1. Caprese Skewers
Note: If you love caprese anything (mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil), this is the appetizer for you.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup balsamic vinegar
- cherry or grape tomatoes, slice in half
- mini mozzarella cheese balls (could use regular sized ball, and cut into bite-sized pieces)
- fresh basil leaves
- salt & pepper
- toothpicks
Directions:
- Bring balsamic vinegar to a boil in a saucepan, lower heat to medium and simmer until the consistency starts to look like the thinner version of maple syrup (which should take 10-15 minutes).
- Note: This is called balsamic reduction.
- Pour into a bowl and let it cool down.
- Cut tomatoes in half.
- Thread a small (1/2 inch) mozzarella cheese ball, a basil leaf (fold in half if large) and half of a tomato on a toothpick.
- Sprinkle with salt & pepper, then drizzle cooled balsamic reduction on top.
2. Hot Corn Dip (derived from Gina Marie’s Kitchen, recipe is as follows).
Ingredients:
- 2 cups shredded chedder cheese
- 1 cup shredded Montery Jack
- 2 tbs chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced small
- 1 small can (4oz) diced green chilies, undrained
- 1/2 cup Mayo
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 11oz can of corn, drained
- 1 small tomato
- 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
- 2 tbs green onions, sliced thin
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the cheeses, chiptole and green peppers, mayo, garlic powder and corn together. Pour into an oven safe dish.
- Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly
- Top with diced tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.
3. Greek Avocado Vegetable Dip
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup plain fat-free Chobani Greek yogurt
- 2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- vegetables for dipping
Directions:
- Put the yogurt, avocados, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice in a blender or food processor (or you can put all in a bowl and use an immersion blender).
- Mix until smooth.
- Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Scrape dip into a serving bowl and serve with cut up vegetables.
4. Hot Pizza Dip
Ingredients:
- 1 package cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- sliced pepperoni (chopped) or previously cooked sausage (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
- 1 small can black olives (optional)
- 1 can tomato sauce (like Prego or even better… homemade authentic sauce)
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- chips, sliced baguette or breadsticks for dipping
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix cream cheese and Italian seasoning in a baking pan, then spread it so that it covers the entire bottom of the pan (it doesn’t have to be perfect).
- Combine mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses; sprinkle half over the cream cheese.
- Optional: If you’re adding meat to the dip, add the cut-up sausage or chopped pepperoni.
- Top with the pizza sauce, remaining half of the cheese mixture, green pepper and black olives.
- Put in oven for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese mixture melts.
- Serve with tortilla chips, sliced baguette or breadsticks.
5. Stuffed Mushrooms
Note: You can literally play around with the type of meat you put in this- it could be crabmeat, hot italian sausage or whatever floats your boat.
Ingredients:
- 24 ounces, White Button Mushrooms
- 1/3 pound Hot Pork Sausage or the meat of your choice (chorizo sausage, mild Italian sausage, ground turkey, beef, etc).
- ½ whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
- 1/2 cup fresh chopped spinach (optional)
- 6 scallions, white and green parts, minced
- 4 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
- 1/4 cup red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
- 1/4 cup green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
- 8 ounces, Cream Cheese
- 1 whole Egg Yolk
- ¾ cups Parmesan Cheese, Grated
- 1/3 cup Dry White Wine
- Salt And Pepper (to Taste)
Directions:
- Wipe off or wash mushrooms in cold water. Pop out stems and throw them away.
- Chop mushroom stems finely and set aside.
- Brown and crumble meat into smaller pieces. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- Add onions, peppers, and garlic to the same skillet. Cook for 2 minutes over medium low heat.
- Pour in wine to deglaze pan, allow liquid to evaporate.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Set mixture aside on a plate to cool.
- In a bowl, combine cream cheese and egg yolk. Stir together with Parmesan cheese. Add cooled sausage. Stir mixture together and refrigerate for 5 minutes so the mixture becomes firmer and easier to put in the mushrooms.
- Smear mixture into the cavity of each mushroom, creating a sizable mound over the top.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and scallions.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the mushrooms cool down before serving so people don’t burn their mouths.
6. Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Note: I have a few tips for you while making this. First tip is to wear gloves while handling the jalapenos. Second tip is to make sure you get all of the seeds out of the jalapenos unless you want your mouth to be literally on fire all day.
Ingredients:
- 15 jalapeno poppers (this will make 30 jalapeno poppers)
- 1 package cream cheese
- 1-2 packages bacon (can pick turkey bacon if you’d like, but I personally think the recipe tastes better with regular bacon and I’m a turkey bacon lover).
- toothpicks
- non-stick parchment paper
- cooking sheets
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Get 1-2 cooking sheets, cover them with parchment paper.
- Put on your gloves, cut each jalapeno in half, spoon out the seeds and everything, rinse off the jalapenos to ensure that there are no seeds left over (unless you like your mouth being singed, then leave a few seeds in each one).
- Spoon cream cheese in each jalapeno half.
- Wrap each cream cheese filled jalapeno half with a slice of bacon (depending on the length of the bacon, it might have to be half of a slice of bacon). Hold the bacon wrapped with a toothpick.
- Place jalapeno poppers on cooking sheets, make sure there is at least 1/2- 1 inch space between each popper.
- Cook poppers for 15-20 minutes.
- Let poppers cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. The heat tends to stay in the poppers for at least 10 minutes, so wait before serving.
7. Cold Crab Dip
Note: Ketchup and horseradish sauce together make…. cocktail sauce! Yum.
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg cream cheese
- 1 can crabmeat
- 1/2 cup horseradish sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- wheat thins for dipping
Directions:
- Take out the entire package of cream cheese and place it in the center of a plate.
- Add the crab meat, after you drain it, on top of the cream cheese.
8. Guacamole
Ingredients:
- 2 avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
- 1/2 lime, juiced… or just use 1/2 teaspoon of lime juice.
- A dash of sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 medium onion, diced (you can play around with the amount of diced onions, depending on how much you like onions).
- 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (depending on how much you love garlic).
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional).
- Chips for dipping
Directions:
- Mash everything together in a bowl with a fork (start with avocados first, end with the diced tomatoes). Yummm.
9. Taco Cups
Note: This can be used for a dinner idea as well, depending on how many people you’re making it for and how many taco cups you’re making. Again, you can tweak the recipe to your liking, add or subtract things you normally add to tacos.
Ingredients:
- 2 packages wonton wrappers
- meat of your choice: 1 package ground turkey or ground beef
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 2 cupcake trays or 2 mini muffin tins (this is way easier to eat in one bite as an appetizer than with cupcake trays)
- 1 package shredded Mexican cheese
- 1 large tomato, seeded and diced (optional)
- green onions (optional)
- sour cream
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown the meat in a large skillet.
- Drain the fat
- Add taco seasoning to the meat according to the directions on the package.
- Season the meat with the taco seasoning according to package directions.
- Using a mini muffin tin, line the wells with wonton wrappers, so the wrappers are shaped into little cups inside the wells.
- Fill each wonton wrapper section about half full with taco meat.
- Add the cheese on top.
- Bake for 8 minutes, or until wrappers are slightly turning brown.
- Serve with additional toppings… whatever you like.
- Bam! Approximately around 30 cups of delicious taco cups.
Featured photo credit: Hot Corn Dip/Gina Marie via ginamarieskitchen.files.wordpress.com
