I need help. I have to bring an appetizer that needs minimal heating to a party tomorrow. I used to bring Reuben dip but everyone has seen that one a zillion times. None of the other recipes in my myriad books seem to fit the criteria that isn’t along the lines of the same, lame seven layered dip variety.
Put your suggestions down below. Unusual is better. Nothing like marinated seafood. (been there, done that). This crowd had very jaded tastes.
Ok, go!
Filed under: General | Tagged: appetizer, emergency, recipe |
The Confluence 
Basic stuff – ham rolls. Thin sliced boiled ham, sprad with cream cheese and scallions rolled up. Cut into small bite sized pieces. Can also use things like red peppers rolled up as well.
I’ve seen this done with pickled asparagus and it was great.
I’ll see if I can find the fried squirrel recipe I got from Mike.
Cut ’em up and it’s better than chicken wings.
Goat Cheese Tartlets & Chutney
That’s authentic yuppie chow
Smoked salmon, cream cheese & mini toated bagels. No cooking (except for toating the mini bagels, but that doesn’t count) & I could eat that all day long.
If you can find ripe persimmons (the round Fuyu variety, not the mushy acxron-shaped variety) slice them up and spritz (sp?) them with just a drop or two of lime juice. Stick a toothpick in it and it’s done. I used to add some crushed pistachios, but that was too much like work.
make that “ACORN-shaped”
When in a bind we bring these “Gourmet Wraps” from Nob Hill/Raley’s deli, they always go over well. The pic is almost at the bottom of the page.
http://www.raleys.com/cfapps/orders/itemlist.cfm?typeid=1275325
“Freshly made wraps with garlic & herb cream cheese, fresh spinach, artichokes, olives, cheese and Virginia ham, turkey breast and roast beef. Vegetarian option available.”
yum 🙂
HNY
Here is an easy dip recipe that usually is quickly devoured by my daughter and son-in-law’s certified intellectual DC attorney and government bureaucrat friends. This is really good with beer. But I’ve seen plenty of wine connoisseurs gobble this up too.
Cheesy Pretzel Dip
1 jar Kraft Old English Cheese (usually found close to Velveeta)
8 oz. room temperature cream cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
Mix ingredients together at least 1 hour before serving. I use the whisk attachment on the electric beater to soften cream cheese then add Old English cheese. Don’t beat too vigorously or the emulsion breaks and the dip becomes too thin.
Cut Laugen broetchen (pretzel buns) or Laugen pretzel into wedges to use as dippers.
http://www.us-oktoberfest.com/catalog.php
oh yeah deviled eggs. Recipe on youtube
You could try bruschutta – I don’t measure these ingredients usually, but I think it would be about like this:
Dice about 8 – 10 roma tomatoes (remove seeds)
1 small Shallot finely minced – I’ve used green onions in a pinch
1-2 cloves of garlic pressed
1/2 (generous) tsp basalmic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil sliced thin
Then I just thinly slice baguette and toast with a brushing of olive oil. You can press a bit of garlic
into the olive oil too before brushing it on the bread. Serve the bruschetta on the side.
If you want to be fancy, you can mix some crumbled blue cheese or feta into the tomatoes and/or a little red pepper flake or slice greek olives.
I really just add cheese or olives based on what I have around and no matter what way I make it, it is gone right away.
English cucumbers sliced, a dab of goat cheese, and sun dried tomatoes on top.
YUM
Easy and tasty!
I have a GREAT grab cake recipe that can be served room temperature – it’s by the Barefoot Contessa –
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/crab-cakes-recipe/index.html
Very, very good. I usually skip the red peppers (allergies)
Knorr’s Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip looks pretty easy to make and sounds tasty too. I’m fixing this tonight.
MAKES 4 cups dip
PREP TIME: 10 Minute(s)
COOK TIME: 35 Minute(s)
INGREDIENTS
1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup Hellmann’s® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (about 6 oz.)
1 package Knorr® Vegetable recipe mix
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine all ingredients except 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Spoon into a 2-quart casserole, then top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
Bake for 35 minutes or until dip is hot. Dip, dip hooray!
http://www.us.knorr.com/Recipes/7353/1/Hot-Spinach-amp-Artichoke-Dip.aspx
Not “classy”, but always popular layered dip:
Softened cream cheese spread in bottom of glass dish
spread 1 can chili con carne on top of cream cheese
spread small can roasted diced green chilis
cover with cheddar
you can add diced tomatoes, green onions or sliced black olives on top.
heat until cheese is melted and bubbling – microwave is fine and you can take this to the party warm. You don’t have to heat it there if the drive isn’t long but it does take less than 5 mins in the microwave, so you don’t take over the kitchen.
Oh, and serve with tortilla chips.
All goOd ideas. Keep em coming. I’ll pass them by BFF
Check out Cooking Lights’ recipes.
http://cookinglight.chtah.com/a/hBNG1yFBASRmwB8W0SbDe03Ucqa/cl19-10
From my health website, Many Years Young
http://www.manyyearsyoung.com/
Cold Crab Spread
Crab Meat – Fresh or Pollock
Chopped celery (thin)
Chopped red onion (thin)
1//2 bottle of Ranch Dressing
Mix all, chill, serve with toasted french bread slices.
This friend of mine once brought this to the newspaper I used to work for — damn fab & ultra easy…
She made a ball of cream cheese, dumped a bunch of caviar on top, decorated with scallions — and surrounded the whole thing with Wheat Thins.
