Cranberry Meatballs and Goat Cheese Crisps (Thanksgiving)

Lunch on holidays in our family is always snack-oriented rather than meal-oriented.  This year, in addition to our usual cheese and vegetable assortment, we whipped up some cranberry meatballs and goat cheese crisps.

To make our goat cheese crisps (top, center in the photo above), we put a slice or two of zucchini on french bread. We topped the zucchini with a sun-dried tomato (packed in oil), and put about a tablespoon of goat cheese (chevre) on top of the tomato. Finally, we put a little basil on top. I was a little skeptical about these (really, zucchini, tomato and goat cheese?), but the combination of textures was fantastic. The zucchini lent a nice crispy crunch, and the goat cheese provided some smooth creaminess. They turned out absolutely delicious.

The real winner of the lunch, however, were the cranberry meatballs (left in the photo above). These were incredibly easy to make, and put a fun new spin on incorporating cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. These meatballs were one of the biggest hits of the entire day--they were listed in everyone's top 3. Each meatball (including sauce) has about 51 calories, if you use 95% fat-free meat.