Lasagna VS. Zucchini Lasagna Rolls
Of course you love lasagna! What’s not to love? Cheese, noodles, more cheese and zesty tomato sauce…yum. So we decided to swap out the lasagna noodles for zucchini. Then we rolled them up and baked them making for the perfect bite sized treat to have either as an appetizer or several for a little dinner treat—perfect for a NYE appetizer. We kept the sauce on the side as well to cut out any additional calories or to control your own portions and taste.
The recipe is so easy, just prepare ricotta cheese and spices as you would for regular lasagna. Bake or grill slices of zucchini with salt, pepper and olive oil before you roll them and bake them. We made ours to be a bit like the recipe from Recipe Runner, except ours are bite sized meant for appetizers and we left out the turkey sausage. We used bread trays to serve the appetizers and appetizer plates due to their perfect portion size for individual plates.
Sriracha Shrimp Taco VS. Sriracha Shrimp Taco Bites
Sometimes the most important thing about eating healthy is portion control. After all, we love the idea of still being able to eat what our heart desires, especially when socializing during the holiday season.
With this New Year’s Eve appetizer, we basically cut the portion in thirds compared to a regular shrimp taco by getting rid of the tortilla and switching out the sour cream for a nonfat greek yogurt and avocado sauce for the creaminess. Instead of the corn tortilla we used multigrain baked dip chips as our base to hold the ingredients. Then we assembled the little chip cup with some shredded lettuce, a small dollop of the avocado yogurt sauce (recipe at the end of this blog post) a single shrimp topped with cilantro, tomatoes and a little sriracha sauce for a kick. Trust us, it’s wonderful with the creaminess of the yogurt avocado sauce.
Italian Sodas
Aside from portion control, sometimes you can cut back on certain ingredients when making your favorite snack or in this case drink. Italian Sodas are a fun treat for a NYE party. They aren’t something that most people have everyday and they are so easy to make. We loosely followed this recipe from A Cozy Kitchen, but swapped out the fruit syrup for sugar free syrup and used coconut milk instead of half and half, then offered a low calorie whipped cream on the side to use at your own discretion.
So, whether you decide to spike your Italian soda or drink it sans alcohol, we came up with a lighter version we hope you try and enjoy.
Dessert
We know how it starts. One cookie, leads to a bite of fudge, which leads to a small slice of cake and then just like that you’ve had multiple servings of dessert. We love this idea of fresh fruit dipped in chocolate! Of course you’ve had chocolate covered strawberries plenty of times, but how about chocolate dipped clementines with a sprinkles of sea salt? They offer the indulgence of chocolate with a bit of the salty fix mixed with fresh fruit. These sweet little dare we say healthy treats are a wonderful way to cut calories while still enjoying dessert.
This dessert was simple to make. Melt, chocolate melting chips in the microwave and stir every 30 seconds as it melts, then dip half of a clementine in the chocolate. Sprinkle coarse sea salt over the tops then pop in the fridge to let the chocolate harden, then enjoy! We placed these beauties on a small Turquoise oval platter to compliment the orange color of the clementines.
Cheers to a happy and healthy 2016!
