Appetizer Recipes

Scroll down to view our tastiest appetizer recipes!

Beef & Chorizo Quesadilla

July 28, 2014 by Kay Leave a Comment

Beef & Chorizo Quesadilla’s is a quick snack or dinner option if you are short on time. The meat mixture along with cheddar & queso fresco cheese are layered between two flour tortillas and fried until the tortilla is golden brown and the cheese has melted and is oozing out the sides.

Are you familiar with chorizo sausage? It’s a variety of heavily seasoned sausage, either cured or fresh, that is common in Spanish and Mexican cuisine. It has a little kick to it, but not too much. I like to mix chorizo with beef when I make Mexican dishes as fresh chorizo can be very greasy and adding it to beef cuts back on the grease and calories.

Top the Beef & Chorizo Quesadilla with your favorite toppings: sour cream, salsa, green onions, more cheese, avocado, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, etc. I went with sour cream, salsa and green onions for my toppings.

Serve this up with your favorite Mexican beer, Sangria or a Margarita!

Enjoy!

Beef & Chorizo Quesadilla

Rating: 51

Yield: 8 Quesadillas

Beef & Chorizo Quesadilla

Ingredients

1 lb. ground chuck
1/2 lb. chorizo sausage
Flour tortillas
Cheddar Cheese
Queso Fresco Cheese
Green Onions

Instructions

In a sauce pan over medium high heat, add the ground beef and chorizo. Cook the meat for 8-10 minutes, until the meat is cooked through about 8-10 minutes. Drain the grease off of the meat.
Turn your griddle on medium high (you can also fry this in a frying pan). Place a tortilla on the griddle, Add some cheddar cheese to the top of the tortilla, add some of the meat mixture and top with more cheddar and queso fresco cheese and lastly top with green onions. Top with another tortilla. Close the griddle and cook until the cheese oozes out the side. Place the quesadilla on a plate and cut into fourths. Top with your favorite toppings.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/beef-chorizo-quesadilla/

Brown the beef and chorizo.

Add a tortilla to the griddle and add some cheese.

Add some of the meat mixture.

Add more cheese and some green onions.

Cook until golden brown.

Beef & Chorizo Quesadilla

My favorite topping is sour cream.

Cut into fourths and top with your favorite toppings.

I love how crisp it gets.

Beef & Chorizo Quesadilla

Cherry Salsa

July 17, 2014 by Kay Leave a Comment

Cherry Salsa combines bright red cherries with classic salsa ingredients to become a snack or use as a condiment on chicken or pork.

Cherries are in abundance at the grocery store right now and I do love eating them. I am not a fan of the pits but I am guessing that no one really is. I eat them as a snack or use them in a fruit salad but I thought it would be good to make a salsa with them.

My instincts were right, using the cherries in a salsa was spot on. The cherries were very ripe and juicy but combining them with lime juice, jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro made them even more juicy & delicious.

Serve this salsa with your favorite tortilla chip or do as I did and serve it on top of a grilled pork chop or chicken breast. Any way you eat it, you will love it!

Enjoy!

Cherry Salsa

Rating: 51

Yield: Approx. 2 Cups

Cherry Salsa

Ingredients

1 ½ cups cherries, chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, minced
1 small red onion, chopped
Juice of one lime
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine. Let rest for 30 minutes so the flavors can marry.
Serve as an appetizer with tortilla chips or serve with a main dish of grilled pork chops or chicken breasts.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/cherry-salsa/

Chop the fresh cherries.

Chop the onion, jalapeno, cilantro and garlic.

Love the deep colors.

Cherry Salsa

Serve with tortilla chips.

Delicious Cherry Salsa

Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

July 14, 2014 by Kay Leave a Comment

Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa is a healthy recipe of spicy fish that is topped with fresh ingredients that come to life in your mouth.

I used a basic white fish in this recipe but feel free to use tilapia or orange roughy. The fish was actually caught by my husband, Mr. B, who loves to ice fish in the cold winter months in Wisconsin. This is not something that sounds like fun to me, but it is for him and that’s all that matters. I am the lucky one because I get to prepare the fish and come up with new recipes.

This is my first attempt at making fish tacos and I must say I would rate Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa a 5 Star recipe. I used a mix of spices to massage into the fish and I used my flat side griddle to cook them which only takes minutes.

