Two Easy Apps

Here are two quick appetizer ideas that I worked with for our last party...

1. Hummus served on bell peppers.

I used both plain and sun dried tomato hummus, and piped them onto chopped pepper pieces.

Great for presentation and made my buffet line move quickly since people could just grab and go.

2. Beeting Heart Skewers

This was nice because it was easy to make and I love using beets for the color they give.

Ingredients:
8 oz fresh goat cheese, at room temperature
2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
8 oz baby beets, peeled and steamed, divided into 36 pieces
14 oz whole hearts of palm
36, 4" skewers

Directions:
1. Mix together the cheese, rosemary, and pepper.  Roll into 36 balls, approximately 3/4" big
2. Place goat cheese, beet piece, and heart of palm on each skewer
3. Arrange/serve as desired.

Queso Fundido

Hey, everyone!  Sorry for the short break.  It's been crazy hectic and I hadn't had a chance to get my photos off my phone to start posting again.  Completely lame?  For sure!  But now I'm back and I'm ready to swing into that holiday season with all of you.  First off, a dish I made for Labor day that got lost in the shuffle, some how...  :)

I love queso fundido!  There's something about the creamy deliciousness that I can't ignore.  Just the right amount of meat and cheese and tortilla.  If someone is having a Mexican get together, it's my go to for sure.

Ingredients (I doubled these for my dish):

1/2 lb chorizo

1/4 onion, diced

1 bell pepper (or hot pepper, depending on your preference), diced

2 C of cheese (I like a nice white cheese, but anything that melts well works fine)

12 small corn (or flour) tortillas, warmed

Directions:

1. Saute your onion until translucent, add pepper.

2. Once cooked, add the chorizo.

3. Cook all, drain off the excess oil. 

* The problem with chorizo is it doesn't really every change color or consistency.  Just give it a good 10+ minutes.  Use your best judgement. *

4. Press meat mixture into a lightly greased 8x8 dish.

5. Top with cheese

6. Bake at 350 until melted and bubbly
7. Spoon into warmed tortillas and enjoy.  ( I didn't get a final picture because it was devoured too quickly.  Sorry!!)

Also, I prepped this the day before and did the final baking the day of.  My "final" picture below is what I covered and saved for the cookout the next day.  Much easier that way then trying to reheat this dish after it's been baked.  It's best served immediately.

Honey Pepper Bacon Pops

Everyone loves bacon, right?  Every time I host a party, anything wrapped in bacon tends to be my biggest hit.  Even the bigger flops are easily ignored when there's bacon involved.  It's like the magical cure-all at a party.

Even more so when it's just bacon.  ON A STICK.

That's right, kids.  Who needs cake pops when you can have honey pepper bacon pops?!

Ingredients:
24 mini-skewers (about 4", but bigger than a toothpick)
1/2 C honey
1 T soy sauce
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
16 oz thick cut bacon (cut in half)

Directions:
1. Take pre-cut bacon and lay on a lined broiler sheet.
2. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.
3. While that is cooking, combine honey, soy sauce, five spice, and pepper until smooth and thin.
4. Remove bacon from oven, and skewer the bacon.  Brush both sides of the skewer with the honey  mixture.
5. Bake for 5 more minutes, until nicely crisp.  Remove and serve warm.

Don't mind the darkest edges.  We reheat them in the oven a bit too long.  Still tasted great, though!