Tempt Holiday Guests With a Healthy Christmas Cheese, Fruit + Veggie Board

Nearly any large wooden board, ceramic platter or serving tray can be used as the base for your board. To create this festive arrangement, we used an extra-large 20" x 30" chopping board which allows for plenty of room to design the ornament shape. As an alternative, covering one end of your dining table with butcher paper before layering on the goodies is another option.

Guests will appreciate a variety of textures, ages and colors of cheese. Select 3-5 cheeses that reflect a lighter bite such as fat-free feta, chevre and light mozzarella. Sharp cheddar has big flavor so a little goes a long way. Don’t forget to add a pop of holiday flavor with a seasonal cheese such as Yorkshire cranberry cheese. A good rule of thumb is to serve 3 oz. of cheese per guest. Of course, you’ll want to adjust the quantities as needed to suit the appetite of your guests.

Crackers, breads, seeded crisps and flavored tortillas are all fine vehicles to deliver tasty cheeses. Choose at least two different types of these accompaniments, and consider a gluten-free option if serving a large crowd. Plan on serving 1 oz. (or 5 standard-size) crackers per guest.

Cube hard and semi-hard cheeses into 1/2 oz. portions up to 3 days ahead of time. Sharp cheeses can be layered between wax paper and stored together in an airtight container until you’re ready to assemble your board. Cheese is best enjoyed at room temperature, so be sure to take your cheeses out of the refrigerator 1-2 hours before serving.

Vegetables and fruits can be washed, chopped and stored in zip-top bags a day ahead of time. When shopping, choose the most perfect, blemish-free produce available. Offer guests crudité that's easy to pick up with fingers and toothpicks, such as cherry tomatoes, celery sticks, cucumber wheels and broccoli florets. You’ll have plenty to go around with 1/2 cup portion of produce per guest.

This garlicky yogurt dip has bright herbaceous flavors and a creamy texture that’s perfect for veggie dipping. It tastes like an indulgence — but, thanks to the Greek yogurt base, it has less than half the fat and calories of most store-bought veggie dips. Placed in a round ramekin and embellished with edible decorations, it creates the perfect centerpiece for our vintage ornament motif.

Decorate the center ramekin of dip with a starburst of green pepper matchsticks and teardrop-shaped cut-outs from a spinach tortilla. You’ll need a small petal cookie cutter for this, or you could use small basil leaves which are the same shape. Begin layering cucumber wheels around the ramekin. To give the ornament's center more color and dimension, place crunchy radish slices on top of the cucumbers.

Line up cherry tomatoes on either side of the cucumber circle. Aim for symmetry as much as possible, but don’t stress the details too much — vegetables come in varied shapes and sizes, so precision is off the table. Just do the best you can and enjoy the creative process.

Continue filling in the center with rows of grapes just under the cherry tomatoes — or, alternatively, you could use olives for a salty bite. Fresh snap peas have a slight curve, so they’re ideal for creating the curved circular outline that will give the ornament its rounded shape.

Flat, straight veggies such as celery sticks and matchstick carrots or peppers will help create lines and borders to separate ingredients. Next, fill in the area under the celery stick border with cubed cheese.

Under the central line of grapes, add another veggie border with celery (or carrots or sliced peppers), then layer in even more crowd-pleasing cheese. Use cubed semi-soft cheeses (Roquefort, mozzarella, block feta) or semi-hard cheeses (Cheddar, Gouda, Havarti, Gruyère) which slice neatly to fill in spaces around the central fruit and veggie arrangement.

Arrange snap peas to enclose the bottom portion of the ornament. Place two peas, round edges facing inward, to create the bottom point of the ornament. Fill it with anything you'd like — we found that a strawberry half is just the right shape and color to make an eye-catching filler. For the ornament's top ‘O’ ring, cut the center from a cucumber wheel and arrange it at the top center of the ornament.

Make this board a crowd-pleasing spread by placing little bowls of salted sesame seeds and peanuts around the ornament. Consider other healthy nut options, such as smoked almonds or pistachios.

Be sure to have plenty of accompaniments arranged on plates and ready to hand. Sun-dried tomato and spinach tortillas are an unexpected touch. Soft cheeses and dipped veggies taste wonderful wrapped in the soft triangles.

For this holiday design, creamy cheeses can be more difficult to incorporate. No worries, they're just as tasty served on the side. For something sweet, cover chevre with wildflower honey.

Ensure guest can help themselves: cheese knives, toothpicks, small serving plates and napkins are all necessities so have plenty of each within easy reach so guests can just grab a healthy nibble or two.