Although sometimes called hors d’oeuvres and sometimes called starters, appetizers are those small delightful dishes served before a meal. I earliest memory of an appetizer is one of those little mini hot dogs in puff pastry my Aunt Gert used to serve us at holiday times.
Appetizers can be served hot or cold, simple or elaborate, they are handed out to get your appetite stimulated before the big meal. I’m guessing they are often used to hold off your appetite to give the host more time to get the food on the table.
Either way, here are a few of my favorite appetizer recipes:
How to Make the Simplest Christmas Crack This Holiday My wife arrived home with holiday glee in her eyes with tales of an incredible Christmas treat prepared by her boss that she just had to immediately recreate for our family and friends. She could barely set down the bags of ingredients she just purchased for […]
A Wreath For Eating, Not Hanging On Your Front Door Every year we can count on at least one invitation to a holiday season potluck dinner. This gives me the opportunity to make my super easy and seasonally festive turkey cranberry wreath……not for hanging on the door, but for consumption. My copy of the recipe […]
How to Prepare Homemade Bruschetta with Fresh Seasonal Tomatoes It’s still summer so it’s still bruschetta time. Let me start by describing what bruschetta is. Pronounced brew-SKET-ta, bruschetta is a simple Italian appetizer that starts with toasted slices of bread brushed with olive oil and rubbed with garlic and goes from there. I know you […]
Bacon Wrapped Anything Sounds Good To Me My wife showed me how to make these delightful morsels of deliciousness over the weekend. She picked up the recipe on the internet but when I went to find one to work with, I found several different versions. They all look good and are basically the same but […]
How to Make Black Beans and Corn Salsa? This is a very simple, chunky salsa that is wonderful served with hearty tortilla chips. It is open to interpretation—feel free to add some cooked shrimp or other seafood to it, maybe some diced roasted chicken or even some cooked shredded pork and turn it into a […]
Danger Alert. These Cashews Are Dangerously Addictive If you are looking for a little sumpin sumpin to serve to friends and family, don’t have much time and want it to taste so good no one will be able to stop eating, this is the snack for you. Think about it, cashews are difficult enough to […]
A Good Old Fashioned Appetizer Recipe for Spinach Balls This recipe comes from my wife’s collection kept in a notebook filled with loose pieces of paper, some original, some copies but all containing some of my wife’s favorites. This recipe has one of her mom’s friends name attached to it but who knows where […]
A Classic Cheese Fondue We typically don’t eat much fondue in our house, maybe a couple times a year but in the past few weeks I’ve enjoyed three fondue nights so I thought it must be time to do a little research and write about preparing a delicious fondue at home. One of our fondue […]
George’s Simple Shrimp Boil With Lots of Flavor My wife hosted a dinner party this weekend for work colleagues and their spouses. One of the spouses was my friend George, an avid fisherman, clammer, crabber and a pretty darn good cook. He brought to the party his special shrimp dish that I will now affectionately call […]
“Try them, try them, and you may! Try them and you may, I say.” – Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham I saw this idea for guacamole deviled eggs in a cooking magazine and told my wife about them. She must have thought it was a good idea because she and I, with a lot […]
I'm a work-at-home dad who enjoys cooking, learning everything I can about the culinary world and sharing it with you. To learn more about me... Read More
How to Make the Best Beef Wellington This Beef Wellington recipe has become a tradition in our house. We prepare it every couple of years for Christmas and made it again this year. If I’m lucky, we will have it next year and the year after that. My wife originally found a recipe in Fine […]
Christmas Standing Rib Roast Thanksgiving is a holiday in which turkey really shines. Many of you would rather not deal with another turkey just four weeks after Thanksgiving. Some of you might still have some frozen leftovers. The Christmas meal is a celebratory meal, and as such, celebration food is a natural at the Christmas […]
How to Bake A Ham For Christmas
Baked Christmas Ham Recipe Would you like to serve a wonderfully flavorful and juicy ham for the holidays? Here’s a can’t-go-wrong recipe that will have your guests asking for seconds, and for a plate of leftovers, as well. Be sure to read about the history of serving ham on Christmas and the various types of […]
