I don't know why I'm drawing such a blank. I'm invited to a dear (lifelong) friend's mother's 70th Birthday party on Saturday night. In lieu of gifts, my friend asked if I could make one or two fun appetizers. I just can't think of anything! If I were hosting an event at my house, I could come up with lots but this event will be about an hour's drive from my house. Also, this is a pretty sofisticated crowd and my friend and her husband are accomplished cooks. You don't need to give me a complete recipe. I'm really good at looking at the list of ingredients and figuring out how much of each to use. I just need some ideas - help!!
Aspargus wrapped in herb cream cheese and proccutio.
Small little skewers with tomoto, basil and mozzeralla with a little olive oil and balsamic drizzled on.
Bacon wrapped scallops or bacon wrapped waterchestnuts broiled.
How about a hot crab dip on little toasts.
hot reuben dip on little rye toasts
Mmm...you have got me hungry.
melon wrapped in prosciutto, salmon or crab mousse with little toasts, chicken liver mousse on little toasts, tiny lamb chops broiled and brushed with marmalade (these are great even just warm), ceviche, seared tuna (then slice thin) with wasabi butter
I've been bringing my buffalo chicken dip to all different parties this Spring/Summer. Its disappeared each and every time. Cream cheese on the bottom, mix of cooked chicken, cheese, ranch and Redhot. Cheese on top. And bake. Its pretty easy to transport and then reheat at a 2nd location. Its fun, and soooo yummy.
I also do a Bruschetta with goat cheese, basil, tomato, s&p and olive oil. Harder to transport, but delicious and very pleasing to the eye.
Bruschetta
Stuffed mushroom Caps
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Cheese plate, excellent cheese, breads, fruits, the really good stuff
Grilled/Roasted shrimp cocktail with your own unique sauce
Anything smoked salmon
A really good pickled vegetable plate
:)
Oh, and BACON!
I do this thing everybody likes, celery stuffed with a blue cheese/garlic/horseradish/ cream cheese thing I make, sprinkle chopped scallions and finely chopped bacon over the top.
Gouda wrapped in a Phyllo beggars pouch and baked, served with crackers and fruit - always impresses my guests and super easy.
Anything with shrimp. For my daughter's engagement party, I made shrimp "shooters" - shrimp cocktail in tiny little cups. VERY well received. (the ones I did had one med/lg shrimp per cup with cocktail sauce, lime and cilantro. I rimmed the edge of the cup with seasoned salt)
Caprese kabobs have also been a hit. Skewer grape tomatoes, tiny fresh mozzarella balls, basil and serve with basalmic vinegarette to dip.
Any kind of stuffed mushrooms. Super easy and very popular at my parties: mushrooms stuffed with onion and chive cream cheese topped with parmesan and broiled. But I also get a lot of compliments on my breadcrumb stuffed mushrooms too - not quite as simple, but still pretty easy. (bread crumbs, celery, onion, tumeric, butter)
I'll post again if anything else comes to mind. Good luck.
I always serve fresh bruschetta and toast. It's a good season for tomatoes etc. and it will travel really well. I usually serve the toasted baquette to the side, but you could serve it on the toast already to make it look nicer. Everyone likes it.
I made one the other night that was toasted baguette topped with ricotta cheese, and then added sliced strawberries that were marinated in brown sugar and balsamic and then tore some fresh basil over the top. Looks really pretty, tastes good. (From food network magazine)
Good luck!
A fun summer one that i do is chicken salad. I put it in the little filo (sp?) cups that they have in the grocery store. I make the chicken salad the night before. The next day i bake the cups for a couple of minutes (they are bite size). Then after i fill them i put a little pepper ring on top. (in the pickle section, the mild pepper rings) I have had many compliments. If you need the chicken salad recipe please feel free to message me.
Another croud pleaser this time of year is hoagie dip. I am fortunate that our local deli make a delicious version. I chop up a ton of hoagie rolls and serve the dip in a big bowl. It goes very fast :)
Any sort of "fancy" dip is always good. You could go with crab dip or some sort of pate. I have recipes for a really good feta salsa and a super easy mushroom artichoke dip if you're interested.
Baked brie is usually really easy and tasty. You would probably have to warm it up once you got there, since it's baked and all, but it shouldn't take more than about 10 minutes in the oven. What about doing some spanikopita or something like that. It's a tad time consuming but it looks really fancy when you do it in triangles and it always tastes yummy!
Good luck!
I make a great buffalo chicken dip, I got the recipe from a hot sauce bottle. It has cream cheese, blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles, tobasco, and the chicken from a can and you bake it. it is crazy good! I can email it to you if you are interested, it always goes first! You can serve it with celery and with crackers.
Also, Texas caviar is AMAZING. It is so addicted and could be more sophisticated. Send me a message if you want the recipe, it has things like black beans, onions, red peppers, green peppers, etc It is truly amazing.
My friend makes this goat cheese layer dip with cream cheese, etc I can get the recipe if you want it but I bet you can google it.....
sushi might be good and classy
shrimp cocktail
ham and cream cheese roll ups
I went to a party once that had asparagus rolled in ham and cheese and baked, it was AMAZING.
have fun!
I have made some fried ravioli, all you need is some;
frozen ravioli, bread crumbs. and some eggs.
Also my husband made some really good baked chicken pieces cut up in some bite sizes, and wraped in beacon, dip in a brown sugar mix. Then baked..
Hi,
Try a stuffed bread with sausage spinach and cheese. Buy pizza dough from your local supermarket or deli. Roll it out into a rectangle insert your ingredients and roll it up. Bake it at your house and if desired warm it up at your destination. Go to allrecipes.com for better instructions. I have made it a few times and each time it was a hit. You can put any ingredients you think sound yummy. My guests thought I bought the ones I made.
I created something easy, elegant, and cheap for our get togethers.
Mini Seafood Bites
1 bag of baked/regular Tostetos dip chips (The kind that looks like a basket.)
2 pkg. of sealegs (imitation crab meat)
6 large cooked shrimp (I prefer to cook them myself so they taste fresh)
1-2 tbs. freshly chopped parsley
light/regular Mayo
salt and white pepper
Cut up the sealegs and shrimp into small pieces. Mix sealegs, shrimp, parsley and mayo together. (Put enough mayo to your taste, but do not make it too saucy.) Add salt and white pepper to taste. Wait until almost ready to serve and put seafood salad mixture into Toatetos scoops and arrange on a platter. You can garnish with parsley.
Southwestern Cheesecake Appetizer - This is fantastic!
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,171,151171-240204,00.html
Baked Clam Dip - We use Muenster on top and serve with Pepperidge Farm Butterfly crackers
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,171,145184-241197,00.html
Good Luck and have fun!
