Figs, Strawberries and Goat Cheese Appetizer

We have been playing poker with two other couples for many years.
We play every other month and rotate houses.  It is a friendly group ( we don't play for money), and it is all about the food and socializing. The cards are just an excuse to get together.

We serve appetizers and snack food before and during the game- dessert when we finish playing .
When the guests arrive, the first thing they do is head directly for the refreshment table. It is kind of like a tradition, and it is actually funny. We stand around, eat, have a glass of wine, and chat for about 45- minutes to an hour before we start to play cards. ( of course everyone has just had dinner before they came).

As I said, its all about the food .
Each host/hostess tries to use his/ her imagination to think of some intriguing  appetisers or snacks.
I made it easy for myself- I purchased basic foods and simply assembled!

                                                                         Fresh Figs and Feta

Moist Black Mission figs and creamy goat cheese is a simple idea, but is really delicious. 

How I assembled

I lined up the black mission figs alongside the cheese log. The idea being that you would eat the figs with the goat cheese. ( of course I added more of the wonderful figs as we devoured them) The sweet taste of the figs really blended well with the tangy goat cheese. Or how about some walnuts to stuff the figs!

 I also had two little dishes on the side. One was filled with pitted Calamata olives ( traditionally Mediterranean)  and in the other little dish I had a sweet and sour cranberry apple chutney

The olives, the figs, and the cranberry chutney  each provided an interesting taste  with the goat cheese. I also used some fresh strawberries for garnish.Not shown: gluten free crackers.

I also had a platter of cilantro and jalapeno humus , roasted eggplant garlic dip, sweet peppers and flax seed chips ( Trader Joe's)

I try to keep the appetizers low in carbs so I choose peppers, humus, and eggplant dip. Everything on this plate is from Trader Joes'. ( love that place!!)  They have a wide selection of gluten free or gluten friendly foods. These adorable peppers are sweet, not hot! And I do mean sweet. We used them as dippers for the spicy eggplant garlic dip and the cilantro humus dip. 

Did you notice how I put the humus in a bell pepper? I just cut off the top, cleaned out the seeds, and filled it with cilantro humus... yum and pretty. The chips are flax seeds and soy and according to my guests , " you just can't eat one. "

 In addition, I had some little snacks.

 This trio is composed of dark chocolate covered almonds,  peanut brittle and  mini Hershey bars- all gluten free. ( you gotta have chocolate)

There were six of us and by the end of the evening,  EVERY morsel on those plates were gone!  Gone...!


For dessert, I made a traditional Northern Italian dessert ( Panna Cotta) that I topped with fresh strawberries soaked in Amaretto liquor. I am not going to show you the dessert because  the Pann Cotta is going to be one of my next blog posts with step by step pictures.

Some additional desserts:
sugar free, gluten-free, egg-free, and milk-free - moist and tender oatmeal raisin cookies

coconut flour , gluten free- banana muffins or banana loaf

Gluten Free Pumpkin choc chips torte

My favorite; 3 minute cake in a mug- gluten free of course and easy

A quick gluten free, egg free, milk free, nut free cake made in a mug AND it is GOOD!

(If you are not gluten free, you can make it with regular flour and still enjoy)

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