Great Finger Foods/appetizers. Need New Ideas...

My sister just made a great appetizer tonight. She dipped chicken in egg and shook it in a baggie of crushed french's onion. Then she baked it and chopped it up. She served it with a homemade honey mustard. (mustard, honey and mayo i think she said) Yum and easy!!

You can do a chili cheese dip with tortilla chips. Buffalo chicken dip is delicious also.

Soups are a huge hit too :)

Mushroom caps stuffed with hot sausage & stuffing

Brown a lb. or 1-1/2 lb. of bulk hot sausage & get it crumbly.
Sprinkle in about a half cup of seasoned Italian breadcrumbs.
Prepare O. package of stove top stuffing mix.
Combine sausage & stuffing in a bowl.
Clean mushroom caps and place in VERY buttered baking pan (9x13 glass or such) spoon stuffing/sausage mixture into the caps.
Bake on 350 for about 30 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked.

VERY yummy!

ADDED: Sprinkle parmesan cheese halfway through baking, and a little extra (spray) butter on the top is OK too!

Mini Quiches (from frozen section)
Artichoke dip (easy & yummy)
Chili dip (melt brick of cream cheese into a can of chili beans. serve w/
tortilla chips
TGIFridays Spinach Dip (served w/baguette of bread)
Jalapeno jelly served w/crackers
Salami, diff cheeses tray you put together yourself
Tortilla roll ups
Mini pizzas
Mini meatballs
Mini sandwhich trays (mini loaf bread, deli meats, sliced cheese, honey
mustard, reg mustard-they put together themselves
Proscuitto wrapped breadsticks (google Giada's recipe. easy)

i made this last year and it was the 1st to go. open a can of crescent dough and lay it out flat. Press all the little perforations back together to make one rectangle of dough. Smear room temperature cream cheese end to end, leaving 1 in with no cheese. - here you can get creative. I poured a can of green chilis all over the cream cheese, salt and pepper, and sprinkled with shredded cheddar. Then roll up, slice to 1/4 to 1/2 in thick. Lay flat on a cookie sheet. Brush with eggwash and bake. They make beautiful swirls of flaky buttery crescent dough with green chilis and cheese. You can also do ham and cheese, or spread a jalapeno dip in it, spinach would be good in it. Just nothing too wet because you want it to be flaky. you could do sweet with nutella or jam.

I did this yesterday for a football get together.
Bacon Monkey Bread
1 can biscuits
1 pkg bacon cut into small pices
1/2 medium onion chopped
Cheese - grated chedder
1/2 stick of butter-melted
Cook the cut up bacon and onion, drain on paper towel.
Cut each biscuit into 4 sections. In a loaf pan lined with foil, drizzle melted butter then line the bottom with secitons of the biscuits to cover the bottom. Then put a layer of bacon and onion, then cheese, then anther layer of biscutis then drizzle more butter, then continue the layers ending with the biscuits on top drizzle remaining butter then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove and cover the top with foil then bake an additional 5 minutes to make sure the bottom is done. When it is done remove from pan onto plate pulling the foil back. It is YUMMO!!!
Merry Christmas!
D.

Crock pot Recipe

Smokies
Meatballs-either frozen or homemade
Chunk pineapple (drained)
1 Green Pepper
Onion/optional

Pour over your favorite homemade or store bought barbecue sauce.
Very well liked when I have taken to potlucks...

OR
Buy a large loaf of garlic bread and make your favorite sandwich /cut into small finger size slices.
Merry Christmas!

We are doing the same thing! Christmas eve will be heavy apps all day, then we're having brunch and Christmas dinner the next day! Here's what's on our apps menu:

sausage balls
veggie tray (carrots, celery, peppers, cucumbers, olives)
little smokies
deviled eggs
onion dip (cream cheese, parmesan, purple onion, baked for 20 min)
crackers
ham
cheese
croissants
Christmas cookies and puppy chow

Hope this helps! Merry Christmas!

I've heard of JT's little smokie recipe before and it's supposed to be pretty good. I'm all about the lil smokies! ;) My suggestion was going to be mini pigs in a blanket with them. I get two tubes of crescent rolls and one pack of the sausages. I usually tear one crescent in half and do two sausages with it. Then bake according to the package directions. Everyone loves them!

We are also big on cheese and crackers. I love buying new and fun cheeses for people to try. I'm also making a baked brie (more crescent dough!) which is super easy and looks elegant.

Meatballs are usually a bit hit too. What about things like egg rolls or potstickers? You could also make fruit kabobs or chicken satay, which is basically peanut chicken on a skewer.

1 package of Smokies
l pound of bacon cut strips into 1/3
1 cup brown sugar

Wrap each Smokie in 1/3 piece of bacon, secure with toothpick
put into pan, cover with brown sugar and let stand overnight in refrigerator
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

I make then up ahead of time and freeze then. Thaw and then bake

Lil smokies-1c grape jelly, 1/2c. brown sugar, 3/4c. mustard. Mix together and place over smokies in a crockpot and heat till simmering.
Bacon wrapped jalapenos or Bacon/Cream Cheese Jalapeno Crossant bites
7layer Mexican Dip
Stuffed Mushrooms
Pepperoni Bread
Mini Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (My favorite is using a good cheese and using the Hawaiian Sweet Rolls)

We do this too! Unfortunately, my sons think they have to have a meal, so they get a little anxious when we say only appetizers. So, I usually have everything to make fajita/burritos - flour tortillas, taco meat in a crock pot or shredded chicken, refried beans, grated cheese, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream and hot sauce. It is easy for those with more of an appetite to make a fajita or burrito and even zap it in the microwave. They also love the frozen taquitos that you heat in the oven.

Lots of family and friends love this recipe.

Jalapeno Cheese Spread
16 oz. finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 C light mayo
1 C chopped green onions
6 oz chopped pecans
1 small jar jalapeno jelly (I get the green stuff from Kroger.)

Mix all the ingredients together, except the jelly and press into a pie plate. Refrigerate overnight. Spread jalapeno jelly on top before serving. Bring to room temperature before serving. Serve with crackers.

Bacon Crisps

Take a Town House cracker, put shredded parmesan on top, wrap with 1/2 a slice of uncooked bacon. Make as many as you need. Place on a broiler pan on top of a cookie sheet to catch the grease. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes - 1 hour. Great served hot or room temp. I swear they are a little bit of heaven! :)