Alternate the cheese cubes with grape tomatoes, broccoli florets, bell pepper strips and other favorite crudités. Or go the fruit route with berries, kiwi and other fruits in season. With skewers, you save the calories of the bread or crackers too!

In general, avoid high-fat Brie and other double-and triple-crémes: The creamier the cheese, the higher the butterfat and calories. Soft and semi-soft cheeses like Brie contain 60%-74% butterfat, triple-crème cheeses like Saint André and Explorateur have at least 75% butterfat.

Stick with harder cheeses such as Parmesan (40% butterfat), Cheddar (43%), Swiss (43%), Gouda (48%), mozzarella (24%) and others with a firm or dry consistency (called the “paste”). We love Cabot’s Reduced Fat Cheddars (50% and 75% reduced fat) and Pepperjack (50%). The 75% reduced Cheddar has just 7% total fat.

Cheese kabobs are a fun food in
addition to a lower-calorie food. Photo
courtesy KraftCanada.com

• Check out Cabot’s Reduced Fat Cheddars.
• See all of our favorite cheeses, including a cheese glossary, cheese trivia quiz, the history of cheese and cheese recipes.
• Fnd more of our favorite calorie-reduced foods in our Diet Nibbles section.

Boar’s Head EverRoast Oven Roasted Chicken
Breast deli meat won the taste test.

The family’s tradition is to serve a quick-and-easy meat and cheese deli tray as the main course. Having recently attended a tasting at THE NIBBLE of Boar’s Head EverRoast Oven Roasted Chicken Breast and a variety of Boar’s Head cheeses, our colleague suggested that this year, the family specifically seek out Boar’s Head.

Almost everyone noticed something new and improved in the deli tray—and yes, they were told that the secret was Boar’s Head. A new family Christmas Eve tradition was born (or at least, the old one was modified).

This may sound like a TV commercial, but it really happened. The lesson learned: Even if you’re perfectly happy with what you’ve been eating, try a new brand or a new recipe. You may find something that you like even more.

Another NIBBLE favorite is Boar’s Head Pepperhouse Gourmaise, a mustard-mayo blend that is a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

• For recipes using EverRoast, visit BoarsHead.com.
• For other poultry recipes, visit our Gourmet Poultry Section.

A vegetable cocktail is a low-calorie, nutritious and filling addition to any meal. Think presentation and turn that glass of juice into a glamorous mini-course. All you need is a good juice, a spiffy glass, the right garnish (that’s where glamor comes into play), a service plate and a cocktail napkin.

Our everyday favorite is tomato juice garnished with key lime (now in season) and a fennel spear (you can substitute celery; we halve the key lime and place it on the plate for the individual to squeeze). Test different juice brands to see which taste the best, or see our review of the best tomato juice.

But dig a little further—at natural food stores especially—and you’ll find absolutely delicious beet juice, carrot juice, celery root juice, potato juice and sauerkraut juice. The juices from Biotta, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, are out of this world.

A fruit juice can be a dessert course, too. Consider fresh-squeezed blood orange juice garnished with a fresh strawberry, a blend of pear and apricot nectars spiced with a cinnamon stick or your own favorite “fruit cocktail” blend.

• See more of our favorite juices.
• See our review of Biotta vegetable and fruit juices

Beyond the tomato: celery root, carrot and
beet veggie juices from Biotta. Photo by
Corey Lugg | THE NIBBLE.

A combination of two Elvis Presley favorites: cheeseburgers and bacon. Yes, you can spread some peanut butter on the bun. Because he loved bananas, have some plantain chips on the side (photo © Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board).

Today would have been Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday.

 
More foodie things to do on Elvis’ birthday:

If you don’t know this brand, try it and become one of the many fans. The products are organic, tasty and better for you than most supermarket brands.

Amy’s aims to appeal to vegetarians and vegans as well as the general audience.

The three new soups include Chunky Tomato Bisque, Fire Roasted Southwestern Vegetable and Spanish Rice and Red Bean.

• Chunky Tomato Bisque is creamy, velvety and sweet as sugar. Alas, that’s because there are 14g of sugar is per serving—almost three times as much as the other two varieties. You’ve heard us say this before, but there is more sweetener hidden in our food supply than is necessary or healthy. That Amy’s uses organic evaporated cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup means nothing to your glycemic index.

• Fire Roasted Southwestern Vegetable Soup is vegan, a flavorful mix of tomato, potato cubes, roasted corn, bell pepper, black beans and onions. Green chiles and chipotle are listed on the label, but we tasted pepper rather than chile heat.

Stay warm this winter with Amy’s Organic
soups. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

• Spanish Rice & Red Bean Soup is mis-named. Spanish rice is a spicy white rice side dish prepared with tomatoes, onions and green peppers. Putting the words “Spanish rice” in front of this red bean soup with tomatoes, corn, bell pepper, zucchini and brown rice (which is the eighth ingredient on the label—i.e., not a whole lot of rice) is misleading. But the soup is hearty and nicely peppery.

The line is gluten free, certified organic by QAI and kosher by Ner Tamid K. The soups are low fat, cholesterol free, high in fiber and have no GMOs.