Healthy appetizers

December 20, 2011 7:54 PM

I want recipes for delicious and nutritious appetizers.

My parents are on a diet and my sister and I are on a health kick. I'm in charge of the appetizers for an upcoming family dinner (extended family will be joining). I want to bring something that is easy to make but veggie-intensive.

Some early ideas:

Zucchinis stuffed with mushrooms and walnuts
Red pepper, pomegranate, walnut spread (which I've made it in the past and it wasn't a raging success)

Please note: the appetizer can include meat, but the main ingredient should be vegetables.

posted by Milau to food & drink (11 answers total)

Always a hit with my family: Hummus with cherry tomatoes and cauliflower and cold crunchy sticks of red bell pepper, cucumber, celery, and carrots.
posted by argonauta at 7:58 PM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

These jalepeno-marinated carrots are addictingly good.
posted by Miko at 7:59 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Middle-easternish salad with toasted pita chips for scooping:

cubed & seeded cucumber & tomato (roughly equal amounts)
thinly sliced scallions (maybe say a scallion a person?)
drained & washed chick peas (canned is fine, but whatever as long as they're cooked through and seasoned with a little salt)
a whole bunch of chopped parsley and chopped mint

Mix all of that up in a bowl, make the dressing:

lemon juice
minced garlic (a couple cloves)
pepper
salt

and then pour in olive oil while you whisk so it emulsifies. Pour that concoction over your vegetables, mix it up and stick it in the fridge to comingle. Meanwhile, take pita (a pita a person probably) and cut them up into wedges. Toss with a little olive oil and salt and put on a sheet pan. Stick them in the oven to toast until crunchy.

If you like you can cube up some feta and mix that into your salad, but I'm not a feta person. Serve the chilled salad with your pita toasts and extra spoons so people who want to just put the yummy salad directly into their face without pita intervention can do so.
posted by Mizu at 8:31 PM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Grilled, marinated vegetables served cold - bell peppers, courgettes, aubergines, asparagus, fennel would all work.
posted by koahiatamadl at 8:40 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Just made these (Bittman recipe) to go with our latkes tonight and they were very, very yummy. I was lazy and just rolled all the spices and garlic around with the oil and chickpeas before I threw them in the oven and they were still great.
posted by charmedimsure at 9:26 PM on December 20, 2011

Damn phone- ROASTED CHICKPEAS are the missing words and link.
posted by charmedimsure at 9:29 PM on December 20, 2011

Lots of yummy stuff at Serious Eats

Roasted Pepper And Celery Leaf Crostini
Braised Leeks With Lemon And Parsley
Provençal White Bean Dip with crudites
Sweet Pea Crostini
Piedmontese Peppers
Cucumbers In Black Rice Vinegar
posted by shoesietart at 10:25 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Not vegetables, but a lovely appetizer, which is sweet/savour/salty/sharp and delicious. Roasted pears with blue cheese, walnuts and cranberries. I leave out the alcohol. This is an absolutely delicious dish, I've made it many times and everyone who's tried it has loved it.

You can prep the cheese/nut mix and the liquid elements in advance, and if you have a good peeler, it takes but a few minutes to prep the pears. Cook them in one of those foil trays from the dollar store and you'll have minimal clean-up too.
posted by essexjan at 1:18 AM on December 21, 2011

Wrap pickled asparagus in thinly-sliced prosciutto. Mmm-mmm good.
posted by KathrynT at 10:12 AM on December 21, 2011

Stuffed mushrooms can be pretty healthy depending on the recipe, especially if you don't use any cheese.
posted by ad4pt at 12:32 PM on December 21, 2011

Little squares of tofu marinated/served in soy sauce with grated ginger, green onion and chili pepper sauce. Serve with toothpicks.
posted by kamikazegopher at 3:51 PM on December 21, 2011