Greek Cucumber Appetizers

Hi!  I'm back!  How was your holiday??  I had such a great time with my mom and now she's gone and back home, far, far away in Maine, boo.  We always have so much fun together; my mom is always ready and willing to do just about anything.  I always joke that I could wake her up at 3:00am and ask her if she wanted to go to Timbuktu and her response would always be:  "Sure!"  One of our favorite things to do is to cook and I know that I got my culinary adoration from her.  My childhood memories are filled with her making something fabulous in the kitchen; she's a great cook and now that I'm older we're still making kitchen/cooking memories.  I miss her and hate that we live so far away from each other; I can't wait until we're together again.  Hubby enjoys having her here, too - I'm so lucky about that since she's been here for the better part of the month...not sure the majority of folks would be so understanding about their in-laws staying that long!

So, do you have big plans for New Year's Eve?  We're headed to an Ugly NYE party and I can't wait to debut my horrible outfit...I feel kind of bad for saying that...I mean, I bought it at my local Goodwill store, which means at some point someone actually wore it, right?  I'll try to forget that part.

It can sometimes be hard to bring healthy appetizers to get-togethers because no one wants to be the one who brought the "healthy stuff."  So, that's why you need to get creative and disguise the fact that your delicious creation is actually healthy...and most importantly it's got to be tasty!

This is absolutely one of those recipes.  Easy to throw together, crazy good, and definitely a crowd pleaser.

 

Ingredients:

1 English cucumber, cut into twelve 1" pieces (I stripped some of the peel off for prettiness)

1/2 cup hummus (I had Athenos Greek on hand; use your favorite kind!)

1/4 cup crumbled feta

8 kalamata olives, chopped

8 cherry tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

Preparation:

1)  Using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out part of the cucumber like so:

2)  Spoon about 2tsp of hummus into each of the cucumbers.
3)  Sprinkle some crumbled feta onto each cucumber.
4)  Now, place some olives onto each, followed by chopped tomatoes.
5)  Finally, sprinkle oregano onto each.

That's it!  Aren't they so pretty?

Here's the best part:  They are only 42 calories EACH!!

Yes, you read that right...

Nutrition:
Serves 6 (2 each - note, nutrition below is for each cucumber)
Calories 42 / Carbs 5g / Fat 2g / Protein 1g / Fiber 1g /Sodium 120mg

By the way, you don't even have to have a party to bring these to...throw them together and eat them without sharing! It's up to you!

Whatever you do, I hope you're happy and that 2013 brings you joy and health!

Happy New Year!