Fresh salsa made with fruit is the bomb! Pineapple was on special at the grocery store, so I decided to make Pineapple Salsa to go on the fish tacos. The heat of the jalapenos in the salsa compliments the pineapple and the fish.

The chipotle cream sauce adds another element of heat to Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa, but more of a smoky heat rather than a spicy heat. Put all the elements together and you have Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa and Chipotle Cream Sauce, super yum!

Enjoy!

Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Rating: 51

Yield: 8 - 10 Tacos

Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

Pineapple Salsa:
1 ½ cups fresh pineapple
1 medium sweet red pepper
½ cup onion
1 jalapeno
¼ cup cilantro
1-2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
Salt & Pepper
Chipotle Cream Sauce:
½ cup plain yogurt
¼ cup mayonnaise
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 chipotle pepper, minced plus 1-2 tsp. adobo sauce
pinch of salt
½ - 1 tsp. sugar, optional
Chili Rubbed Fish:
1 lb. white fish, tilapia or orange roughy
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. agave or honey
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt and pepper
Olive oil for cooking

Instructions

For the salsa: Cut the pineapple, red pepper, onion into small chunks and add to a bowl.
Mince the jalapeno, removing the seeds and membrane and add to the bowl, if you like a lot of heat keep the membranes in. * Chop the cilantro and add to the bowl. Add the lime juice and stir everything together and add a dash of salt and pepper. Let marinate for 30 minutes.
For the cream sauce: In a blender or food processor add the yogurt, mayonnaise, zest & lime juice, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce and salt, pulse to combine. Taste the sauce, add more adobo sauce if you want a little more heat. If the sauce is too acidic, add some sugar.
For the fish: In a glass bowl, add the oil, lime juice, agave, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
Pat the fish with paper towel to soak up any extra liquid. Add the fish to a glass bowl. Mix the rub into the fish using your hands or a tongs. Cover the bowl and let marinade for 30-40 minutes.
Pre-heat a griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Brush the surface with a small amount of olive oil. Add the fish and cook for 2-3 minutes and turn over and cook for another 2-4 minutes. The time will depend on the thickness of your fish, mine were very thin. Cover the fish with foil to keep warm.
On the same griddle or fry pan, warm the corn tortillas, about 15 seconds per side.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/fish-tacos-pineapple-salsa/

The fish is light & delicate.

Love the bright colors of this dish.

Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Top with chipotle cream sauce.

I like corn tortillas for this recipe.

Strawberry, Blueberry & Jicama Salsa

June 30, 2014 by Kay Leave a Comment

Strawberry, Blueberry & Jicama Salsa gives you sweetness from the fruit, crunch from the jicama and heat from the jalapeno; a tasty combination.

4th of July is in a few days, so I thought I would feature food with the colors red, white and blue. First up is Strawberry, Blueberry & Jicama Salsa. A fruit filled salsa with the crunch of jicama.

Jicama (HEE-kah-ma) is an edible root that resembles a turnip. It has thin brown skin and crisp, juicy, white flesh that’s mild in flavor (think of a cross between a water chestnut and a pear), crunchy and sweet.

I first made this recipe when I was in the Outer Banks on vacation, it was a big hit. I think I could have eaten the whole bowl myself, it was that good. I served the Strawberry, Blueberry & Jicama Salsa with Tortilla Scoops so you could get a huge amount of salsa with a small bit of chip.

You could easily serve this salsa on top of some grilled chicken or use as a condiment for fish tacos.

Enjoy!

Strawberry, Blueberry & Jicama Salsa

Rating: 51

Yield: 5 cups

Strawberry, Blueberry & Jicama Salsa

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups diced strawberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/2 cups diced jicama
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 large or 2 medium jalapenos, seeded and diced
Juice of 2 limes
Salt, to taste
Tortilla chips, for serving

Instructions

In a bowl, combine the strawberries, blueberries and jicama, stir to combine. Add in the cilantro, jalapeno, stir to combine.
Juice the limes over the mixture. Sprinkle with salt, stir to combine.
Let the salsa sit for 30 minutes to let the flavors blend.
Serve with tortilla chips.

Notes

If you like your salsa to have some heat, leave some of the seeds of the jalapeno in the salsa.

http://www.lovefoodwillshare.com/strawberry-blueberry-jicama-salsa/