New Year's Eve Appetizer Round-Up

New Year's Eve is a time for celebrating the end of a year and the beginning of a bright new one.  A time to socialize with family and friends.

Appetizers are great items to serve allowing you to mingle with people, grabbing a small bite.  They are easy to carry, fit on a small plate, and are often finger food.  Clean up is a cinch, and you don't have to prepare a sit down dinner with all the dishes to wash!

Here is a display of some great appetizers that would be perfect to ring in the New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

Spinach and Feta Cheese Bundles

Sausage Mushroom Quiche Appetizers

Cheesy Garlic Herb Bread

Garlicky Lima Bean Spread

Cheesy Italian Bread

Sweet Onion Salsa

Seeded Breadsticks

Mini Pizzas

Salsa Roja

Chicken Pot Pie Pockets

2012 Update:

Plum and Mascarpone Crostini

Spinach and Feta Mini Turnovers

Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Flatbread

Mini Pizzas

How many of you had to take Home Economics in Junior High School?  

I'm kinda dating myself, although it really wasn't all that long ago!  It was a class girls could take that combined cooking and sewing skills.  Boy, times have changed and I don't think that they even offer a course like this any longer.  We also had International Cooking courses as an elective in High School.  Maybe they should bring them back?  Seems like the art of cooking is getting lost in a world of electronics.  


That's why I love blogs.  It's so great to see so many of the younger generation of men and women cooking.  The talent out there...OMG amazing!! It's heartwarming to see that the interest is there because cooking is actually fun!  I love that people are passing down family recipes and teaching their young children how to cook.  Sharing family treasures is the best way to keep traditions and memories alive.


This super simple easy dish is a great memory for me.  I've been making these Mini Pizzas since Junior High where I learned them.  They are a knock off of a "real" pizza.  They are great for kids, an afternoon snack, or as adults that love them too, you can serve these as appetizers.  Say...New Year's Eve is coming up...what a great idea! hehe!


The best part is that you can create any type of pizza that you want.  The toppings are all up to you, so create to your hearts content. Keep them simple...or make them elegant.   I'll provide you with the basic recipe and you can take it from there, the variations are endless!


Here you go....step by step pics.


Making the sauce...simple.  Just a can of tomato sauce with some Italian seasoning added, stir and heat it up to blend the flavors.  You can jazz it up if you want!.

Shaping the pizzas...simple.  Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Spread them out with your fingers to form the pizzas.  Note:  don't use the flaky layered biscuits for this, they don't work so well.  The buttermilk old time regular biscuits work the best!

Add the sauce...

Add your toppings...

 




Pop them in the oven and let them bake at 450 fro about 8 to 10 min.  They should puff a little and turn golden brown.  Voila....mini pizzas!  Dig in!

Mini Pizzas


serves 10


1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 tsp. Italian seasoning 
1 small can of biscuits (not the flaky layered kind)


Toppings:
shredded cheese
turkey pepperoni, sausage, olives, peppers, diced ham, etc.


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Open the can of tomato sauce and put it in a small saucepan.  Add the Italian seasoning.  Place over medium heat and bring the sauce to a bubble.  Turn the heat down to a simmer.


Open the can of biscuits and place them on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Using your fingers spread out each biscuit to flatten the dough just a bit.  Add some warm sauce to each biscuit, leaving a small edge around the biscuit.  Top with shredded cheese and any other toppings.

Bake at 450 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Seeded Breadsticks

New Year's is upon us already.

The year has gone by so fast!  What happened?  It's been like a whirlwind of activity since October!  Onward and upward...and I'm looking forward to a bright and shiny 2012.   For New Year's Eve I love to make an array of appetizers, or finger foods that people can munch on while socializing.

One easy dish is my Seeded Breadsticks.  They are perfect with soup, salad, or along side your lunch or dinner.  Cut cut these babies in half and your have "mini" breadsticks...perfect for appetizers!  The best part, they are easy and quick to make!

 

 






Try my seeded breadsticks and let me know what your favorite appetizer to serve is.

Seeded Breadsticks

Serves 12

1  14 ounce can refrigerated pizza dough

1 ½ teaspoons each: pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds, plain sesame seeds, and black sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.  Unroll pizza dough on a lightly floured surface.  Gently roll dough into a 12x9-inch rectangle. Sprinkle with seeds.  Using a pizza cutter cut dough crosswise into 12 strips.  

Twist dough several times and place strips on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 12 breadsticks.  Note:  As an appetizer cut breadsticks in half before baking, making 24 mini breadsticks.