Best Thing I Ever Made - Appetizer

I am sure I have made some fancy appetizers in the past, but I really love this simple appetizer pizza. It is a Cold Vegetable Pizza from the dearly departed Cooking for 2 magazine. This was published by the folks at Taste of Home and I loved it, but as is the case with a lot of magazines it was discontinued. I really suggest you give this a try for your next football party or get together, even Tom liked it!

The Best Thing I Ever Made - Salsa

I love to make salsa, and I make it often. It is the one food that my husband really gets excited about and it could not be easier. My usual recipe is so simple: one can of diced tomatoes, 2 tbs yellow onion, 2 green onions, 1 clove of garlic, whatever chile peppers you like (usually 1-2) a pinch of cumin and salt to taste. Zap the stuff together in the food processor until it is whatever texture you like and you have a great, simple salsa.

When I made the salsa pictured below I thought there was no way Tom would try this, but apparently as long as it has the word 'salsa' in the name he is willing. He ate almost all of this in a very short amount of time. I would definitely call it a hit. In fact as I was typing this he saw the picture and said, I loved that!!



Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

* 1-2/3 cups frozen corn, thawed
* 2 cans (2-1/4 ounces each) sliced ripe olives, drained
* 1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 5 garlic cloves, minced
* 1/3 cup olive oil
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon pepper
* 4 medium ripe avocado, peeled
* Tortilla chips


Directions

* In a large bowl, combine corn, olives, red pepper and onion. In a small bowl, combine garlic, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper; mix well. Pour over corn mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight. * Just before serving, chop avocados and stir into salsa. Serve with tortilla chips. Yield: about 7 cups.

Do you make your own salsa?

Toffee Peanuts

With the 4th of July coming up you may have some folks coming over for a BBQ or "cook out" as we called it growing up. This is a fun snack to put out while everyone waits for their dogs and burgers. The recipe is from Taste of Home and I cut it in half.

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted
* 2 tablespoons corn syrup
* 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 2 cups unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add peanuts; toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.
Bake at 300° for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown, stirring once. Cool on a wire rack; break apart if necessary. Store in an airtight container.




Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and lets get our ingredients. You need some peanuts, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, white sugar, butter and corn syrup.




Melt up the butter.




Get it in a bowl with the rest of the spices and sugars.




Stir in the peanuts.




Pour them out on to a baking sheet lined with non stick foil or grease it however you prefer. Put them in the oven for 20-25 minutes and give them a stir if you remember. I didn't and they turned out fine.




You can't imagine how good this smelled! Let it cool and then break it up and pop it into the fridge until its time to serve.




I will admit that these got served to just me, but not all in one sitting, I swear.

Sweet Potato Dip

With Memorial Day weekend coming up you may be having friends and family over. This is a nice appetizer to serve that I had never heard of before.








The dip is sort of like hummus but with a sweet twist. I can't say enough how much I love sweet and savory food, so I was excited about this.




You need some tahini, sweet potatoes, onion, carrot, water, cumin and curry.




I made the sweet potatoes in my Ziploc steam bag, I totally love these things. Steam them, give them a quick peel and chop, and they are ready to go.




If you are not using the steam bag, get your sweet potatoes in some water and chop up the onion and carrot.




Get the onions and carrots in a pan with 1/2 a cup of water. Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.




While those cook measure out your cumin and curry.




When the onions and carrots were almost done, I steamed up my sweet potatoes and cubed them up.




When your veggies are nearly cooked get the potatoes, cumin, curry, some salt and the tahini in a food processor.




Give those a whirl until they are combined.




After those are mixed, add in the onions and carrot and give that a whirl. Toast up some pitas and you are ready to serve.




I garnished with some cinnamon and served it warm. It was a tasty appetizer and something a little different and colorful to put out for your friends and family.

Pigs In a Blanket

Here is another recipe with the store bought crescent rolls and the hubby actually ate this one! Perhaps it is the familiarity of the tube that makes the stuff I make with it seem safe, who knows?

The recipe comes from an Ainsley Harriot cookbook.







Preheat your oven and lets get started.




You need some breakfast sausages.




Get them in a pan with a little oil and brown them up, meanwhile grab your other ingredients.




Reduced fat crescent rolls.




One egg. (if the hubby knew this was involved he would have never agreed to eat it, but he was outside when I was cooking. What he doesn't know...)




Dijon mustard.




Keep an eye on the pigs...




grab your dipping sauce ingredients, doesn't get much easier than that!

Remove your sausages and pop them in the freezer to cool them fast, or just leave them out if you have patience. They need to be cooled before you can proceed. trust me. hot sausage and crescent roll dough do NOT mix.




Spread out your crescents into the preformed triangles and spread with dijon.




Roll up the sausage into a nice cocoon.




Use a brush to coat the roll in the beaten egg...








make sure all the doughy parts get covered. Once they are egged, get them in the oven.




To make the sauce you just add the horseradish to the ketchup...




and give it a stir. so easy!








These are so delicious and would also work great at breakfast time. The sauce has a nice kick and the dijon in the 'blanket' adds a nice complexity.

Cold Vegetable Pizza from Cooking For 2 Magazine

I know a lot of people try and guess which of the meals the hubby might have actually ate or tried. This is one of the ones he tried and said that the next time I made it he would have some!




I have been making a couple of things with those refrigerator crescent rolls lately so I will feature those this week. I think that Sandra Lee from the food network is a tad wacky but she does have a pretty good message, use some of the convenience items from the store. SOME. I will come to your house and smack your hand if you buy that pre-minced garlic nonsense in the jar or, god forbid, those plastic citrus shaped juice dispensers. Ok, enough ranting, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.




I was excited to find they have a reduced fat version of these since I had a few recipes to try with them.




spread it out on a cookie sheet and use your fingers to squish together all the perforations and to make a little crust around the edge. pop it in the oven and lets prep the rest of the ingredients.




grab some cream cheese and mayo, and whatever vegetable toppings you want. This is a great way to use up leftover veggies.




I chopped up black olive, red pepper and green onions.




get your dough out of the oven and on to a cooling rack. I overcooked my dough a little so keep an eye on yours!




You really can't go wrong with something that has cream cheese and mayo smeared all over it.




Get the cream cheese and mayo in a bowl with some dill.




If you actually wait for your cream cheese to soften and cool this step is a lot easier, but I have no patience for something like that!




spread the mixture on the dough.




sprinkle it with a little bit of cheesy goodness.




spread your toppings on and then say good bye for a while...




Goodbye!! (yes I rant and rave about YOU guys not using plastic butter, but do you think I can get the hubby to listen?? no way. plastic butter right next to a can of plastic nacho cheese.)




After it has chilled you are ready to eat!!




This would make a delicious appetizer as well, just cut it into nice bite sized triangles. I loved this and so did the hubby, so give it a try!