Quinoa Kale Bites Appetizer

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One of our favorite things about the holidays is reconnecting with friends. Recently we had a couple of friends over for dinner where we served these appetizer bites. They were a huge hit and are so tasty!
We made them about 2-3 inches in diameter and got about 10-12 bites. We topped them with tzatziki sauce and a fresh tomato salsa on the others. They were the perfect vehicle for the toppings.

Both Quinoa and kale are superfoods and they are packed with nutrients. Our guest gobbled them up.

Tortellini Skewers with Pesto Dipping Sauce

Here is a really delicious and fast appetizer that you can make way before your guests arrive! I found this idea online and put my own spin on it but you can throw whatever you have on hand on these skewers.

If you're using them for an appetizer before a main course I would stick to 2 skewers per person. You can also use these on a buffet table, in which case I would allow more than 2 per person. These would be great for a kid's birthday, holiday party, or pot luck.

The skewers were so good and the combination of the tortellini, tomato, and pesto made it like a fun pasta salad on a stick. The only thing I would add is a spoon to the dip. That way people can spoon the pesto over the skewers instead of double dipping.

Chili-Lime Shrimp Cups

We love entertaining guests here at the William's home. Just cooking something wonderful and making it special is right up our alley. We love our friends dearly and we get so much pleasure from making them feel welcomed and special in our home.

We also love entertaining because The Other Williams gets to cook for someone other than me for a change! It also gives me the opportunity to light candles, bring out the good napkins and fold them in special ways, and play with the visual appeal of whatever marvelous thing The Other Williams cooks up!

However, yours truly made these little darlings all by herself! That's right, it's that easy!

Recently we had friends over and served these cute cups for an appetizer. I love a good appetizer recipe! It gives our guests a moment to come in, sit down, and hang out before we move into the dining room. They are so casual and fun.

These would be great for a Cinco de Mayo party, tailgating, or picnicking. You could use them as appetizers or as a side dish to a main course. Regardless of how you plan to use them they will be a hit! Just two bites and your guests will be hooked!

Picnic Menu - Italian Compressed Sandwich

For The Other Williams' birthday she requested a trip to Atlanta to visit the High Museum of Art's current exhibit "Picaso to Warhol". The weather couldn't have been more lovely for a picnic so I decided to surprise her with one. We were traveling a bit to get there so I needed something pretty sturdy and this menu did the trick!

I love fun food on picnic's and anything on a stick is fun! I skewered organic grapes onto a bamboo skewer. I also did a caprese salad on a stick by layering small mozzarella balls, grape tomatoes, and basil leaves onto a skewer. I brought along a small container of balsamic vinegar for our dipping pleasure.

The Italian compressed sandwich was amazing and burst with flavor from the pesto, meats, and smoky cheese! This sandwich should be made a day a head but 6-8 hours ahead would be fine also.

The picnic was a hit and the weather was gorgeous as we relaxed in Centennial Park while people watching. We hit the art museum will tummies filled with love! The exhibit was awesome and we made plans to return before summer's heat turned Atlanta into Hotlanta!

Marinated Tomato Salad with Sesame-Crusted Goat Cheese

Our new thing seems to be all things Asian. We recently purchased the book Simply Ming: Easy Techniques for East-Meets-West Meals. This was the first recipe we prepared from it and if this is any indication of how the rest of the book will turn out, I'm excited!

Again, we're following the same theme as the last post with fresh, local tomatoes being the stars of the dish. This makes a great side, light lunch, dinner or even an appetizer. If you can get your hands on heirloom tomatoes, all the better. We used Cherokee Purples and Brandy Wine yellows.

The fresh, local goat cheese is cut into rounds, coated in sesame seeds, and pan fried. It tops off this dish beautifully and the crunchy, nutty sesame crust melts into the creamy, smooth cheese inside.

The book recommends using a thin-bladed knife warmed under hot water then dried to cut the cheese log. We put the rounds in the freezer before frying so it kept it's shape better.


Give this easy but delicious recipe a try, then come back and tell me how delicious it was!

Smoky Hawian Pork Slider

As part of our New Years Eve sliders we came up with our own recipe for the pork slider. Burgers are such a great canvas to experiment with flavor combination so allow yourself some room in all these recipes to play around with what sounds good to you.

