Don't Let the Appetizer Become Your Whole Meal

[caption id="attachment_6753" align="alignleft" width="300"] Fresh Tomato Salsa[/caption]

There are many great reasons to have appetizers before your meals, but remember the appetizers should not be as big as the main course. They are to slightly seize the appetite before the big meal, so you don’t feel like you are starving, plus appetizers always buy you cooking time.
Rule Number 1: Don’t make your appetizers so heavy you won’t want to eat the main course otherwise you have wasted time and energy on the best part of the meal.
Rule Number 2: Make your appetizers simple but tasty, such as a vegetable crudité (raw vegetable platter). Shrimp cocktail is also a simple appetizer and it offers minimal calories.
Rule Number 3: Make only a few appetizers, no need for a buffet. Remember, it’s a good thing if you run out of appetizers. That means guests are probably still hungry and not too full for the main meal!
Make sure your appetizers are bulked up with vegetables so you are eating more nutrient dense foods that are not a waste of calories. For instance, let’s make mini pizzas, Arnold sandwich thins layered with H3 marinara, spinach, chopped peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and turkey bacon bits then garnished with part skim mozzarella cheese. Perfect!
How about spinach artichoke dip, use twice the amount of fresh spinach then sneak in onions, artichokes, fat free cream cheese, skim milk and a small amount of parmesan cheese.
You might be asking, what about buffalo chicken wings? Well, how about buffalo chicken tenders with our low fat Bleu cheese dressing. The boneless chicken tenders look like they have been fried but are actually baked and contain much less calories and fat.
Always try and rely on some easy appetizers that in general are not high in calories, but that everyone loves. Who doesn’t like salsa? It’s the chips that get us in trouble so try cutting corn tortillas into chips and baking them!

Here are a few other naturally lower calorie appetizer ideas:
H3 Hummus and baked whole wheat pita chips
Pico de gallo with baked corn tortilla chips
Fat free cream cheese and onion dip for veggies
Refried bean dip with baked corn tortilla chips
Baked chicken tenders with H3 BBQ sauce
Panko shrimp with H3 bang bang sauce

Now for the cheese and cracker tray…let’s talk about this for a second. Cheese is great but those calories sure do add up quickly. Pick more pungent cheeses to be on our cheese tray such as Sharp cheddar, Provolone, Havarti cheese, Feta cheese cubes or rounds, Gruyere cheese or Gouda cheese. Make the selection stronger so we are less apt to eat more. The more flavor in the cheese, the less we will want to consume.
Make your holidays special like you always do, just save yourself some calories by making the same great food you usually do but with a little twist!