Category Archives: Appetizing Apps

Wine. ‘Nuff said.

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Pull yourself together, putting out cheese cubes is so blasé. And since cheese to wine is like peanut butter to jelly, you’ll need a grown up way to serve it with your finest goblet of vino. This recipe is an easy modern twist on a traditional brie en croute. Its fancy enough to serve for your next holiday cocktail party or simple enough to make, for the next time Jess and I open up a bottle of our favorite pinot noir.

Peeled & sliced green apple (granny smith, kids).
Pecans (roasted, toasted, candied, salted, whichever you have lying around).
Drizzle of honey
Brie
Crescent roll dough

Pile & Roll per photo below & bake at 375 degrees for 11-13 minutes.

Note the crunch of the nuts, with the tart apple, with the sweet honey, and creamy brie is the perfect palette pleaser to your wine night. Best part is it compliments red or white wine which as many of you food & wine snobs know is very rare to have something accentuate both!

Feel free to check out no cookin’ good lookin’ for the italian horn recipe, another yummy cocktail appetizer!
photo
Happy eating, XO.

Party in your mouth Salad

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I didn’t just title this post “party in your mouth” so that you would click on the recipe. Although that is definitely an added bonus 🙂 I pretty much said exactly that when I first tried this salad at a restaurant. I usually don’t go home and emulate much of what I eat out, but this one was easy & so damn good, it had to be done!

  • 3 cups of Chopped watermelon chunks. (I would keep them fork size so you can get all the flavors in each bite.)
  • 1/2 cup of Crumbled feta cheese (I did a pinch of black pepper too but that’s because I don’t think salt & pepper should ever live without each other.)
  • 1/2 of a medium sized red onion. (Thinly sliced kids. If you don’t like onions, you can do cucumber rounds. Point is to get something fresh & crunchy!)
  • Then they added a pinch of dried parsley for color, you can do fresh but make sure its finely chopped & a drizzle of balsamic to top it off.

I cant stress how good this is! Going back to my theory on salads being scrumptious and “sultry”. This salad hits all your taste buds: salty (feta), sweet (watermelon), crunchy(onion or cucumber or both), and smooth (balsamic). Now that’s a party!

Happy eating, XO.

watermelon salad

Spiffy Spinach Cups

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Ever need a quick and filling side for dinner or have you ever wanted to do homemade appetizers for happy hour? Well, your search can stop here. I have an easy and (drum roll please) LOW CALORIE recipe. These spinach cups are not only yum, but I literally keep the ingredients on hand at all times because they can be whipped up for any occasion. This dish is so versatile, I am thinking of serving under a fried egg this weekend. Obviously easy enough to recite, that is the theme here folks.

  • 1 10 oz. bag or block of frozen spinach (no sub’s: the can stuff is a) gross b) too much liquid packing)
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese (Kraft works, but better quality ingredients like freshly grated do yield better tasting food. I didn’t make the rule, I’m simply sharing it).
  • 1 cup low fat, skim milk ricotta cheese (hint hint, this is where the low cal comes into play).
  • 1 egg (acts as the binder so no need for breadcrumbs aka evil carbs).
  • 1 pinch of red chili flakes and black pepper (Adjust according to your spice tolerance, but definitely use both, they bring different palate pleasers to your taste buds).
  • 1 tbsp. of minced/crushed garlic (use the store bought, pre-crushed kind. No one needs to ruin a manicure with your fingers smelling like garlic. Oh and also up the qty. to 2 tbsp. if you have vampire repelling taste buds like myself, but yeah for the general public stick to just 1).

Ok so now sh*t is about to get crazy hard. Take everything listed above, mix well in a bowl and pour into a muffin pan and bake. Yup that’s all of the “cooking instructions”.

As usual, spray the pan so they don’t stick. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees and leave it in there for 13-15 minutes. Wait till you see the tops getting golden brown. Makes for killer leftovers and each cup is only 160 calories.

Happy eating, XO.

Frank’s Red Hot Wings

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Seeing that we’re deep in to football season, what kind of blog (or fan) would we be if we didn’t make some wings?! Now, I don’t always make wings, but when I do…I use Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (and yes, I do drink Dos Equis with them). This is a quick and easy recipe to throw together during half time.

  • 1 lb of chicken wings (I use the little winglets)
  • 1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce – Buffalo (If you want super spicy, use the Original flavor)
  • 1/3 cup butter

Cook wings at 500 degrees for 20-25 minutes. While those are cooking, nuke the sauce and butter together until the butter is melted. When the wings are done, smother them with the sauce, grab a cold one and you’re all set for the 3rd quarter. Go Steelers or [insert your teams’ name here] !

Happy eating, XO.

Franks Red Hot Wings

No Cookin’, Good Lookin’

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These Italian horns = no cooking AND fancy looking. No long winded speech here on how good, easy, or quick they are.

In a bowl mix together:

  • 1 cup of Ricotta cheese (feel free to use the full fat one vs. the skim milk one since it will be a creamier texture & better tasting)
  • 1 jar of store bought olive tapenade (This is my short cut to the original recipe. They actually had you buying and chopping all those ingredients. Um no, open and pour. You’re welcome. Oh and shameless plug, but Trader Joe’s has the tastiest & cheapest. Feel free to use green or black, although the original recipe does call for the black olive)
  • Pinch of red chili flakes & black pepper (NO more salt because the olives & prosciutto are salty enough)
  • 1 tsp of minced garlic (I won’t suggest more than this because the tapenade already has a slight garlicky flavor)
  • Pinch of dried parsley flakes (this is strictly for presentation, so don’t be scared to leave it out)

Then spread a thin (I’m not kidding when I say thin layer, the 1st few times these got to be so messy because I over did it on the cheese mixture) layer of the mixture on a slice of prosciutto and lay a breadstick & celery stick next to each other and roll. Repeat and serve cold. (For a carb friendly version, replace the breadstick with roasted asparagus spears-just note not to roast for longer than 5 minutes so it doesn’t lose its crunch).

Happy eating, XO.

Italian Horns