We wanted to try to get sweet, spicy, and salty in this burger and it worked out pretty fabulously. This recipe is for the sliders which were 1/8 of a pound each of meat, adjust the recipe up as needed.

Herbed Goat Cheese Cherry Tomato

This recipe is so easy yet it packs a huge flavor and presentational punch. Great for party's, football games, or just to munch on. We also grabbed some yummy peppers from the olive station and stuffed those with the same mixture.

Goat Cheese (softened)
Dried Thyme
Dried Basil
Cherry Tomatoes
Green onion or chives for topping


Cut the tops off the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds and center. Mix the goat cheese and herbs together. Pipe, with a piping bag or use a sandwich bag and cut the corner off, the goat cheese into the tomatoes. Top with green onion or chive and add the top back on.

Holiday Party Series: Brown Sugar-Bacon Wrapped Weenies

The Other Williams' mom told us about this recipe and people, including my 10 yr old nephew, couldn't stay out of them. They were sweet but not too sweet and very good!

• 2 packages beef cocktail weenies
• 1 pound good bacon
• 1 pound brown sugar
• tooth picks

1. Cut bacon and wrap around the cocktail weenies. One strip of bacon should wrap three weenies. Place a toothpick through to hold the bacon on.
2. Place all the bacon-wrapped weenies into a crock-pot and layer in brown sugar.
3. Cook for 4-5 hours on high
4. Skim off fat from the top and remove weenies.
5. Optional: for a thicker sauce pour sauce into a sauce pan and reduce. Serve hot.

Holiday Party Series: Swiss and Ham Bites

We've done this recipe several times and it's always a hit! Kids, adults, picky eaters all will love this one. We always come home with an empty tray.

Pastry Ingredients:

• 1 (17 1/4-oz) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tbsp water

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 cup (4oz) Swiss Cheese, shredded
• 1 cup deli ham (Black Forest) finely chopped
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 tsp dijon-style mustard
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions.

1. Heat oven 400 F. Unfold pastry sheets. Using a pastry cutter or knife, cut each sheet into 1 1/2-inch squares. Place on baking sheets.
2. In small bowl combine egg and water. Brush tops of pastry squares. Bake for 9-13 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Cool Completely.
3. In medium bowl combine all filling ingredients. With a small serrated knife, split each square horizontally. Fill with about 1 tsp of filling mixture.

Makes 72 appetizers.

Holiday Party Series: Rosemary Roasted Cashews

These was a great little snack that we spread over the coffee tables for people to munch on as they sat and chatted. The rosemary is intense but really delicious!

Ingredients
* 1 1/4 pounds cashew nuts
* 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
* 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the nuts on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 5-7 minutes until they are warmed through. Meanwhile, combine the rosemary, pepper, sugar, salt and butter in a large bowl. Toss the warm nuts with the rosemary mixture until the nuts are completely coated. Serve warm.

Holiday Pary Series: Crab Dip

This crab dip was a huge hit at our party. We used lumped crab in a can and delicious shredded cheese. Another make-ahead recipe that will have you joining the party instead of in the kitchen!

Prep Time: 25 Min
Ready In: 25 Min

Yield 4 cups

Ingredients

* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
* 1/2 cup chopped celery
* 3 green onions, chopped
* 4 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1/2 pound imitation crabmeat, chopped
* 5 drops hot pepper sauce

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, blend the cream cheese and sour cream. Mix in the celery, green onions, lemon juice, Cheddar cheese, imitation crab and hot pepper sauce. Serve chilled.

Holiday Party Series: Pimento Cheese & Bacon Crostini

Kicking off our Holiday Party Series with this delicious and easy to prepare Pimento Cheese & Bacon Crostini's. They were a hit at our party this weekend. Just about everything can be prepped ahead of time and it's easy to assemble before a party. Enjoy!

TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN Plus 2 hr chilling
SERVINGS: Makes 3 cups or 40 crostini

Ingredients

1. 2 1/2 cups shredded extra-sharp white cheddar cheese
2. 2 1/2 cups shredded extra-sharp orange cheddar cheese
3. One 7-ounce jar pimientos, drained and finely chopped
4. 3/4 cup mayonnaise
5. 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
7. Cayenne pepper
8. 40 slices baguette, toasted
9. 4 strips cooked bacon, crumbled

Directions

1. In a mixer fitted with the paddle, combine the white and orange cheddar cheeses. Add the chopped pimentos, mayonnaise, black pepper and garlic powder; blend at low speed. Season the pimento cheese with cayenne pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 400° Spread the pimento cheese on the toasts, top with the bacon and bake until the cheese is melted and browned, about 2 minutes. Serve.


Make Ahead
The pimento cheese can be prepared through step 1 and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Bruschetta Topping

In the past, we've bought bruschetta topping from the store and it's always amazing. We fell in love with bruschetta at a local restaurant when some friends ordered it as an appetizer to share. After having some really good toppings we decided it was time to whip up some of our own and we were surprised with how yummy it turned out! It didn't really compare to the restaurant's but it gave the store bought a BIG run for it's money. Paired with an anti-pasta tray and this was one beautiful Italian-style meal!

Wine Suggestion:
Cabernet Franc





Our topping was made up of home-canned tomatoes, anchovy paste, artichoke hearts, Italian seasoning, fresh basil, and some garlic. We warmed everything up in a pot on med heat then topped our toast with the topping, cheese, and basil. Just delicious!

We also froze the leftover in small canning jars and it was great thawed from the freezer and made a quick, delicious weekend lunch/dinner.

Antipasto

We treated ourselves Sat to an amazing antipasto spread. We didn't eat all of this but we sure tried. It was just delicious. For ours we did some bruschetta, salomi, pepperoni, three kinds of cheese, grapes, pickles, artichoke hearts, and some wine.

Antipasto (plural antipasti), means "before the meal" and is the traditional first course of a formal Italian meal. Traditional antipasto includes cured meats, olives, roasted garlic, pepperoncini, mushrooms, anchovies, artichoke hearts, various cheeses (such as provolone or mozzarella) and peperone (marinated small green bell peppers, not to be confused with pepperoni). The antipasto is usually topped off with olive oil. -Wikipedia

Although it's suppose to act as a first course, with just the two of us, this was the main course. This would be a great romantic picnic with some wine. It was truly a delicious treat!

Twice Stuffed Mushrooms

While visiting family in Mass a couple weeks ago we made these awesome stuffed mushrooms with The Other Williams' cousin, M. It's seems to be a tradition for The Other Williams and her cousin to put together a steamer's (clams) dinner and this year was no exception. The time before last we went up we stole M's Spinach dip, this time we're stealing her Stuffed Mushrooms!

And boy we're they good! All three of us had a hard time keeping our hands off the mixture that the mushrooms are stuffed with. With cream cheese and stove top stuffing (the secret ingredient) it was just too yummy not to eat even before we put it in the oven.

We used extra huge mushrooms and piled the mixture on heavy! This would be killer as a side, like we used it, or would be a hit at a party or entertaining guests!

INGREDIENTS
* 12 large fresh mushrooms, stems removed
* 1 (6 ounce) package chicken flavored dry stuffing mix
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 pound imitation crabmeat, flaked
* 2 cups butter
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
* salt and pepper to taste
* garlic powder to taste
* crushed red pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Arrange mushroom caps on a medium baking sheet, bottoms up. Chop and reserve mushroom stems.
2. Prepare chicken flavored dry stuffing mix according to package directions.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Mix in garlic and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
5. In a medium bowl, mix together reserved mushroom stems, prepared dry stuffing mix, cream cheese and imitation crabmeat. Liberally stuff mushrooms with the mixture. Drizzle with the some of the butter and garlic. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and crushed red pepper.
6. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes, or until stuffing is lightly browned.

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Caprese Salad

Caprese Salad is about the easiest salad in the world to make but it looks and tastes like it's worth more effort. We had a caprese salad when we were in Charlotte last month and decided to make our own when Whole Foods put their fresh mozzarella on sale.

You want to use really good ingredients for this because it is so simple, so make sure tomatoes are in season. Homegrown (or farmers market) tomatoes are best for this in my opinion.