It was one of those things that disappeared in two seconds… xxoo!
Happy New Year to THE CONFLUENCE!
ps: don’t miss this one, for the stats alone…
http://www.alternet.org/world/149324/america_in_decline%3A_why_germans_think_we%27re_insane/
&
An olive and a piece of feta cheese poked through with a cocktail stick.
A spicy-sweet shrimp with a piece of lime juice soaked pineapple poked through with a cocktail stick.
I love cocktail sticks…. and this useless info is brought to you by me. You’re very welcome.
And Happy New Year, TC. Thanks for being there.
This always goes fast when I make it – you can put it in mushroom caps, bread bowls as a dip, on little toasts, etc.
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sweet butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts
1 garlic clove minced
5 oz frozen spinach – (squeezed dry)
1 ounce crumbled feta cheese
1 ounce shredded Gruyere cheese
2 tablesppons fresh minced dill
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1. Saute onions with butter and olive oil until transparent.
2. Add walnuts and garlic and cook for one minute
3. Add in Spinach and cook for five minutes.
4. Stir in cheese, salt and pepper and dill.
Stuff mushrooms or Filo cups or bread bowl with filling or put on small toasts and baked in oven for 8-10 minutes at 400 F. If you use a casserole dish to place item in they will stay warm for awhile on your way to the party.
Easy Elegant Cheese Spread:
Soften 8 oz cream cheese and 4 oz. goat cheese to room temp. Mix together and spread on a serving plate. Then spread a small jar of lemon curd evenly over the top of the cheese. Sprinkle with 1/3 c. chopped pistachios. Serve with crackers, pita wedges or flat bread.
tzatziki-can get the recipe on foodnetwork or epicurious.com- and pita chips
You will need Greek yougurt like Fage, sour cream, onion, garlic, lemon and fresh dill.
Reese’s peanut butter cups with toothpicks in them, as seen on TV.
YUM…lol
The only thing we’re making is Hillshire Farms Lil’ Weiners wrapped with Pillsbury crescent rolls.
Get a log of goat cheese and some dried cranberries and some shelled pistachios. Do a rough chop of the cranberries and the pistachos. Then roll the goat cheese log in them and press lightly so they stick to the top. Serve with some crackers.
From Noble Pig’s website.
You can get durections and see pictures here:
http://morethymethandough.com/more-trivia-and-fun-facts
That sounds really good!
Take slice of Lebanon bologne and spread with cream cheese. Lay one or two sweet guerkin pickles across and roll up. Can be cut into small sections for spearing with a tooth pick.
Lorna
Take slice of Lebanon bologna and spread with cream cheese. Lay one or two sweet gherkin pickles across and roll up. Can be cut into small sections for spearing with a tooth pick.
Lorna
Sometimes making something usual but in a spectacular way is good. How did people make onion dip before Lipton made soup mix? They thin sliced onions and slowly cooked them in butter and olive oil until they were golden brown and caramelized, added a little cayenne for zip, and mixed them, butter and all, into a mixture of cream cheese, mayo and sour cream. Nothing like what comes out of that crappy envelope. Make your own potato chips to go with it, and you’ll be queen of the party.
This is my favorite so far. I started drooling like one of Pavlov’s dogs just thinking about it.
That would go excellent on a sub sandwich too.
This is simple and it will blow the fussy stuff out of the water as far as people liking it. Take a block of cream cheese. Put it in the middle of a brightly colored plate, dump a jar of your favorite cocktail sauce over it, dump some tiny shrimp on top of that, put out a basket of really good crackers or bread to serve it on. I have never had any of this left over.
I don’t know what you would call this but I make grilled cheese with mozzarella cheese and any old bread I have around, but you could use Italian sliced fairly thinly, you grill the sandwich then cut in to slices or squares. While grilling, in addition to butter add Italian spices to taste ( I use onion, garlic, Italian spice and a tiny bit if ground pepper) to the grill. Then just use your favorite pasta sauce for dipping.
It’s a heart attack on a plate, but it’s delicious.
Oooh, I bet I ‘m gonna hear my arteries clogging up as I chew and swallow.
I’m thinking you should get some sliced french and sliced sourdough and do 50/50 or mixed, with both marinara and pesto sauces.
yum
Buy pepper jelly at the grocery store and pour it over a block of cream cheese. Serve with crackers.
Another huge hit has been corn dip. You use a can of corn drained, a small can of olives drained, a small can of green chilies drained, one jalapeño seeded and chopped, 1 c. Monterey jack cheese shredded, 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese and 1. c. mayo. stir together and bake for 30 minutes at 350. serve with tortilla chips.
And the story behind the Kwanzaa cake: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/the-woman-behind-the-infamous-kwanzaa-cake-its-not-sandra-lee-2429955
armadillo eggs (these might ot meet you minimal heating criteria, but they are really good)
jalapenos (cut in half, seeds removed, scrubbed – makes them less hot)
cream cheese
cheddar cheese
garlic powder
onion sal t
worchestershire
tiny shrinp (or chopped)
bacon
toothpicks
misx together cream cheese, cheddar cheese, shrimp and seasonings. fill one half jalapeno with mix. put the other half on top and wrap with a bacon slice. hhold together with a toothpick. grill or bake until the bacon is crisp.
If you like spicy, these are really good. The filling kind of tones down the peppers We usually cook these on the grill outdoors, but we are not afraid to grill in the snow either.