Appy’s Night Out

We went over to my sister’s house on Friday night for an appy’s night.

I was stressing a little about finding some appy’s to bring that were not only delicious, but also easy to make and I wanted them to fit within the dietary guidelines that I’m choosing to live with.

I feel WAY healthier when I’m not eating dairy or wheat and I try to avoid meat the majority of the time.

So, if you take those requirements and then add a bit of preggo brain….I was seriously struggling to come up with something aside from the Chevre (Goat Cheese), Roasted Garlic and Pappad (Lentil Flour Crisps) that I ALWAYS bring.

It’s delicious, so I don’t mind bringing it, but I like to have new ideas to share and try…..

Finally about 4pm (We were supposed to be there at 6pm) I wondered about making a Greek Salad Bite and I also had some idea about a mini dessert that would involve some sort of wafer or cookie base and berries. At first I was trying to come up with something that would glue the berry to the cookie like custard or whipping cream, but then I wondered if I could use the same chocolate that I use to make my non-dairy fondue. MMMMMM, It sounded like it would be delicious.

Jon and I ran up to the store and picked up the ingredients that we would need and came home and slapped it all together and whadda know….both ides were a rousing success.

Here are the Greek Salad Bites…..

I bought cherry tomatoes, mini cucumbers, goat feta, green peppers, purple onion and klamata olives.

I cut the cherry tomatoes in half, sliced the mini cucumbers, cubed the goat feta, cut the peppers and onion into small squares and halved the olives.

Then I put a half a cherry tomato on the toothpick and put the wedge of cucumber on next to make sure the seeds and juice wouldn’t fall out. I then placed a cube of the feta, then the purple onion slice followed by the pepper and topped off with the olive.

I made up the dressing (just a regular greek salad dressing, either homemade or bottled would work) and put all of the “bites” into a container to take them to the party. I poured the dressing all over the top and let it sit until I got there. I pulled them out and put them on the plate and TADA!!!!!! Delicious appy’s that just happen to be vegetarian….

To make the little berry desserts, I bought some Nila Wafer’s from the store along with some non-dairy chocolate bars and some Silk Soy Creamer. (I figured that if If I had to I could just use the Nila Wafers but I was trying to find something that I could eat without compromising.) You should be able to get chocolate bars that aren’t made with dairy at your local grocery store, you just have to look at the ingredients. They will probably be plain and also a dark chocolate. I also popped over to our health food store and they had some chocolate mini cookies that were dairy and wheat free and so I picked up those as well. When I got home, I melted the chocolate and then stirred in the soy creamer to make it a little bit softer.

I laid the cookies down on a plate, spread a dollop of the chocolate onto each cookie and then placed a berry on the top of each one. I used blueberries and raspberries, but I also think that strawberries and banana’s would also be delicious…..YUM!!!!!

Both of these dishes were completely finished off and along with everything else that was brought, it was an amazing evening of good food and great friends.

I love to be able to bring food that fits within the lifestyle choices that I’ve made, but that others are willing to eat because it’s JUST. THAT. DELICIOUS!

I am not as strict about my diet as I could be, but I do try to make the best choices when I can so that when I can’t…..I really don’t need to worry about it. I try to live healthy, but I don’t want my choices to leave me unable to ever enjoy life….at this point, eating dairy or wheat or meat makes me feel uncomfortable, but it won’t kill me…..but if I can live (and eat) in a way that doesn’t make me uncomfortable – then I want to make that choice……and, if I decide that I really want that piece of cheesecake at the restaurant…..then I’ll have it knowing that I’ll most likely end up with a gut ache and a few other unmentionable side effects.

But, I do love it when I can come up with ideas that work, are delicious, and keep me healthy and happy. The biggest bonus is when other’s don’t even realize that I’m feeling them food that’s “abnormal” (to them).

Do you have any dietary limitations and do you have any good ol’ standby’s for parties or get together’s? I’d love to hear how you cope with food allergies, intolerances or even medically necessary avoidances (like sugar for diabetics???).

You can see the set from the Appy’s Night here…Not even one shot of me…can you tell who had the camera….and by the few pics taken – not for long, eh? We were having too much fun chatting and eating.