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.

My Nuts...

I have now endured three weeks of jokes about my nuts.  No worries, they're just as great as everyone makes them out to be!

Mix yo' nuts!

This is Ina Garten's recipe from how easy is that?  

WARNING: these are highly addictive.  They're slightly spicy, but also sweet.  It all balances out, and for how easy it is, it's totally worth it!

Recipe for Chipotle and Rosemary Roasted Nuts

Coat and place them on a lined baking sheet

The top is post-roasting, the bottom is about to go in the oven.  It's hard to notice when you're whipping these out at 100 miles per hour, but side by side you can tell.

Once they've cooled, spread the love!  everyone loves getting things like this for birthdays/bar mitzvahs/holidays, etc!

Plus, bonus?  No filler peanuts that everyone leaves for last anyway!!

Ready to Go!

Thirsty Thursday: Rosemary-Citrus Champagne Cocktails!

Here's another sneak peak recipe - last one for a while, I swear, I just couldn't wait to test it out!

Ingredients:
6, 4" fresh rosemary sprigs
1 can (12 oz) of frozen citrus blend juice concentrate - like Five Alive.  (really?  I haven't seen that in a while, and there wasn't much comperable at the store, so I just got a margarita mix concentrate)
2 C chilled club soda
1 bottle chilled champagne

How to: place rosemary spriungs and juice concentrate into a bowl and microwave, uncovered, for 7-9 minutes on high to simmer.

Strain out the rosemary and add all ingredients together in a pitcher.  Serve and enjoy!

Cheers!