Looking for a quick and easy appetizer recipe for Christmas?! A vegetable crudités platter is a wonderful healthy and easy appetizer option for the holiday season! Grab these two easy dip recipes and a few easy tips that will make your crudités board come together in a breeze! My real secret weapon thought… Taylor Farms pre cut (and washed!) vegetable bags. Thank you to Taylor Farms for keeping The College Housewife afloat!
We are down to the final wire people!
Christmas is just around the corner!
This is one of my favorite weekends of the year! Family and friends are coming in and out and everything just feels so cozy! We are trying to pack in as much family time as possible. Tonight we are headed out for some Christmas shopping and hopefully a fun dinner to kick off the holiday weekend! And by fun dinner I really hope that I consume a very large margarita and some chips and guacamole. I would honestly almost cry with this in front of me. I have been working my tail off this week trying to get a little ahead to have some time off #thatselfemployedlife. Sooo I feel like I’m almost there!
We are actually headed to my parents house for Christmas dinner this year! I still let them take the reigns on big holiday dinners but I love whipping up dishes for the big day. This year I’m on mac and cheese, cookie and appetizer duty! One of my fondest memories on holidays is a huge table full of appetizers laid out in our living room. My mom would deck the coffee table out with deviled eggs, chips and dip and a huge vegetable crudités platter. Truth to be told some Christmas’s this was my favorite part of the meal, I was a super picky eater as a kid! This year I am amping up my crudités game and making sure everyone is eating some greens before the main event!
I love being in charge of platters and cheese boards like this!
To me, it’s like a jumbo blank art canvas that I can just go wild on! I think at this point I could literally put together a crudités in my sleep, and by the end of this post you will too!
With a crudités platter the options are literally endless! Since it’s the holidays I opted for some fancy dips and an array of vegetables.
Let’s first talk about the dips! On my board I whipped up an easy herbal white bean dip. My secret ingredient for some extra flavor is Newfound Avocado Oil, but any light and aromatic oil will do! My second dip tastes like cheesy pesto heaven! Seriously! It’s a whipped ricotta dip filled with pesto and simple seasonings! Both of these dips can totally be made the night before to save yourself some time on the big day. Just transfer them into serving dishes and top them off with extra avocado oil and pesto for a pretty presentation.
On to vegetables!
With crudités boards and cheese boards I like to deck them out with tons of options so there is a little something for everyone! When I’m heading down the grocery aisle my first stop is always to the pre- cut and washed organic vegetable bags from Taylor Farms! They make life so. much. easier. I can literally make the entire board without bringing out a knife and cutting board. Plus, all of their vegetables are organic and totally ready to go! I usually buy a few extra bags for dinner that week because they steam right in the bag. Perfect for lazy nights when I need to throw some vegetables together for dinner.
My fam loves broccoli and cauliflower so I made that the base of the board and added in some fun cherry tomatoes, radicchio leaves, whole radishes and carrots for more color!
If you’re feeling really cray! Throw in some pistachios, dried fruit and crackers to really deck your crudités board out!
Tag me this holiday season if you make a fun appetizer board, I can’t wait to see!
How to make a Holiday Crudite Platter with Healthy Dips!
ingredients
- 1 ½ Cups of whole milk ricotta
- 1 /4 Cup of pesto
- 3 Teaspoons of kosher salt
- 1 Teaspoon of black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
instructions
- Blend together all ingredients in a blender or vitamix until smooth and creamy. Reserve until serving or serve immediately and top with with a swirl of fresh pesto.
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