Not all party finger foods have to be heavy and drab-looking “calorie bombs.” These little “cherry bombs” are a simple but exciting way to offer something fresh to your guests. With only 25 calories in each tomato, you can go back for a second, or third, or fourth, without any guilt!
Prep Time: 30 minutes
6 Portions • 100 Calories = 4 Tomatoes
Ingredients:
24 large cherry tomatoes (about 2 pints)
1 lime, halved
Salt
1 cup Fresh Guacamole (see recipe)
6 corn tortilla chips, crushed
Chili powder
Fresh cilantro
Directions:
- Slice the tops and bottoms off each cherry tomato, cutting just a thin sliver from the bottoms for the tomatoes to stand upright.
- Use a melon baller or grapefruit spoon to remove and discard the pulp and seeds from each tomato, placing them on a serving dish as you finish.
- Squeeze the lime over all the tomatoes on the serving dish and then lightly sprinkle with salt.
- Fill each tomato with 2 teaspoons of the Fresh Guacamole, letting it pile up and out of the tomato.
- Top the filled tomatoes with crushed tortilla chips and then sprinkle lightly with chili powder. Garnish each with a leaf of fresh cilantro and serve.
Fresh Guacamole
Prep Time: 10 minute
5 Portions • 100 Calories = 1/4 Cup
For flavor, freshness (and for a whole bunch of other reasons), nothing beats homemade guacamole. The best time to make this is when avocados go on sale, as it is not only less expensive but usually a sign that they are at their peak season.
Ingredients:
2 medium Haas avocados, halved and pitted
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1 tablespoon seeded and minced jalapeño
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Use a large spoon to scoop the avocado out of the peel, then roughly chop.
2. Place the chopped avocado in a medium-size mixing bowl and toss with lime juice.
3. Use a heavy fork or potato masher to mash the avocado until creamy and mostly smooth.
4. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately or cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour to let the flavors combine.
Helpful Tip: A ripe Haas avocado has brown skin, is slightly soft to the touch, and reveals green when the short stem on the top is pulled out. Hard avocados should be ripened at room temperature. Ripe avocados can be kept in the fridge for 2–3 days before using.
Helpful Tip: Stores are often overstocked with (oval) grape tomatoes and have very few (round) cherry tomatoes. If you are having trouble finding them, don’t forget to check the organic produce section. They may even have both yellow and red cherry tomatoes to make a multicolored platter!
Nutritionist, cookbook author, publisher and health and wellness entrepreneur Mona Dolgov lives her lifelong mission of creating healthier food products, recipes and inventing simple culinary tricks to easily create practical and healthier lifestyles. She is President of You Live Right, LLC, where she has authored and published over 20 cookbooks for top-selling kitchen appliances, health and wellness products and grocery retailers, focused on simplicity and using nutritious ingredients. She also is a private nutritional coach, offers educational and fun dinner classes at Mona’s Kitchen, and is a speaker on nutritional well-being. Plus, she is very excited about launching Cook U. Follow Mona on Facebook or Instagram @monadolgov
She recently co-authored The Perfect Portion Cookbook, a 5-star rated cookbook (with Hollywood star Anson Willams) that makes American classics healthier and guides consumers to healthier portion control. This book (and Mona) was featured on the Today Show, The Doctors, and The Huffington Post. Learn more at www.theperfectportion.com
She is completing her second cookbook, Satisfy, that will be launched in 2020, focused on simple nutritionally balanced meals all 500 calories or less with real ingredients and real portions. All of the recipes are gluten-free.
