10 Party Food Ideas for a Healthier Labor Day
Make your Labor Day party foods lighter and more delicious this year. Hold the mayo on your potato and pasta salads, serve up healthier burgers, fruit kabob appetizers and even grilled fruit desserts as part of your backyard bash. Try these healthier Labor Day party food ideas to celebrate seasonal ingredients and natural flavors to do your party up right.
- Healthy cocktails: Mix up a few of our healthier homemade cocktails to get your party going, like rose geranium sangria, or one of our summer herby cocktails like a seasonal strawberry basil smasher, blackberry rosemary sparkler or cucumber yum yum cocktail. Or, for an even cooler treat, try a few adult slushies.
- Healthy appetizers: Raw vegetables, barbecue fruit salad kebabs and other easy and delicious appetizers make delicious healthy party food ideas rather than letting your guests fill up on chips and dip.
- Seasonal, fresh salads: An heirloom tomato and red ruffle basil salad or an arugula radicchio salad use delicious seasonal fruits and vegetables while avoiding heavy, rich dressings. Or, savor this fresh strawberry and spinach salad.
- Lighter potato salad: Skip the mayo on your potato salad this year and try our potato salad with artichokes, feta cheese and olive oil instead.
- Lighter pasta salad: Serve up delicious, lighter pasta salad recipes this season with our Simple pasta salad, which highlights fresh veggies like bell peppers and cucumber. And the homemade Italian dressing tops it off with deliciousness. Or try our Greek pasta salad, which relies on yogurt rather than mayonnaise for creaminess. Gluten-free? Try brown rice pasta with asparagus, shiitakes and pumpkin seed pesto.
- Grilled chicken: Try our organic chicken under a brick. This cooking technique creates moist meat and cooks in less time than roasting a whole chicken. Plus, it’s a conversation starter! Your guests are sure to ask, “why are you cooking that brick?”
- Salmon burgers: Who says all your hamburgers need to be made with beef? Skip the red meat and try a sustainable salmon burger instead.
- Healthier hamburgers: If you’re going with beef, try a few of our ways to make your homemade hamburgers healthier. Go with a healthy three-ounce serving size or even sliders. And consider mixing some healthy grains into your burger patties, like dry oats or cooked quinoa. And once the burgers are grilled, top them with healthy greens and veggies instead of cheese or bacon.
- Seasonal grilled veggies: Especially if you have vegetarian or vegan guests, healthy barbecues make vegetables a star. Check out these vegan grilling ideas. Or pair your delicious meats with grilled artichoke with olive oil, lemon and fresh herbs, easy grilled torpedo onions, or skewer up some organic veggies for a really easy side dish. And don’t forget the corn on the cob! Grill up your corn cobs with the husk on for a beautiful presentation and fun conversation with your guests. Plus, your grilled corn will be so tasty that you may not need to slather on the butter.
- Fruity desserts: Instead of cupcakes, puddings or gelatin molds, rely on the natural sugars in fresh fruit to perk up your guests’ tastebuds at the end of the meal. Grill up one of our four barbecue for dessert grilled fruit recipes.
And be sure to make the effort to keep your party eco-friendly: try our eco chic Labor Day barbecue ideas.
Keep in touch with Kristi on Twitter @VeggieConverter and Pinterest
Image: joshbousel via Compfightcc
