Don’t forget to visit Easy Appetizer Recipes for more great ideas for  your parties, gatherings and get-togethers.

The six of us have been getting together at least once a month for the last 10-12 years. I honestly don’t remember exactly how long it’s been. But within those years and those visits, we have formed a bond that I know will go on even past this life…Their friendships have carried me through tough times and each one of them has given me the gift of trust. A place that I can unburden myself and know that they support me. I sincerely do not know what I would do without them.

We’ve shared tons of laughter, some tears, weathered our children’s growing up days, the antics of our husbands, divorces, rekindled romances with past loves, more laughter, and of course FOOD! Our get-togethers are always about great food. If we don’t go out to some new restaurant, we meet at one of our homes and bring food that always amounts to an unbelievable meal. Cindy is a great cook, but so are Louise, Joan, Janet and Annie.

In this post, I wanted to share with you Cindy’s fabulous Texas Caviar Dip. This easy appetizer recipe is Heaven in a bowl. Since Memorial Day is just around the corner, this could work perfectly for a picnic or party. I added a couple of ingredients. Try it! You’ll like it! And tell the ones you are closest to how much you love them.

What you’ll need:
- 1 can of white corn, rinsed (or if you are really ambitious, cook your own corn and scrape off 16 ounces worth of corn kernals.)
- 1 can of black-eyed peas, rinsed
- green onion, chopped (to taste)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- red onion, minced (to taste)
- 2 ripe avocados (not too ripe!)
- tomatoes, chopped (to taste)
- 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
- black pepper (to taste)
- 1/4 cup roasted pine nuts
- chopped cilantro (to taste)
- fresh lime juice

Mix all the ingredients and refrigerate or serve immediately. Serve with baked tortilla chips or corn tortilla chips. DEEEELish!

Mother’s Day Appetizers

Your Mom loves you know matter what, but she’ll be so pleased that you took the time to prepare some fun foods for her. So show her some appetizer love with a wide variety of little foods to choose from.

And if you are a wine drinker, all these appetizers go well with a glass of the red or white. And, why not think of a wine gift to give your Mom?

Brie Appetizers - A wonderful selection of delicious appetizers using Brie cheese as it’s main ingredient. The delicious, creamy, texture of Brie marries beautifully with all kinds of flavors.

Caramelized Onion Tarts – Sweet and savory, these easy to make tarts dress up any occasion.

Caviar Parfait – A beautiful appetizer that will impress guests, please the palate, and best of all, is simple to make.

Cheddar Cheese Mushrooms – A huge crowd pleaser that keeps the foodie snitcher at bay, and at the same time gets your guests hungry for the main course. Everyone loves these!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp Kabobs – Get the BBQ ready and throw on the shrimp kabobs. This is a fantastic appetizer for everything from backyard parties to fancy-schmancy cocktail parties.

Cocktail Sandwiches - These little bites are super easy to make – a hold over from the 50s – using common ingredients.

Check out the Easy Appetizer Recipes website for a complete list of Mother’s Day Appetizers. You’ll be glad you did!

Wines of Burgundy

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.

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.

What you need:

- 1/2 pound prosciutto, sliced
- 1/2 (8 ounce) package Neufchatel cheese, softened
- 12 spears fresh asparagus, trimmed

What to do:

1. First, preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Then, spread the prosciutto slices with Neufchatel cheese. Wrap the slices around 1, 2, or 3 asparagus spears – depending on how big or small the spears are.
   
3. Lastly, arrange the wrapped spears in a single layer on a medium baking sheet.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until asparagus is tender.

This delicious, simple and easy appetizer can also be used as a side dish and goes very well with chicken main dishes. Enjoy!

If you love this recipe, then try more at our Easy Appetizer Recipes website.

So, my aim here, on this blog all about simple and easy appetizers, is to share with you dear reader, some of my favorite appetizers, interesting food history and ways to make parties more fun. You’ll find appetizer recipes for every occasion, gathering, party and holiday. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to comment…

In the meantime, while I get my thoughts in order and start posting more… visit my website at Easy Appetizer Recipes. It’s fun and full of great ideas for your next gathering.

Happy munching!

BusyMOM