I don’t know about you but sometimes I get the munchies. I just want to sit around and snack, but don’t enjoy the after affects of snacking on potato chips or sweets I feel sluggish and overly full—something I can’t afford with four small children!
So recently I have swapped up high calorie snacks for chopped up veg. The veg is yummy to eat on its own, but a quality hommous takes this snack to the next level. I have tried out various store-bought hommous and my favourite thus far is Yumi’s brand.
If you don’t have access to Yumi’s brand, you can make your own hommous using a Thermomix or simply find your favourite brand. My friends make versions with chilli oil and pine nuts, etc. Delicious!
Sometimes I chop up my veg and just place it in a sectioned container in the fridge. This way it’s easy for the kids to access and snack on also. But on this occasion it was my daughter’s 7th birthday and I wanted something that presented better, with a few added extras.
Making the Grazing Platter
My friend gave me a beautiful wooden board as a Christmas gift and I used this as a rustic base for my grazing platter. First up I place the hommous bowl on the board and then arranged my veg around it.
Arranging the Vegetables
You really can arrange the veg in any manner you like, but an on trend way of presenting platters is to group items of the same kind together. Place the groups as close together as possible so that it gives the feeling of abundance to your board.
Adding in Meat and Crackers
I then added the sausage, cheese and as many crackers as I could fit. We are usually big fans of Ritz crackers, but after the recent COVID-19 inspired empty supermarket shelves we were forced to try a new brand.
I chose the Supermarket branded assorted crackers as aside from one other type they were the only brand left. We were forced onto a winner! The variety pack came with 6 tasty crackers and the price was only $4.
Now that everything has calmed down a bit at the supermarkets and the range of crackers has returned, we still enjoy buying the Supermarket brand. You might want to try these out or just go with our own favourites.
Getting Creative With Your Grazing Platters
That’s it! I have broken down the steps of a simple grazing platter in the instructions but feel free to play around with my serving suggestion.
If you want extra ideas try out Pinterest. I enjoy scrolling through Pinterest for inspiration, feasting with my eyes on all the colourful grazing platter presentations. Grazing platters come in many forms: fruit, veg, sweets and chocolate or antipasto to name a few.
They are a simple way to add colour and flavour to any celebration (or maybe to a household Iso snack session). Have fun!
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
How to create a simple yet tasty grazing platter
Ingredients
- ⅓ Continental cucumber
- 2 Carrots
- ½ Red capsicum
- 3 Sticks celery
- 1 Chorizo sausage
- 4 pieces sliced cheese
- Selection Coles assorted crackers
- Yumi brand Hommous
Instructions
- Wash and chop celery and capsicum into sticks.
- Peel and chop carrots into sticks.
- Slice cucumber and chorizo into rings.
- Slice cheese into quarters.
- Spoon hommous into small bowl and place onto wooden platter.
- Arrange chopped veg, sausage, cheese and crackers on platter according to image. Enjoy!
