Appetizer Recipes

Scroll down to view our tastiest appetizer recipes!

Crock Pot Spiced Mixed Nuts

April 26, 2015 by Kay Leave a Comment

Crock Pot Spiced Mixed Nuts are a sweet and salty snack made in a crock pot and are perfect to have on hand for a kid’s snack, your weekday lunch or for a party.

Crock Pot Spiced Mixed Nuts use some very aromatic spices; cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Add in cayenne if you like to add a little heat to the mix. The sweet in the mix comes from pure maple syrup and the salty comes from sea salt. To finish off this tasty treat, butter is added in to the mix!

Enjoy this tasty treat, I promise you won’t be able to stop eating this delicious snack.

Crock Pot Spiced Mixed Nuts

Rating: 51

Yield: 6 Cups

Crock Pot Spiced Mixed Nuts

Ingredients

2 cups pecans, unsalted
2 cups almonds, unsalted
2 cups cashews, unsalted
3 tbsp. butter, melted plus more for crock pot
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Instructions

Very lightly grease the bottom and sides of a crock pot with butter. Set the temperature to high. Place the nuts into the prepared crock pot.
In a small bowl, add the melted butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cayenne pepper and sea salt, which together.
Pour the mixture over the nuts. Use a rubber spatula to thoroughly combine, making sure the nuts are well coated and are evenly distributed across the bottom of the crock pot.
Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes. Then stir the nuts well and reduce the temperature to low. Cover and continue to cook on low for 1 1/2 more hours, making sure to stir the nuts every 30 minutes.
After cooking time is completed, stir the nuts well. Then, carefully spread the nuts out onto parchment-lined baking sheets to cool.
Allow the spiced nuts to cool completely. Then, place them into airtight containers.
Nuts will remain fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week, or store in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Notes

Adapted from Kitchen Aid.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/crock-pot-spiced-mixed-nuts/

Spiced with Cinnamon

Spiced with Nutmeg

Spiced with Ginger

Spiced with Cayenne Pepper

Made with Real Maple Syrup

Just a touch of Sea Salt

Made with Butter

Crock Pot Spiced Mix Nuts

Baked Green Olive Dip

January 21, 2015 by Kay Leave a Comment

This Green Olive Dip recipe features a creamy, salty hot dip that gets its flavor from green olives, artichokes and roasted red peppers.

I have a confession to make, I don’t like black olives, I absolutely can’t stand them. But, I LOVE green olives. I can eat them by the jar full. So, when I came across this recipe for Green Olive Dip it made it to the top of the list of “must make soon” recipes.

The Green Olive Dip recipe comes together quickly. Throw everything into your food processor and mix, spread it into a baking dish and bake until golden and bubbly and it’s ready to eat.

I served this dip with crackers but you could easily serve Green Olive Dip with sliced bread or tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Baked Green Olive Dip

Rating: 41

Baked Green Olive Dip

Ingredients

1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
½ cup Olive Oil based Mayonnaise
½ cup Roasted Red Peppers
½ cup Artichoke Hearts, drained
½ cup Green Olives with Pimentos
½ cup shredded Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray.
In a food processor, add all ingredients. Pulse until completely combined.
Spread the mixture into your baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are bubbly and the top starts to brown. Serve hot with crackers, bread or tortilla chips.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/baked-green-olive-dip/

Adapted from Country Cleaver

Green Olive Dip

Creamy & Salty Dip

Perfect Party DIp

Green Olive Dip

Serve with crackers, bread or chips.

Pesto Pepper Pizza

September 3, 2014 by Kay Leave a Comment

Pesto Pepper Pizza is a vegetarian pizza that utilizes pesto in place of pizza sauce to give it an extra zing and is topped off with sweet peppers and mozzarella cheese.

Here is another recipe using home made pesto, (click here to be directed to my recipes for Pesto 3 Ways). For the Pesto Pepper Pizza I used Celery Pesto as the sauce. I topped it with strips of sweet red bell pepper and freshly grated mozzarella cheese. Bake until golden brown and you have a tasty pizza that you can’t put down!

Try my recipe for Pizza Dough for the Pesto Pepper Pizza or a store bought dough would work also. If you make my Pizza Dough, consider making my recipe for Canadian Bacon & Green Olive Pizza or my recipe for Four Cheese Pizza.

Enjoy!

Pesto Pepper Pizza

Rating: 51

Yield: 4 Servings

Pesto Pepper Pizza

Ingredients

1 Pizza Dough
1/2 cup Pesto
1 red bell pepper, sliced in strips
1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Spread the pizza dough on a greased pizza pan.
Bake the pizza dough for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven.
Spread the pesto on top of the pizza dough. Sprinkle half of the cheese on the crust. Place the pepper strips evenly over the crust. Add the rest of the mozzarella cheese on top of the pizza.
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbly.
Cut and serve.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/pesto-pepper-pizza/

Spread the pizza dough on the pan and bake for 7 minutes.

Spread the pesto on top of the crust.

Add half of the cheese and the pepper strips.

Add the rest of the cheese.

Bake until golden brown.

The pesto is a nice alternative to pizza sauce.

Pesto Pepper Pizza

Yummy Pizza!

Chunky Pesto Shrimp

September 2, 2014 by Kay Leave a Comment

Chunky Pesto Shrimp is a quick appetizer or main dish that is sure to impress everyone at the dinner table.

As promised from yesterday when I featured my Pesto 3 Ways, I am back today with a recipe to utilize one of the pestos. I featured Celery Pesto, Broccoli Kale Pesto and Kale Pesto. All three offer ways to use up extra greens from your garden, CSA share or the farmers market. The added benefit of making a lot of pesto is that it can be frozen to use at a later date.

Chunky Pesto Shrimp starts with fresh shrimp that is sauteed in butter and olive oil and is tossed with pesto. I used Kale Pesto for this recipe and I only pulsed the pesto a couple of times to leave it more chunky.

Feel free to serve this as an appetizer or as a main dish, either way it will be a big hit. If serving it as an appetizer, I like to serve it with crusty bread. If serving this as a main dish serve it on top of pasta or rice (the crusty bread works great here too).

Enjoy!

Chunky Pesto Shrimp

Rating: 51

Yield: 4 Servings

Chunky Pesto Shrimp

Ingredients

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tsp. butter
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 - 2/3 cup pesto, get my recipe here

Instructions

Rinse the shrimp under water. Place the shrimp on paper towel and pat dry.
In a large sauce pan, over medium high heat, add the olive oil and butter. Once melted, place the shrimp in the pan, making sure that the shrimp is not touching each other.
Cook for 1 1/2 minutes, then turn the shrimp over. Cook until the other side of the shrimp turns pink. Add the pesto and stir to combine. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/chunky-pesto-shrimp/