Grazing Boards are occupying our Instagram feeds, Pinterest boards and most importantly, our dining tables! We absolutely can’t get enough of them at the moment; they're definitely the perfect crowd pleaser to bring out this festive season. They are usually beautifully decorated with colourful fruits, vegetables, delicious dips, nuts and seeds. So of course, our grazing board will be no exception! We’ve put together a healthier spread which covers all the elements; taste, texture, colour and most importantly; nutrition!

When it comes to building your grazing board, you can put whatever your heart desires, but if you, like many, find it a bit overwhelming or are not sure where to start, this is the perfect place for you to be! Take a look below to see how we did it.

We started off by roasting beetroot for our delicious and vibrant dip. This is a super time saver recipe as you can roast your beetroot in advance. We’ve included our Certified Organic Beetroot Powder, which is 100% pure beetroot! Adding this little gem provides a more concentrated beetroot flavour for your dip plus it adds a more vibrant colour. This dip can easily be vegan by substituting the feta cheese for cashews. Just make sure you soak them for at least 30 minutes in hot water before blending, adding nutritional yeast will also provide that savoury cheesy flavour as well!

For the base of our grazing board, we’ve gone with chopped vegetables and crackers, pretty much whatever is good to dip with! It’s also a great way to ensure everyone is getting their daily dose of veggies! To cater for all taste buds (we can’t forget our sweet tooth friends!) We’ve included fresh fruits such as strawberries and grapes plus an assortment from our Dried Fruits range which is packed with nutrients and antioxidants. Our Dried Golden Berries (also known as Inca Berries) are especially a great addition to any grazing board as they match perfectly with cheese. Inca Berries have a tart yet subtly sweet taste and provide a source of magnesium, iron, omega 3 and antioxidants.

Chocolates are another crowd pleaser, and our Dark Chocolate Coated Superfoods Range is perfect to add to your grazing board, you can choose between our Chocolate Coated Nuts or Dried Berries depending on your preferences.. or hey, why not have both?!  Being serious chocolate lovers ourselves, we decided to dedicate 2 separate bowls for our delicious Chocolate Coated Range and serve them either side of our grazing board. We went with our Dark Chocolate Coated Cherries.

As you know, grazing boards are all about creating that visual effect, so we thought we’d put our crafty skills to the taste and attempt making an avocado rose. We were quite happy with the result- may I add! They’re actually not that hard to make, it’s just a matter of ensuring you cut your slices nice and thin, this makes it easier to fan out the slices into the rose shape.

For garnishing, we’ve used fresh parsley and jalapenos for those who like a bit of extra heat. Parsley is a great herb that adds a bit of freshness to other foods. Jalapenos are also great to enjoy with cheeses and crackers.

For the remaining delicious ingredients, simply place them on your board. Don’t worry too much about placement, wherever there is space just pop them down. The more scattered it is the better it looks! For some of your ingredients like dried berries or olives, you may want to put them in small ramekins to fit more in!

CHRISTMAS GRAZING BOARD

MAKE TIME: 15 mins

SERVES: 4-10

INGREDIENTS

BOARD

1 large wooden board
½ cup Morlife Dried Inca Berries
1/3 cup Morlife Pomegranate Arils
1/3 cup Morlife Goji Berries
1 packet crackers
1 carrot, sliced
handful fresh strawberries
1 cucumber, sliced
1 avocado
1 small block cheese of choice
1/3 cup almonds
½ cup olives
1 bunch black grapes
1 block cheddar cheese
jalapenos
bunch fresh parsley

BEETROOT, BASIL FETA DIP

3 roasted beetroots
150g feta cheese
1 lemon, juiced + lemon zest
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
handful fresh basil leaves
1 tsp Morlife Certified Organic Beetroot Powder
salt & pepper
2 tbsp Morlife Certified Organic Chia Seeds

STEP BY STEP

FOR THE DIP

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, place the beetroot on a lined baking tray and roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Allow to cool.
2. Once beetroots are cooled, place all ingredients (leaving 1 tbsp of Chia Seeds) into a food processor an puree until smooth.
3. Transfer into a ramekin and top with remaining Chia Seeds, place on the grazing board.

FOR THE AVOCADO ROSE

1. To make the avocado rose, cut a ripe avocado in half, peeling off the skin. Place one half on the board cute side down.
2. Cut the avocado into very thin slices evenly then fan the avocado out gently with your hands. A long line of slices should form which overlap each other.
3. Starting from the end, curl the avocado slices inwards toward the centre, continue to curl the slices until you get a rose. Place on the grazing board.

FOR THE BOARD

1. Arrange all of the ingredients onto a large board that you can cut on.