Make a Creative Vegan Holiday Party Platter

Foods from 12 o'clock going clockwise: Savory Tofu, Carrot, Celery, Cherry Tomatoes, Garlic Hummus, Carrot, Cashew and Chive Cream Cheese, Marinated Beets, Carrot, Oven Roasted Spicy Chickpeas, Center Pineapple/Cranberry Relish

 

Tis the season to entertain and here are ideas, tips, and techniques to help you create gorgeous vegan canapé/appetizer platters. 

Select a platter or platters large enough to attractively display the nibbles and munchies you've decided to serve. 

An Assortment of Platters and Serving Dishes

Learn how plant-based food prep ideas make it easy to celebrate any holiday or simple gathering of friends and family in style.

Consider assembling finger foods that are luscious and eye-appealing, yet offer guests alternatives to conventional, highly processed charcuterie board ingredients.

Presentation is important, so why not make it colorful and whimsical? Get into the flow and have fun by mixing and matching textures, aromas, colors, and flavors. 

Don't forget the wellness quotient. Learn about foods that are nutrient dense and pick out ones with health promoting benefits. Select those vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and plant-based protein you think your guests might like to try. 

Save big by making food choices from in-season or on-sale products that are easy on the pocketbook and waistline too.

Here are simple guidelines for party planning.

1. Plan ahead. A few weeks before your event, search through your pantry. Are there foodstuffs you already have on hand you might use? 

My search revealed black pitted Kalamata olives, red pepper and eggplant spread, grape leaves stuffed with rice, and whole grain crackers of various shapes and sizes.

2. Think about your favorite snack foods and feature flavorful ones with nutrient dense ingredients. When you're ready to go food shopping, shop with a list that includes store specials and seasonal items to keep costs down.

3. No ho-hum taste either. Consider foods with distinct salty, sweet, savory, and spicy elements. If the item is bland tasting, season it well.

For example I selected pineapple/ cranberry relish, savory hummus, roasted spicy chickpeas, marinated beets, cashews, almonds, and coconut dipped date rolls. 

Food Choices Might Include:

Salty -Homemade potato chips from Nancy Andres. Other choices can be olives, pickles, and salty spreads.

Organic Russet Potatoes scrubbed clean and sliced thin, but not peeled. Slices are roasted at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for approx. 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Serve warmed.

 

Sweet and Tart – 2 ingredient Pineapple/Cranberry Relish from Nancy Andres at Colors 4 Health.

This is Sweet and Tart Pineapple/Cranberry Relish made with one can crushed pineapple packed in its own juice, and a bag of fresh cranberries chopped in food processor (optional 1/4 cup chopped nuts)

Eat apples, grapes, pears, or bananas for sweet fruit choices. Munch on a tangerine, grapefruit, or kiwi for tart flavor.

Dried fruit including raisins and apricots, and nuts, seeds, and coconut date rolls are fun to serve as a sweet finish to a wonderful meal.

From 12n and going clockwise: Coconut coated Date Rolls, Raisins, Date Rolls, Cashews, Date Rolls, Pumpkin Seeds, Date Rolls, Almonds, Apricots in Center

Savory – savory tofu, hummus, or roasted and savory seasoned beans.

Spicy – roasted spicy chickpeas or spicy roasted nuts. 

  4. For Dipping – use crunchy crackers, pita, artisan bread, or colorful veggies with hummus or other things including vegan cream cheese. Crackers like Wasa, and snacks like pretzels or homemade potato chips are additional choices to use with spreads.

Serve gluten free crackers or gluten free chips on another plate and mark crackers with a little gluten free sign.

5. People appreciate eating foods that are fresh, seasoned well, and attractive. Select quality over quantity.

It's fun to let your creativity shine. Make your Vegan Holiday Party Platter a colorful feast for the eyes and palate, and a display of deliciousness and joy.

Do you yearn to keep the holidays or  informal gatherings cost effective and within your budget? Please share about that in the comment section below.

Want to spend more time with your guests than in the kitchen? Do you think a make ahead party platter would work? Share that below. 

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Make a Creative Vegan Holiday Party Platter hours before your next party and relax, kick-back, and celebrate. 💖👍

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 Wishing you a Joyous Holiday Season and a very Healthy, Happy, and Satisfying December.

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5 Easy and Effective Ways to Practice Gratitude

Grateful for Love in My Life

The Oxford Dictionary defines gratitude as the quality of being thankful, and readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness.

 

This post will show you 5 easy and effective ways to practice gratitude, and illustrates  "Top Reasons to Practice Gratitude with Tips to Help You Do It."

 1. Observe and Revise Words you Use to Communicate. Grateful people have a positive communication style. They freely express ideas and feelings to convey awareness of life’s gifts, givers, blessings, good fortune, abundance, and verbalize their thankfulness often.

2. Grateful people acknowledge inherently good things others have done on their behalf. Feeling grateful and accepting and appreciating help from others creates a more relaxed body state and allows the subsequent benefits of lowered stress to wash over them. 

Tip: Check in with your mind and body at least once a day to gauge whether practicing gratitude increases your sense of well-being.

3. Grateful people act grateful. When people follow through on grateful motions including smiling, saying thank you, and writing letters of gratitude or “going through grateful motions,” parts of their minds and bodies get conditioned to feel gratitude more often.

Grateful for Friends and Family

4. Grateful people live and delight in the current moment. When people savor the present moment and witness what it holds, they are less likely to project into the unknown (future) or dwell on the past.

