Snacks and Appetizers Archives

Veggie Quesadillas

November 4, 2010 jennifer Snacks and Appetizers

Every once in a while I pause and make these quesadillas as a snack, side dish, or for lunch. Each time I do, I wonder why I don’t think to make them more often.

Ingredients:

1 tsp. olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced red pepper
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
4 flour tortillas, 8 or 10 inches in diameter
1 cup monterey jack cheese

Instructions:

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add pepper, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly until onions begin to brown and veggies are crisp-tender. (You can also add fresh mushrooms to the pan if you like them.) Add spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes or until spinach is just beginning to wilt.

Spray a frying pan with non-stick spray. Place one tortilla in pan. Spread half of the veggie mixture onto the tortilla, then sprinkle with half of the cheese. Place a second tortilla on top. Cook on each side until tortilla is golden brown. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Cut into wedges, and serve with salsa. Makes 4 appetizer servings.

I should note that these are thick, filling quesadillas. They’re also very tasty! Enjoy.

Hopeful Homemaker

Ham & Cheese Biscuit Bites

August 28, 2010 jennifer Snacks and Appetizers

I like to serve these biscuits as appetizers, after school snacks or as a side for soup. If you want to, you can make homemade biscuits for use in this recipe, but it’s nice to be able to put them together in just a few minutes. When I use refrigerated biscuits it’s also easy to involve my children in preparing this dish.

Ham & Cheese Biscuit Bites 2 tubes refrigerated biscuits (20 total) 8 oz softened cream cheese (I prefer neufchatel) 1 cup grated cheddar cheese 1 cup diced fully cooked ham 1 small can diced green chiles OR 1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers In a bowl, mix cream cheese. Add cheese, ham and chiles or peppers. Stir to combine. Spray 2 muffin pans with non stick spray. Open biscuits and flatten each biscuit. Place in muffin pans and press to make sure each biscuit covers the bottom and at least 1/3 inch up the sides of each mold. Scoop a spoonful of cream cheese mixture into the center of each biscuit, distributing mixture evenly between all 20 biscuits.

Bake at 350 until biscuits are cooked and mixture is bubbly, approx. 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and serve warm.

Yum!

Hope you like them!

Jennifer

One comment cooking

Heather Bullard’s Casino Butter

March 9, 2010 jennifer Breads and Rolls, Snacks and Appetizers

One of the delights of starting a blog has been poking around a little bit to read and see what others are doing. Like every hobby or interest, I had no idea what a big world there was out there! I’ve enjoyed learning from many creative people. One of the blogs I discovered (all by myself, even!) is Heather Bullard’s.
I really love her photography. It’s so beautiful! Recently she posted pictures of her new baby chicks … in teacups! Um, cute. You should check it out if you haven’t already. I think you’ll enjoy it.

I found this recipe on Heather’s blog, and had to make it. In fact, it looked so good that I tried it out on guests without having made it before. The verdict: it’s fabulous!

Here is the recipe for how I made it:

Heather Bullard’s Casino Butter 1 pound butter, softened 2 Tb. fresh lemon juice 1-2 tsp. hot sauce (I used Frank’s hot sauce) 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 4 green onions, finely chopped 1/3 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped 1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped salt & pepper to taste Heather chops everything finely, then puts it in a food processor. I have only a tiny food processor and so I would have had to do 4 or 5 batches. I put the butter in a mixing bowl and used my hand mixer to whip it a little bit. Then I chopped the garlic, onions, pepper and parsley and pulsed them in my processor. I then added everything to the mixing bowl and again used my hand mixer to combine it all really well. I think it worked.

Heather takes half the butter, rolls it in wax paper and freezes it. Then she uses the other half on a loaf of french bread. It was the french bread I wanted to try. I spread butter over both halves, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, and broiled it. I think I only used 1/4 of the casino butter, though, instead of half. I rolled up the rest in wax paper to freeze for another use.

Here is the link to Heather’s recipe, explanations and directions. (She also puts wine in hers, which I omitted.) And her pictures are far lovelier than mine.

Can I say that this became an instant family favorite?! It was the YUMMIEST garlic style bread I’ve ever eaten.

Please, do yourself a favor and treat yourself! It’s delicious! Thanks for sharing, Heather!

2 comments cooking

1 2 3 »