I love Christmas trees. Being in our little trailer, I realized very quickly how much I missed having our tree, so I went to the local Hobby Lobby and found a small decorative tree, bought some battery operated lights and now we have a tiny tree that’s perfect on our little table. It’s amazing what a difference it makes having it around!

Of course, that’s not the only way to get an extra tree around- there are so many tasty dishes you can create that pay homage to the iconic Christmas tree!

• Make cinnamon rolls in the shape of a tree! So, so easy. And tasty! You could use a little food coloring to create a green icing, and decorate with fresh berries for “ornaments”, but even without these extra steps it would be festive and delicious!
• Make a veggie board with broccoli as the evergreen tree! You can use cherry tomatoes as the ornaments, and surround it with other veggies. Celery could be the base of the tree as well. And don’t forget the star! (Cut out from cheese or a radish)
• If you want to look super fancy in a really easy way, simply lay down a pretzel stick and drizzle melted green chocolate (candy melts are great for this!) in the shape of a tree! You can add a few sprinkles for bling if you want. When it’s dried, you’ll have an adorable little tree that looks like it was really hard to make- but it’s totally not!
• Make turkey wraps, but use a spinach tortilla (for the green). Cut into bite sizes, and stack them up aesthetically to look like a tree! You can use toothpicks to help put on a cheese star and cherry tomato ornaments!
• If you’re baking a casserole or pasta dish, add a top layer of cheese and then make a little tree with sliced peppers to create a very simple and healthy Christmas tree adornment!
• If you have a tree-shaped dish, a world of opportunities open up! Spinach-artichoke dip, green spaghetti (colored with spinach), green jello, even a pile of green veggies!
• Add a little green food coloring to your waffle mix. Once they are cooked, cut into triangles (or just use the separated quarters if your waffle machine does that). Lay the triangles in a layered stack to create a waffle tree! Mini M&M’s would make colorful ornaments, but berries would also be cute and be a healthier option.
• These breadsticks look so tasty- and absolutely festive!

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Really, you can make a tree with so many things you are serving- brownies, a meat and cheese board, pull-apart bread, cookies, etc. It just takes a few extra minutes to arrange them- but it’s well worth the price to see the joy in children’s (and adult’s!) eyes. It’s never been so easy to create a little extra Christmas magic!

    Camille Hoffmann
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! camille@dvo.com