Recipe: 11 Light Appetizers - Be Creative With Thanksgiving Day Tide-Me-Overs

11 LIGHT APPETIZERS
BE CREATIVE WITH THANKSGIVING DAY TIDE-ME-OVERS

The Thanksgiving meal is a major production, so you don't want your family to fill up on appetizers before the big feast. Yet waiting for the turkey to cook, smelling all the tempting aromas of the dinner to come, makes tide-me-over offerings an important consideration. If you provide modest amounts of light, nutritious appetizers, everyone can make it to the table with their appetite intact.

- Consider a tray of toasted bread rounds topped with colorful roasted peppers.

- Make a batch of mushrooms stuffed with a tomato-olive mixture.

- Stuff cherry tomato halves with hummus, a chick-pea puree seasoned with garlic, lemon juice, sesame tahini and cumin.

- Marinate cooked, chilled giant white beans (fava beans) in a mixture of olive oil, sage and lemon juice and minced garlic, and serve on party toothpicks.

- You can make your own chips by slicing carrots, beets, or sweet potatoes paper thin and baking them on an ungreased baking sheet until crisp. Use these, an array of colorful blanched vegetables, or toasted pita bread triangles, as dippers for any of the following of tasty, light dips:

- Add thinly sliced radishes, chopped fresh dill and minced scallion to lowfat plain yogurt or sour cream.

- Combine chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped olives and minced fresh herbs with lowfat mayonnaise or cream cheese.

- Grate fresh lemon zest, combine with minced fresh herbs and whole-grain Dijon mustard, and blenderize with lowfat sour cream, mayonnaise, or small curd cottage cheese.

- Pureed vegetables make great spreads. Steam thinly sliced zucchini until tender, drain and then crush with a fork. Add cayenne pepper, lemon juice, ground caraway and coriander, then chill the mixture. Serve on strips of red bell pepper.

- For something different, choose a colorful variety of grapes, pineapple wedges, apple, pear, melon slices and oranges sections and serve them with a dip made by combining plain lowfat yogurt, grated lime peel, lime juice and honey.

This spicy dip can be prepared in advance and served with tortilla chips or fresh vegetables:

WHITE BEAN DIP

1 (15 oz) can white beans, drained (or 2 cups cooked white beans)
1/4 cup light sour cream
1 large garlic clove, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

In a food processor puree all the ingredients until smooth. Transfer the dip to a serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Servings: 4
Each serving contains 148 calories and 2 grams of fat

Adapted from source: American Institute for Cancer Research