Veggie Christmas Tree and Olive Penguins

I love my Veggie Cabin but these Olive Penguin are to die for!!

Once again for my family christmas party in 2012 I made this cute Veggie Christmas Tree and Olive Penguins.

I believe I got this idea from Pinterest not sure the source of it though.

Supplies Needed for Veggie Tree:

Cone shaped styrofoam

Tin Foil

Toothpicks and Skewers

Small Star Cookie Cutter

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Grape Tomatoes

Yellow & Orange Pepper

Carrots

Directions:

Depending on the size of the tree you are making will depend on how much Broccoli and Cauliflower you will need. The one pictured was a very big tree so I used about 10 heads of broccoli and 1 head of Cauliflower.

Cut all the Broccoli and Cauliflower so you have just the florets. When cutting the Broccoli remember to leave some of the florets big so it will cover more area. (If you are making a bigger tree.) 

Put toothpicks in the stem of the florets. I suggest doing this first so it is easier to push the toothpick in the styrofoam.

Cut the larger part of the carrots and cut out some starts.

Cut the peppers in half and clean out the insides. Cut a few stars of the yellow pepper then cut into strips.

Now just have and just start placing the broccoli and cauliflower florets. When placing the florets try and put the bigger ones on the bottom of the tree and leave the smaller ones for the top.

Once you have the cone covered with the florets now you can decorate the tree with the strips of pepper, grape tomatoes, carrot and pepper stars.

Place on a big tray and put the veggies you will be eating around the tree!

Supplies Needed for Olive Penguins:

 

Jumbo Olives

Medium or Small Olives (depends on how big the Jumbo ones are)

Softened Cream Cheese

Carrots

Toothpicks

 

Directions:

Take the Jumbo Olives and cut a section out of one side a little less then 1/4 of the olive.

Cut carrots into slices and then cut a triangle out of one side.

(Remember to try to keep everything proportionate to the Jumbo Olive.)

From the small triangle of carrot you cut out – Cut that into small little slivers for the nose. I cut one small triangle into 3-4 pieces.

Mix the softened cream cheese and place into a zip lock baggie with a piece of the corner cut or into a frosting bag. (I put a little garlic salt into the cream cheese and mixed it in)

Stick a toothpick into a carrot and place on a tray.

Take the baggie of cream cheese and pipe it into the jumbo olive. It will spill over the edges of the olive so I took a knife and cleaned it up. Place the cream cheese filled olive onto the toothpick. Continue filling all your olives.

Place other size of olives on the toothpick as the head. Use the X part of the olive to place the sliver of carrot for the nose.

Place in fridge for until ready to serve!

These penguins like swimming in ranch dip!

 

I will try and do a video tutorial on these.

 

Enjoy!