Easy Appetizers

Well, I always wondered how to make Chili’s Awesome Blossom fried onion. Now I know. I found this really cool ebook called Secret Restaurant Recipes that has all the recipes of some of the famous foods we love to eat when we go out.

The company that put this ebook together is so smart! You can download it here and make Applebee’s Chardonnay Mushrooms for a side dish tonight!

Or maybe you’d rather make the Cheesecake Factory’s Bang-Bang Chicken & Shrimp!

There’s always Chipotle Grill’s Cilantro-Lime Rice… YUM! Whatever your favorites are, you’re sure to find them here in the Secret Restaurant Recipes ebook. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

Saving on Food Costs

With the economy the way it’s been lately, prices everywhere are going up. And that includes food costs. As much as I love to make easy appetizers and share them with my friends, it really kills me how much it costs to buy a few ingredients at the grocery store!

So, I’ve been doing a little research and found this cool book that I thought all you Foodies out there would enjoy. You can download it here and learn all the tips and tricks for saving on dining out, buy groceries and generally, finding ways to help dig yourself out of debt. Fabulous stuff here.

It’s called Dining on a Dime and I’ve already, in just the first few chapters, found some very valuable and useful information to help me cut costs. Give it whirl!

Plus, if you like this one, there are more ebooks to learn additional ways to save money. Save money and eat more appetizers – that’s my new motto!

I never liked figs until my mouth grew up and decided it liked different flavors other than hotdogs and Cheezits. So, my exploration into the land of figs found me sampling a couple of different easy appetizers.

Thanks to Joe Camilleri’s blog, I found this lovely Ricotta Stuffed Figs recipe. Ooo La La! It makes for a beautiful presentation, but even better, it tastes heavenly. Make it for Mother’s Day or a fancy-schmancy party. Or just for fun! Enjoy!

What you’ll need:
- 8 medium figs (480g)
- ¼ cup (25g) roasted walnuts chopped coarsely
- ½ cup (120g) ricotta cheese
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) cream
- 30g butter
- 1/3 cup (75g) firmly packed brown sugar

To find out how to put Ricotta Stuffed Figs all together – check us out on our Mother’s Day Appetizers page.

I love meatballs and I love this recipe for smoked mozzarella meatballs. You will too. Take a couple of minutes and watch this video on how to make them. Then, go do it and make a few for fun, a party or your family.

Smoked Mozzarella Meatballs

Posted to Taste of Home by sarahjames on April 08, 2009

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For more great party ideas, visit our Party Planning page.

Fondue cooking starts as an epic story. First mention of the popular dish is found in a recipe in Homer’s Iliad (Song XI). Really? Yes! The reference to a mixture of Pramnos wine, grated goat’s cheese and white flour had to be a fondue!

My introduction to fondue cooking happened in the late sixties when I was a little girl. (I’m dating my self here!) My Mom and Dad decided to have a small party – they were always having neighborhood parties or bridge parties on the weekends.

One weekend, my Dad, who loved to cook, decided he wanted to do some fondue cooking and invited some friends over for a fondue party. He made a bunch of fondue dipping sauces for meat fondue.

OH MY GOSH! I was in heaven! He cut up pieces of uncooked steak and small chunks of ham and made little batter-dipped fondue meatballs.

He put them in little dishes surrounding this bubbling pot of oil… To finish reading this and get some fantastic fondue recipes, visit our Fondue Cooking page.

Oh boy! Another great tasting recipe that you can have even if you are on a diet. This stuffed mushrooms recipe is so chock full of flavor and goodness. Easy to make and even easier to eat.

Let me know what you think of this recipe. This is especially good for those of you following Weight Watchers.

What you’ll need:

• 1 spray of olive oil cooking spray
• 1 lb. button mushrooms (about 24 large mushrooms)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup onions (chopped)
• 1/4 cup sweet red peppers (chopped)
• 10 oz chopped frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
• 2 1/2 slices whole-wheat bread (chopped into bread crumbs)
• 1 tsp Creole seasoning (Cajun seasoning)
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric

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Oh boy, if you are like me and LOVE guacamole, then this delicious chipotle quacamole recipe will send you to the moon. Chipotle chiles give a smoky goodness to everything it’s added to. Which means it’ll give the same ol’ guac -  a lift and a twist. Try it, you’ll like it.

