Tag Archives: Appetizers

CHERRY TOMATOES

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Hallowed our cherry tomatoes that are filled with guacamole and topped with bacon pieces.

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These little cherry tomatoes filled with creamy goodness and topped with crisp bacon are a little time consuming to make, but oh my goodness are these hors d’oeuvres worth it!  I love having something small out to nibble on before dinner is served.  This hors d’oeuvre is light, it won’t ruin the appetite at all, and it’s filled with wonderful flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

One bunch of cherry tomatoes

Worcestershire – 1 teaspoon

Sour cream – 3 teaspoons

Tabasco – 2 shakes

Garlic – 2 cloves or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt – 1 teaspoon

Pepper – 2 teaspoons

Avocados fresh, two or pre-made if you can’t get fresh

Bacon, one pound cut up and fried

Cilantro – chopped and sprinkle on top

DIRECTIONS:

Super simple…fry up the bacon and drain on a paper towel to absorb all the excess grease.  Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the inside.  Turn them upside down on a paper towel to drain any moisture. Fill with either home made guacamole of pre-made.  Top with bacon bits.

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Cut the tomatoes in half

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I really like cherry tomatoes better, but this is what I had

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so this is what I used

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Scoop out the middle by using a spoon.

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Turn them upside down on a paper towel to drain

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Just to show you there really isn’t much inside each little tomato that you end up throwing away

I usually make my own guacamole myself but you have to be able to get nice ripe avocados…and I couldn’t, so this is great in a pinch.

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I found this in the dairy section and for a ready made guacamole…it was good.

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There are certain times when I am all about quick and easy..this time every single avocado I had in the house was as hard as a rock…so I had no choice.

As a rule homemade is usually better…but in a pinch this will certainly do.

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Chopped bacon is cooked and draining on a paper towel

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Place the avocado into the tomato

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Top each one with bacon

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And serve…kind of like a little tiny BLT without the lettuce in one bite

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It is really, really good!

The avocado can be put into the tomato with a spoon, or fill a baggie with the mixture and cut a small

opening at the bottom and squirt into each one.

Top with bacon and cilantro.

WONTON’S

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The perfect and very tasty appetizer

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 ground veal, or pork or ground chuck (You choose)

8 Water chestnuts, finely chopped from a can

1/4 finely chopped green onions, white, light green and dark green parts

1 teaspoon seasoned white rice vinegar

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

3 Garlic Cloves

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

1 package pre made shredded cole slaw with carrots (If you can’t find that, shred up some cabbage and carrots)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon five spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

Wonton Skins 16 ounce package

Vegetable oil for frying


DIRECTIONS:

Mix the ingredients together in any order. You can cook it first, or rely on them cooking when you place them in the fryer…completely your choice. Either way it will be cooked,

Assemble the mixture and place inside the Wonton Wrapper.

Moisten the sides with milk or egg, whichever works best for you and fry at 350 degrees until golden brown.

The very first time we made these our daughter Necole showed us exactly what to do. She had made them in her 8th grade homemaking class…which they don’t even offer anymore – but I won’t go there. They were absolutely delicious, and I found out that they froze perfectly. So when guests came over, appetizers were already made, all I had to do is heat them in the oven.

They are easy to make, and the distinctive Asian flavors of the filling make them an appetizer that will be different and loved. The great thing is you can change up ingredients and the dipping sauces.

Really a lot of fun for the kids to help make them too.

Sami made the cutest heart shaped Wonton

Crispy and good!

Sauces are anything that you like to dip the Wontons in.

These are sooooo good frozen! Just bring out a package and heat for 15 minutes at 350 in the oven and serve. It really is that easy.

Just made more Wontons and added shrimp!

I make some of the Wonton’s with cooked shrimp this time, but really prefer them the original way. Really whatever you have on hand and choose to put inside will be amazing!

ONION DIP

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Homemade from scratch!

Tobacco in onion dip

INGREDIENTS:

Butter, 2 Tablespoons

Olive Oil, 2 Tablespoons

Onions, 2 large chopped

Shallots, 3 chopped

Honey, 1 Tablespoon

Green Onions, 6 diced

Dry White Wine, 1/4 Cup

Sour Cream, 1 Cup

Cream Cheese, 8 Ounces

Tabasco, a few shakes

Worcestershire, 1 teaspoon

Cayenne pepper, a pinch

Garlic, 3 cloves crushed

Pepper, fresh ground liberal amount

Sea Salt, 1 teaspoon

DIRECTIONS:

Drizzle olive oil and butter in a large skillet and add the onions.  Cook on medium heat until they become beautifully brown and caramelized, it takes about 25 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients in any order, stir together and serve.

 

This was really good…a whole lot more difficult than opening up the packet and adding sour cream…but if you want to really do it from scratch yourself…this is definitely great.

If you want to bring out the big tastes to impress your guests, you’ve got to try this one! For years and years, I served onion dip by opening up a jar, or if I was going to get really fancy, I would combine a packet with some sour cream.  Today I wanted to see if making it from scratch was that much better.  The results came in with a definite yes…it is that much better.  And really, it takes such a little time to make…so I believe it’s well worth the effort.

And the end result is a dip you will remember…creamy, sweet from the caramelized onions, packed with a huge amount of flavor and perfect to serve with vegetable sticks, chips or crackers, and it tastes amazing on a piece of crusty bread.

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Onions chopped

2 large onions and 3 shallots diced

Carmalized onions for onion dip

Caramelized brown, sweet and wonderful

The onions and shallots, cooked in the butter and olive oil are perfect…I could eat a spoonful just as it is.  But it gets even better, so keep going.

onions and honey for onion dip

Adding honey

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Garlic

To the caramelized onions, add one tablespoon of honey and two garlic cloves crushed.

Onion dip

6 green onions

Onion dip

green onions chopped

Onion dip

Green Onions

Cream cheese

One 8 ounce package sour cream

6 green onions diced and one 8 ounce package of cream cheese.

Champagne for onion dip

Champagne 

champagne going into onions for onion dip

1/4 Cup

The recipe called for dry white wine, but I only had this little bottle of champagne…so that is what I used.  I love red wine and if the recipe called for that, I totally would have had it covered…but I need to learn to keep white wine on hand.

Sour Cream

Sour Cream

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Worcestershire Sauce

Sour cream going into onion dip

Sour cream added

Add the cup of sour cream, teaspoon of Worcestershire and Cayenne pepper.

Onion dip

Blend completely

Tobacco in onion dip

Add a few shakes of Tabasco, salt and pepper.

Onion dip from scratch

Sweet, spicy and really good

This is good served warm and served chilled.  If you are making it ahead and it becomes to thick after setting all night, just add a little milk to thin it out.

The “guys” in the house really liked it..but to be honest, they probably would have liked the can version or the packet where you just add sour cream just as well.  I could definitely tell the difference, and I will go to the trouble to make it again…because it was really better.