoil the appetite for the main event.