What you’ll need:

• 2 ripe avocados (peeled and pitted)
• 1 small white onion (minced)
• 1 medium tomato (minced)
• 1 TBSP lime or lemon juice
• 2 chipotle chiles (in adobo sauce and minced)
• Salt to taste

Combine all the above ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cover and serve chilled. It’s best to serve within 3 hours of making this dip. Try these delicious corn tortilla chips to serve with the dip. Heat scale for chipotle guacamole is MEDIUM.

Delightfully serves: 4 as an appetizer and 2 as a meal!

For more wonderful dip recipes, check out this chip dip recipes page.

“If you’re looking for a healthy, great, easy raw food appetizer or snack, one of the best raw food recipes I’ve made is for mushrooms stuffed with pesto. You don’t have to be a vegan or raw food enthusiast like me to enjoy these pesto mushrooms. I’ve served them many times as a snack for holidays, events or just when having company over. They’re always raved about and so simple to make – a truly easy. free raw food recipe.”

For more about this delicious appetizer, visit Vladowsky’s Kitchen blog.

Ignore the crude ads at the bottom of the blog post…

For more great recipes – check out our Holiday Appetizers page.

Oh my.

Link’s Famous Chocolate Sauce Extraordinaire needs no more introduction than that! It is what it says! My sister – amazing singer Julia Wade and her also equally gifted composer, music producer, hubby, Peter Link, take time out of their busy lives to make this chocolate sauce every year and send it out as gifts to us lucky recipients. And they very lovingly gave me the recipe to share here.

Technically, this isn’t an appetizer. But… who’s to say that you couldn’t find creative ways to use this incredible concoction as a means to whet the appetite? Or do as I do and just dip your spoon into it for a moment of heavenly bliss.

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Little League Baseball Italian Potluck Party

We have a really fun group of parents for our little league team (The Bees). They all love to cheer for our kids, socialize with one another, eat, drink and generally be merry.

Last night’s game was no exception. The weather was clear and warm and thankfully not windy for a change, the kids were excited because they were on a roll (however, we all KNOW that it doesn’t matter who wins  – Right???? ), and there was going to be cake and pizza awaiting them after the game. How much better could it get?

Well, it did. Being the “Team Mom” I organized a potluck picknic for after the game. Timmy’s Mom brought cake to celebrate his 11th birthday, and because we have some Italian descendents in our group, the theme for the potluck naturally became Italian in nature.

I said I was going to bring my famous Sangria until my husband pointed out to me that Sangria isn’t exactly an Italian drink. Duh! Sounds Italian, I said! So I changed to 3 bottles of Italian red wine. Hubby made an awesome pot of spaghetti with Ragu as the sauce. This isn’t just an ordinary ragu. It’s specially prepared from learning how to make it from our dear Italian friends who live just outside of Milano. Secret ingredients and everything. It was a hit and we had only a little bit left over to bring back home with us.

But not only did we have wine and spaghetti, but we had a plethora of beautiful side dishes – foccaccia, bruschetta, zucchini fratta, antipasti, Ceasar salad and tiny skewers of what was basically Insalata Caprese. Oh… it was the kind of food that makes you want to keep eating even when you can’t stuff another bite down.

Pizza was ordered for the kids and then a rowsing happy birthday sung to Young Timmy with Patti’s unbelievable marble cake (I want the recipe, Patti!)  to follow. It was a foodie’s heavenly feast, no doubt. And did I take any pictures of this wonderful spread? Sadly, no! Too busy stuffing my face.

There’s just something about the combination of great kids, great parents, great baseball, great coaching, and great food that makes you know why life is worth living…

Oh, and we won! (but that doesn’t really matter, RIGHT?)

Happy baseball season everybody! Go BEEs!!!!

~BusyMOM

P.S. Thank you, Parents, for making this baseball season so much fun. And thanks, Tracie and Carrington, for the great pics!

For more great recipes – check out our Holiday Appetizers page.