Replace corn chips with tastier and more colorful alternatives.
Food is a crucial aspect of any party. Even if your guests aren't hungry, munching gives them something to do and talk about with each other. Instead of serving standard party fare, ratchet up the energy level at your next gathering with appetizers and party snacks that are delicious and different.
Sandwiches
Sandwiches are fast and filling. Forego the 6-ft. long deli jobs and put together a trio of individual sandwiches. Select a vegetarian, chicken and beef variety, so each of your guests will find something to dig into. Use a different kind of bread for each sandwich and keep it consistent with the filling. In other words, if you choose dark pumpernickel for the vegetarian sandwich with goat cheese, walnut, baby greens and roasted beets, don't use dark pumpernickel for any other kind of sandwich. Keep sandwiches small using cocktail breads or mini rolls, or cutting them into quarters.
Soups
Soups as a party appetizer probably aren't the first choice for many hostesses. The problem is that the soups need a spoon and a bowl. Solve this issue by serving the soups in shot glasses from the bar so guests savor the soup in one or two swallows. Cold soups such as gazpacho, creamy avocado or vichyssoise -- cold creamy potato soup -- work well. Hot soups are a little trickier because the soup cools quickly. You could serve hot soup in a heated chafing dish and let guests ladle the soup into demitasse coffee cups.
Chips and Dip
Go beyond plain potato chips and onion dip. Chips these days come from root vegetables such as beet, carrot and sweet potato. Vegetables such as string beans and zucchini slices are flash fried and sold by the pound at grocery stores. Corn chips aren't just yellow but red and blue, made from red and blue corn. You can serve fresh vegetables as chips, sticks and slices. For a quick dip, mix prepared mayonnaise with lemon zest and crushed garlic, or combine whipped cream cheese with shredded cucumber and radishes. Make your own four-onion dip with nonfat sour cream mixed with minced scallions, finely diced red onions, dried onion flakes and caramelized saut ed onions. You'll never go back to the dried mixes again.
Fruits
A lavish display of fresh fruit acts as finger food and as a centerpiece with all the bright colors of the fruit. Fruit is a healthy choice for a party snack. Choose fruit such as strawberries that are eaten in one or two bites. Cut other fruits, such as pineapple, into one-bite chunks. Thread small berries such as blueberries, raspberries and blackberries on toothpicks. Create a "pineapple palm" centerpiece by stacking two pineapple fruits without their leaves on top of each other and adding an artificial fern as the palm leaves on top.
Tags: dark pumpernickel, each other, your guests