It it truly delicious and a great side or first course for just about anything. We took this on a picnic and it worked beautifully. The balsamic is what really kicks this up the flav-o-meter so be sure to get the good stuff. You can also put the balsamic in a pot and reduce it for a more intense flavor but either way is good.

Ingredients
1 tomato
1 ball of fresh mozzarella
8-10 basil leaves
2 tbsp good balsamic vinegar.
2 tbsp good olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Slice the tomato and mozzarella. Layer on a plate, placing a basil leaf on top of the tomato. Mix vinegar and oil and drizzle over salad. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Goat Cheese and Tomato Appetizer

We've been hitting our local farmers market on Sat mornings, something we love doing. Between last week and this week we picked up the ingredients for this throw together appetizer. I came up with it on a whim and we were both pleased with the results. It was just delicious, completely local, and beautiful to boot.

1 tomato, sliced
3 basil leaves, chiffonaded
4 small sliced of homemade wheat bread
4 small medallions of local goat cheese
Olive oil, drizzled
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Drizzle some olive oil over the bread and toast in a toaster oven or under a broiler. Top with goat cheese, tomato, then basil.

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Similar Recipes:
Mini Reubens
Heirloom Tomato & Avocado Stacks

Mini Reubens

For New Years Eve, we always do an appetizer buffet. This classic little mini sammy is one we've done for the past two years and it's really yum! Enjoy!

• 1 (1 pound) loaf cocktail rye bread
• 1 cup thousand island dressing
• 1 1/2 pounds deli sliced corned beef
• 1 (16 ounce) jar sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
• 1 pound sliced Swiss cheese

1. Preheat the oven's broiler.
   
   
2. Arrange cocktail rye slices on a baking sheet. Top each one with about 2 teaspoons of thousand island salad dressing, then fold about 1/2 slice of corned beef to fit the bread, and lay over the dressing. Place a small amount of sauerkraut over the meat, then top with 1/4 slice of the Swiss cheese, or a slice about as big as the bread.
   
   
3. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until cheese is melted. Top with another slice of rye and serve warm.

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Pumpkin Soup with Blue Cheese and Bacon

We had this soup for our Solstice feast and wowza. I will never eat another pumpkin soup ever again. I don't normally go for the squash soups but the blue cheese and bacon MADE this dish. Kids will even love this one!

• 2 (15 ounce) cans pumpkin
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese
  

1. Stir together the pumpkin, chicken stock, half-and-half, shallot, molasses, butter, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and cayenne pepper in a large stockpot over low heat; simmer 10 minutes.
   
   
2. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook until crispy; remove to paper towels to drain, then cool and crumble.
   
   
3. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with bacon and blue cheese.

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Rustic Summer Squash Tart

I saw this recipe in my Woman's Day magazine and thought it would make for a yummy vegetarian dinner. I did make a few changes to ours to suit our tastes and to use what I had on hand. The Other Williams and I both LOVED this recipe and thought next time we'd add mushrooms to it.

Prep was a little time consuming but this is something that can be made the night before and popped into the oven for a quick week night meal. I also think this might freeze well. The tart would make a great side or an appetizer at a party. Or you can make it your main meal like we did.

1¼ hours | 25 min prep

SERVES 3-4 as main meal or 12 as appetizer

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb mixed summer squash, cut in 1/4 in rounds
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or marjoram, plus sprigs for garnish (I used dried)
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1 refridgerated pie crust
• 4 ounces Roquefort cheese or gorgonzola or other good blue cheese
  
• 1 roasted red pepper, cut into strips
• 1 large plum tomato, sliced (I used roma)
  
• 1 large egg, beaten

1. heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, add squash and shallots to cook, turning pieces as they start color, 7 minutes until crisp, tender.
2. Remove from heat, stir in thyme garlic, and pepper to taste, cool to room temperature.
3. heat oven to 400°F
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; unroll or unfold pie crust on parchment paper; with rolling pin roll crust to a 13-in round.
5. Crumble half of the blue cheese over the crust to within 2 inches of the edge.
6. Arrange squash mixture, pepper strips, and tomato slices on cheese, fold edge of the crust over the filling and brush crust with egg.
7. Bake 35 to 40 min until pastry is golden.
8. Slide tart still on parchment, onto a wire rack.
9. Let cool before serving.