Healthy appetizer or snack help

melbenso

H and I are going over to friends' house this weekend for a little get together.  We wanted to bring some sort of snack or appetizer for us all to share while we are there, and are trying to figure out what to bring.  There are dietary restrictions like crazy to consider here...

H is a vegetarian.  Husband of friends has a newly diagnosed heart condition and is on a strict low sodium diet.  Wife of friends is on a low carb diet for health reasons.  I'm pretty much the only one in the "I can eat anything" boat.  I was thinking veggies and some sort of awesome homemade dip, but was wondering if you all had any other ideas (or really good dip recipes that would go well with veggies - a lot of the ones I make are best with crackers, chips, or bread).

Suggestions would be appreciated.

novella1186

Hummus with veggie sticks to dip in it! Cucumber, celery, carrot sticks, etc. 

If you make the hummus yourself, the only stuff in it is garlic (heart healthy!), olive oil (heart healthy!) chick peas, tahini, some paprika, lemon juice, and a little salt and pepper but you could leave the salt completely out of it and it'll taste delicious. 

blabla89

How about caprese skewers with cherry tomato, mozzarella, and a basil leaf drizzled with balsamic.

Or hummus. You really can't go wrong with hummus.

climbingsingle

Hummus, for sure. 

maeday2

I third the hummus suggestion. 

I make it a lot and when I get tired of it, I throw an avocado in it and it's sooooo good. I know they're higher in fat, but it's good fat! 

jenna8984

Some vegetarians eat fish- does your husband? I immediately thought of shrimp cocktail or a shrimp dip. I used to dice up shrimp and mix it with cream cheese and lemon as a dip but I'm thinking maybe you could swap out the high fat cream cheese for like greek yogurt? You could always have non-salted crackers for the rest of you to dip and veggies for the wife to dip.

 

novella1186

jenna8984 said:

Some vegetarians eat fish- does your husband? I immediately thought of shrimp cocktail or a shrimp dip. I used to dice up shrimp and mix it with cream cheese and lemon as a dip but I'm thinking maybe you could swap out the high fat cream cheese for like greek yogurt? You could always have non-salted crackers for the rest of you to dip and veggies for the wife to dip.

 

Those are pescetarians :P 

I'm that asshole who gets technical lol 

holyguacamole79

Hummus! Or you can do baked parmesian zucchini, perhaps. We did these for the Super Bowl and they were a hit.http://pinterest.com/pin/195273333818911352/?s=3&m=memo

lovegood90

novella1186 said:

jenna8984 said:

Some vegetarians eat fish- does your husband? I immediately thought of shrimp cocktail or a shrimp dip. I used to dice up shrimp and mix it with cream cheese and lemon as a dip but I'm thinking maybe you could swap out the high fat cream cheese for like greek yogurt? You could always have non-salted crackers for the rest of you to dip and veggies for the wife to dip.

 

Those are pescetarians :P 

I'm that asshole who gets technical lol 

Haha, this made me laugh because I'm a pescetarian but no one seems to know what that is so I just end up saying vegetarian!

OP, I also recommend hummus! You can add other things like garlic,  roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, etc.

ElcaB

I just found this today & am planning to try it this weekend!

Nutty Edamame Spread from Cooking Light. (It won't let me link, so just Google it.) It's more exciting than hummus!

ETF: Link. 

teddygirl9

I find dips so boring to bring to parties, but that's becuase everyone around here does so we end up with like 12 different dips lol. If you want to do a dip of sorts, make sure to other options besides crackers/pita for the low carb person. A really good variety of veggies would be ok. Could also do salsa/guac.  

 

I'd probably make stuffed zucchini boats. If you have baby zucchini they are perfect appies. Slice them down the middle, scoop out the middle and bake with a bit of water in the bottom for 30-45m. You can put pretty much whatever you want in a filling, and you can also do half vegetarian and half meat if you want to mix it up. Just sautee up your filling (I like onions, carrots, celery, brocolli flourets, sundried tomatoes). You can take out half the filling, and add turkey or spicy sausage to the rest and cook until done. Scoop into the boats, top with cheese, panko, or just leave em naked and bake for another few minutes. 

southernbelle0915

All signs point to hummus. If you want something else, you could also consider a spicy black bean dip or salsa. If you make them yourself, you can control how much salt goes into them. 

charlottesmom0626

guacamole? I know it's high in fat but it's mostly healthy with salt-free chips?

hummus is my go to as well...

Also I've been doing a lot of greek-yogurt based dips! You can sub it for sour cream with those premade dipmixes..

penguin44

What about something like this: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cowboy-caviar/

I have made it for a celiac friend's party before and it was a hit. I used a homemade olive oil dressing instead of premade italian dressing.

princessleia22

Another option would be some sort of fruit tray and dip.  Maybe something like this:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/strawberry-marshmallow-fruit-dip/e52cdc45-f1ba-4e83-bdca-d022b9ad5931

 

lyndausvi

Another hummus vote.