Vegetable Christmas Tree Recipes

Steps:

• In small bowl, stir together dip ingredients. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour to blend flavors.
• Rinse and thoroughly dry vegetables. Trim broccoli and cauliflower floret stems.
• Arrange broccoli on serving platter to form tree shape and tomatoes to form garland. Arrange bell pepper to form star and cauliflower to form snow (see photo). If desired, cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours.
• Just before serving, arrange pretzels at bottom of tree to form trunk. Serve with dip.

Steps:

• Cover the bottom of a 13-in. x 9-in. glass dish with dressing. Arrange broccoli in a tree shape, using the stem as the trunk. Place cauliflower around tree. Add tomatoes and carrot slices as ornaments.

Steps:

• 1. First prepare your veggies or fruit. If you are using apples, cut them in cubes, and if you won't be eating your tree for a while just brush some lemon juice on your apples to prevent browning.
• 2. Wrap the cone in clear plastic food wrap, securing it with floral pins/scotch tape in one or two places.
• 3. Using the toothpicks, attach the veggies, and cheese cubes to the cone. Push the toothpicks into the cone (you may need to cut the toothpicks down to fit in the top of your cone). Angle the toothpicks upwards to help keep the fruit and veggies from falling off. Cover the whole cone!
• 4. A star made of cheese can be attached to the top of the tree with a toothpick. It can be hand carved or cut with a small star-shaped cookie cutter.
• 5. place the tree in the center of a serving platter and surrround with other cut veggies. Serve with a bowl of your favorite dip(s).

Steps:

• Stack cake dummies (found in cake decorating stores or at www.cookscakeandcandy.com-search "Styrofoam dummy rounds"). Cut Styrofoam cone to about 4 in. high; glue on top of small cake dummy. Glue remaining cake dummies together. Wrap the form in cheesecloth dyed with food coloring., Attach kale leaves with toothpicks. Add veggie trims., For daikon radish garland, use a vegetable peeler to create long, thin ribbons from radishes. Drape around the tree, going under some trims and over others, and tucking in the ends to hide., For ornaments, cut turnips into 1/4-in.-thick rounds. Use cookie cutters to make ornaments; attach with toothpicks., Make a tree topper of interlinked pepper rings.

Steps:

• For the dip: Combine the cream cheese, sour cream, horseradish, lemon juice, lemon zest, granulated garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a generous grinding of black pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Process until well combined and smooth. Transfer the dip to a medium bowl and fold in the chives and parsley. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice water. Add the broccoli to the boiling water and blanch until bright green and crisp tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a strainer to the ice bath. Repeat with the cauliflower. Drain the vegetables well and pat them very dry.
• To build the tree, make a triangle of broccoli florets in the center of a serving platter. Place the cucumber piece, skin side up, at the base of the tree as a stump and scatter the cauliflower on either side. Decorate the tree with tomatoes, cucumber slices and pepper strips and stars, leaving one star for the top.

Steps:

• Cover the bottom of a 13X9X2-inch glass dish with dressing.
• Arrange broccoli in a tree shape,
• Make trunk from broccoli stem or (using 1 1/2 large pretzel sticks cut in half arranged next to one another)
• Place cauliflower around tree.
• Add tomatoes and carrot slices as ornaments.