This year, for our Christmas dinner, we decided to go with a theme of appetizers, so our entire dinner was made up of little bites of yumminess.
The first course was a fancy salsa, served with tortilla chips. I got this recipe from a friend of mine, whose mom focuses on making healthy meals for her family, and my family loved it. It's easy and versatile, so feel free to mix in any other things you think sound good.
Fancy Salsa
2 jars salsa, whatever spiciness you like
1 can sweet corn, not creamed
1 can black beans, rinsed
2 chopped avocados
2 tsp lime juice
salt and pepper, to taste
Optional: chopped cilantro, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, anything else your heart desires
Tortilla chips, to serve
Mix together the salsa, sweet corn, and black beans. Add the chopped avocados, lime juice, and salt and pepper just before serving. Dish into a big bowl with plenty of chips and enjoy!
Next up, we had some basic bruschetta. I used a recipe on the Pioneer Woman's blog, and it was very good.
Basic Bruschetta
1/2 baguette or another crusty french bread, sliced
6 TB butter
3 medium tomatoes
1 TB basalmic vinegar
10 basil leaves
1 TB olive oil
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
First, heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and add the garlic, frying until lightly goldened. Set aside to cool.
Dice the tomatoes and stir in the basalmic. Chiffonade the basil leaves (just chop them up to manageable pieces) and add to the tomatoes. Stir in the garlic and the oil from the skillet, and add salt and pepper till it tastes right to you. Cover and let sit at least an hour for all the flavors to come through.
Heat a griddle over medium high heat and melt the butter on it. Toast the bread on both sides until golden. Top with a little of the tomato mixture and eat up!
The next course I served was a basic shrimp cocktail. I'll admit I didn't have to do any of the cooking on this one, as I just picked it up from the grocery store on a whim, but it was pretty good and fun to eat.
Following that, the sweet and sour meatballs were ready. I've never made meatballs before, but when we started planning our dinner my parents thought these would be a wonderful addition to the meal. My mom found the recipe on Allrecipes.com and I was glad she did!
Sweet and Sour Cocktail Meatballs
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup minced onion
2 slices bread, crusts removed and soaked in water
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz. canned jelled cranberry sauce
3/4 cup chili sauce
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 TB brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 350. Stir together the ground beef, onion, bread, and egg, mixing well till no chunks of bread remain. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, stir together the cranberry sauce, chili sauce, lemon juice, and brown sugar in a crockpot over low heat. When the meatballs are done, add them to the sauce and stir to coat well. Heat, covered, for about an hour. Yum.
After the meatballs, what came out of our oven was stuffed mushrooms. I found this recipe on the Pioneer Woman site as well, though after years of my mom's stuffed mushrooms, I didn't like this recipe quite as much as hers. Of course, it might have been because we were all getting pretty full at this point.
Stuffed Mushrooms (I halved the original recipe, so that's why the amounts of everything are strange)
12 oz. button mushrooms, rinsed
3 oz. sweet Italian sausage
1/4 medium yellow onion, chopped finely
2 cloves minced garlic
3 TB dry white wine
2/3 package cream cheese
1/2 egg yolk (good luck with that.)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
Pop the stems out of the clean mushrooms, reserving both parts. Finely chop the stems and set aside.
Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the sausage. Brown and crumble it, then spoon it onto a plate to cool. Don't clean the skillet.
Add the onion and garlic, and cook for a couple minutes over medium low heat. Add the wine and allow to cook until evaporated, another couple minutes. Add the mushrooms stems and cook until soft. Set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with the egg yolk and the parmesan until creamy. Add the sausage and mushroom-onion mixture, stirring until combined. Place in the fridge to cool for a few minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350. Spoon a little of the cream cheese mixture into the open cavity of the mushroom, overfilling it so you get as much cheesy goodness as possible in each bite!
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top turns golden. Allow to cool a few minutes, otherwise your guests will burn their mouths on the deliciousness.
The next recipe isn't much of a recipe, just a fun appetizer that spices up any party, combining some of the most amazing ingredients into one fun bite.
Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalepeños Wrapped in Bacon (literally and linguistically, a mouthful)
makes 16 bites, enough for about 5 people
8 jalepeños
8 strips bacon
1 package cream cheese
First, because you'll be working with hot peppers, it's a good idea to wear gloves and make sure you don't rub your eyes during or after this procedure. Pretty painful experience.
Cut the stems off the jalepeños and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove and discard the seeds and membrane carefully. Cut the strips of bacon in half.
Spoon cream cheese into the open cavity of each jalepeño, getting them nice and full. You might not use all the cream cheese. Wrap a half-slice of bacon around each filled jalepeno, covering the cream cheese so it doesn't melt out in the oven.
Place in a baking dish, and preheat the oven to 350. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the bacon is crispy. If you did a good job removing the seeds, these will provide a punch of flavor to your party without killing your guests!
Finally, for the dessert course, we kept it simple and classic with chocolate dipped strawberries. These were fun to make with my mom, and so good fresh!
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
1 carton strawberries, rinsed well
1/2 package semi sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp shortening
Rinse and dry the strawberries well, pushing back the stems so they don't get in the chocolate later. Melt the chocolate chips and the shortening in the microwave, stirring every 30-45 seconds until smooth.
Dip the strawberries in the chocolate and set on a plate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until hardened. When you eat them, savor the moment. Nothing says living in the lap of luxury like chocolate covered strawberries!
Well, you have probably stopped reading this post by now. If you haven't, I'd like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas, and good eating! To a wonderful and blessed 2013.
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