5. Grateful people are those who find value in each experience, person, or thing (not take anyone or anything for granted). 

Finding a lesson or blessing in everything that happens, is a step in the right direction to feeling grateful and satisfied with daily living.

The regions associated with gratitude are part of the neural networks that light up when people socialize and experience pleasure. These regions are also heavily connected to the parts of the brain that control basic emotion regulation, such as heart rate and arousal levels.

One of my most treasured life goals is to have relationships that bring out the best in us. I seek friendships with people who are kind and respectful people. I have learned to practice healthy behaviors that are relaxed, encourage personal growth, and stimulates a sense of gratitude and joy.

What steps have you taken or want to take to live a more grateful life? Please share a comment or observation in the section below.

Have you made strides in improving your self-care practices and/or do you need motivation, encouragement, or support in this area? Please share that too.

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Grateful for the Bounty in Each Season

Wishing those who celebrate Thanksgiving or other holidays or special days this month a Happy and Healthy holiday. Good wishes and thanks to all who read this post. I'm grateful you visited and invite you to please come back again. My wish for everyone is to ...

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November Holidays, Fun Events, and Customs

November is a month packed full of holidays, enjoyable activities, and interesting traditions and customs. This post features those events, fun facts, and happenings that appeal to me. See how many resonate with you.

November is a unique month, in that it has two birthstones, topaz and citrine. These gemstones are admired for their colors and stunning beauty.

 

Topaz is usually made into jewelry that's yellow to amber color. However, it can be found in a variety of shades such as blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, and brown. 

Blue happens to be one of the most popular topaz colors, and many times, the desired shade is achieved by heat-treating colorless topaz.

The ancient Greeks believed that topaz could make a wearer invisible. A symbol of honor and strength, topaz was also believed to bring calm, longevity, and wisdom.

 

yellow and blue topaz

Citrine on the other hand, ranges from a transparent pale yellow to a bold brownish variety of quartz. 

yellow/0range/ to brown citrine

Citrine has been a popular gemstone since ancient times and has shared a history of mistaken identities with the other November birthstone, topaz. 

One result is people thought citrine had the same powers as topaz. They believed both birthstones could soothe tempers and calm the wearer.

Now on to those things I'd like to

 Highlight during November

November 1. World Vegan Day is a holiday that was created to raise awareness of the vegan lifestyle and its benefits for people, living creatures, and the planet.

It marks the beginning of World Vegan Month, a 30-day celebration of the vegan movement. It’s a luscious month for me, because World Vegan Month falls within the prime growing season for many fall veggies and fruits. Winter squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, leeks, broccoli, cranberries, and pears and apples are perfect additions to a vegan meal or feast.

To reap optimal health benefits, eat vegan food that is whole food plant-based (WFPB) and includes a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables alongside plant-based proteins. 

steamed greens, black-eyed peas, and grilled carrots

Be mindful about your prep and cooking methods and understand not all vegan foods are equal.

In-season organic produce is vibrant and loaded with antioxidants and nutrients. To get details see "Benefits of Eating In-Season Fruit and Veggies." 

November 3. 🕑 Daylight savings time ends in many states of our nation. The practice of moving clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall to make better use of daylight hours has always struck me as quirky. 

Daylight Savings Time (DST) was formally adopted during World War I as a way to conserve energy. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 made DST a legal requirement in the United States.

DST is observed in most of the United States, but not in Hawaii, Arizona, or the U.S. territories. State governments can request to change their time zone, but the Department of Transportation (DOT) must approve the change.

DST is also known as "spring forward, fall back" because of the timing of the clock changes. In the United States, clocks are moved forward one hour at 2 AM on the second Sunday in March, and back one hour at 2 AM on the first Sunday in November.

November 5. U.S.A. Election Day  falls on Tuesday Nov. 5th this year. Originally, election days varied by state, but in 1845 a federal law set a single election day for the entire country. If you haven't voted already, get to the poles the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and be a pro-active citizen.

At first, Election Day applied only to presidential elections, but was later extended to congressional and state elections as well. 

Hopefully you are registered to vote, may have even voted early, or plan to get out and vote. EVERY vote matters.

November 11 . Veterans Day is a national holiday that falls on November 11^th each year. Veterans Day is set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military – in wartime or peacetime.

 

November 13. World Kindness Day is celebrated around the world on November 13^th. It was first introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement.

 

World Kindness Day gives us an opportunity to devote time and attention to the good deeds we do, notice kindness in the community, and remind us to share a common thread of kindness with others and ourselves all year long.

 #worldkindnessday

November 15. November’s Full Beaver Moon occurs on Friday, November 15. Read the Farmer's Almanac page about the November Moon for more information.

November 28. Celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving is a U.S. national holiday. 

How do you celebrate? My family and friends enjoy gathering round the dinner table, sharing food and conversation, and giving thanks and expressing gratitude for our lives, health, community and nation, friendships, love, and prosperity.

November is the last month of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. With me, it's a month primarily focused on celebrating my freedom, both in my country and myself. I don't take it lightly, and feel thankful for my blessings.  

No matter which holidays or special events you take part in, enjoy what you do (it's good for your health and sense of well-being). 

Please comment below to share about your favorite days in November and how you honor them.

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If you like what you see, please share on social media.Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

Wishing family, friends, and readers of Colors 4 Health a happy healthy November.

Sending special November wishes for love, peace, health, and abundance to you, your loved ones, and for our planet.

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