Appetizer Recipe Ideas???

I bought little mini phyllo cups at the grocery store - about $1.75 for 15 and filled them with pumpkin cheesecake mousse for Thanksgiving. They were beautiful, cheap, and easy. Very impressive presentation. I am thinking they would be great with savory fillings. Cream cheese and herb sprinkled with chives. Spinach artichoke dip with a little parmesan on top. You could do mini apple pies bites, by puting a dollop of pie filling with whip cream on top. One tip - they are supposed to be light, airy, and crunchy. Wet filling will make them soggy. So fill just before serving.

Artichoke and Spinach Swirls
• 1 package(s) (17.3 ounces) Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
• 1/2 cup(s) mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon(s) onion powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground black pepper
• 1 package(s) (10-ounce) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
• 1 can(s) (14-ounce) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
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Directions
1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Stir the mayonnaise, cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, spinach and artichoke hearts in a medium bowl.
2. Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Spread half the spinach mixture on the pastry to within 1 inch of the edge. Roll up like a jelly roll. Press the seam to seal. Repeat with the remaining pastry sheet.
3. Cut each roll into 20 (1/2-inch) slices, making 40 in all. Place the slices, cut-side down, onto 3 baking sheets.
4. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheet and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

These are usually a big hit! I make two - people always want to munch late night too :-) haha Merry Christmas

Cheesy Sausage Biscuit Balls

This is my friend's recipe. Here is the link to her blog. They are AWESOME!
I'll be making them for our family Christmas morning.

http://www.kentuckipino.com/2009/12/christmas-recipes-sau...

sausage rolls...
pepperoni in croissont dough (very yummy & a huge hit)
devilled eggs
meat/ cheese/ pickle platters w crackers
spinach pie
mini quiches

if you want recipes, let me know... I love cooking!

Warm Cranberry Appetizer

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup apricot preserves
2 bricks cream cheese
1 tsp. lemon juice
Crackers (we use ritz or honey/almond/pecan flavored wheat thin type crackers)

Bring water and sugar to boil without stirring, boil for 5 min. Add in cranberries and cook until they pop, about 10 mins. Remove from heat. Add in apricot preserves and lemon juice.

Poor over brick of cream cheese and serve with crackers, either warm or cold. Way Yummy!

An easy one that looks like Chirstmas (red & green) and tastes yummy too...

Slice up a cucumber. Put a little cheese on it (I like Rondele cheese... the garlic one) and half of a cherry tomato on top. I love it!

Whatever you decide, have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

I take crescent rolls, and roll the dough out and push the little holes together so that it is one long piece. Spread soften cream cheese on the dough, sprinkle with crumbled cooked bacon, roll and slice into pinwheels. Bake at 350 until golden. They are delious and so easy.

M.

Queso and chips.. In a crock pot place a 1lb cubed Ameican cheese and 1 can Rotel tomatoes.. Stir until melted.. (I usually melt it in the microwave and then pout it into the crock pot to keep it warm..

Even people that do not like feta.. End up liking this cheese ball.

Feta Cheese Ball

INGREDIENTS:

2 -8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
6 oz sundried tomato and basil feta cheese
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 green onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dill weed
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup Chopped pecans
1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

In large bowl mix all ingredients well. Form into ball, roll over chopped nuts or press nuts to cover ball. Cover and chill for at least two hours before serving. This will make one really large cheese ball or 2 really nice sized cheese balls.

I found the feta cheese in the deli section of HEB with their other packaged feta cheeses.

mmmm i love appetizers! i would take them over a real meal anyday! we do appetizers on chirstmas eve. I make crab ragoon and mini quiches which are both real easy. ragoon: 1 pk cream cheese, 2 tb sliced green onion, 1 tb soy sauce, 1 can crab. mix in food processor that add a tb to a eggroll wrapper spread and fold continue with rest of mix then fry. mini quiches" take 3 eggs and mix with 1 cup mix, 1 cup spinach, 1 cup cheese, (you can also add bacon or salmon is good too!) 1 tb onion pwder and 1 tb salt. take premade pie dough sheets and tear off pieces and mold them in a mini muffin pan. fill each 3/4 way up with egg mixture bake at 375 till firm

My absolute favorite is: get a wedge of brie cheese, slice it in half side-ways like a layer cake, then generously spread fig jam and walnuts halves in the middle and put the top layer back on. Drop a dollop of fig jam on top and garnish with a few walnut halves. It should look like a slice of white layer cake with orange-ish filling. Serve with crackers or toast rounds (make sure there is a cheese knife handy). It is sooo easy and soo good (I'm so sad I can't make this anymore because of my daughter's nut allergy...)!

I like to make a raw veggie pizza:
cressant rolls unfolded and with a rolling pin roll the dough flat put the dough in the oven until done then let cool spread cream cheese on the cressiant and add anu chopped veggies you llike

an easy one I like to do is get pre-package meatballs or make meat balls, after cooked then I put them in a crock-pot with Heinz Chili Sauce and jar of grape jelly. Make sure the chili sauce and grape jelly has melted together, I stir it up until the jelly is liquidfied.

My recipe binder is about 90% appetizers, we love them :) Some big hits are:
- slice french bread into about 1/2" thick angled slices, brush each slice with olive oil and toast in oven at 450 for 2mins, sprinkle feta/gorgonzola/blue (or similar) cheese on top and toast another 2mins. They fly off the plate!
- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Asparagus-Roll-Ups/Detail.aspx, altho instead of rolling in slices, I just spread squares of bread and top with asparagus or green pepper
- fruit salsa with cinnamon graham crackers
- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mini-Ham-And-Cheese-Rolls/De...
- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bacon-Water-Chestnut-Rolls/D...

Good luck!