We would love to invite our friends over more often in 2019. I need to have more appetizers in my back pocket that are easy to keep on hand and easy to toss together. Please share your favorites!
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In the summertime, I like to keep ingredients
for Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Style Salsa on-hand. Sometimes I cheat and freeze a.couple containers of jalapeno, onion, cilantro and lime juice so I don't necessarily need anything fresh.https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/restaurant-style-salsa/?printable_recipe=11059
I also like to keep decent cheese and salami on hand, but need to be better at keeping crackers around (besides Goldfish!).
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Love love love this one, looking for the link now
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Literally anything featured on Dirty Diaper Designer Bag’s features. My favorite is her crack dip.
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@Sams Mom: oh perfect! That's great and I have that cook book! Thanks!
@LBee: Never heard of this website, thanks so much!
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@SweetCaroline: super easy and great!
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@SweetCaroline: We recently served the avocado hummus at a party and people were obsessed!!!
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Also there is a ham & Swiss mini sandwich on sweet rolls with some kind of poppy seed mustard sauce that seems to always be served at baby showers around here.
https://www.averiecooks.com/ham-cheese-sliders/
Not sure if this is the exact recipe, but they look like this
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Check out Trader Joe’s for frozen appetizers that are easy to pick up or keep on hand.
I love the frozen spinach-artichoke dip and always keep a few on hand. I serve it with mini carrots, snap peas, and cucumber slices. You could also serve it with pita chips.
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Baked Brie! So easy and so good.
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@Bluebonnet: I was also going to suggest frozen ones. We rarely entertain but I like to keep frozen apps on hand just in case OR sometimes I’ll throw some in the oven just for DH and I watching a movie.
I’m actually not familiar with what TJ has, but we get ours from FreshDirect (which I think is regional). Things like goat cheese and onion marmalade crostini’s, mushroom tartlettes, spanikopita, mini empanadas, and even pigs in a blanket! I’m sure TJ has a lot of similar things. -
Heat and mix 8oz cream cheese with a jar of salsa verde. So simple and so delicious!
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My default is a cheese plate. We buy quarter wheels of manchego cheese from Costco. I can easily slice off a wedge and plate it with bread or crackers. We usually keep Carrs on hand. And then I usually add some dried fruit and nuts and maybe some fresh fruit. It depends on what is kicking around the pantry.
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Puff pastry in the freezer makes apps pretty easy because you can do a lot of quick stuff with it.
Cheese straws, many kinds of pinwheels (cheese, pesto, spinach, tomato, mushroom, onion, fruit jam), mini tarts, and probably a bunch more stuff I’m forgetting.
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I buy bags of flavored or sweet and salty mixed nuts when they're on sale to keep on hand. Peppered jelly poured over cream cheese is delicous and easy. Serve with crackers. Jarred bruschetta or tapenade is easy to keep on hand along with a bag of crostini. Favorite family party dips are buffalo chicken (can of chicken, hot sauce, blue cheese dressing, cream cheese and mozz all mixed and baked together) and blt dip (lb bacon cooked mixed with a cup mayo and cup sour cream, added in some diced choppes tomato which can be canned, serve it in a head of ice berg lettuce with chunks of lettuce to dip in and pita chips). I also always have sour cream in the fridge and a packet of onion soup mix for onion dip.
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Salads, guac, meatballs in sweet & sour, olive toast (chopped olives, mayo, cheese, spices melted on rye bread).
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Most of our entertaining is kid centered, so I typically put out fruit (grapes, clementines, or apples), sliced cheese, hummus, pretzels, and a crunchy veggie (pea pods, carrots, cucumber). These are my snacks if I get less than 10 minutes notice that we are hosting (my husband frequently sees neighbors playing outside and a play date ends up at our house)
If I get a little heads up, I love roasted veggies with hummus, flat bread pizzas, and pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches. They all take less than 5 minutes of active prep and work well with all ages.
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@SweetCaroline: My husband and I say this every year, and what we have noticed is that we tend to invite people over more in the summer, when we can entertain outdoors.
I always have flavored seltzer water on hand and I like to have a signature cocktail, which is usually rose sangria and beer in bottles. I keep honest juice boxes for the kids.
Then for food, I like to serve home assembled pizza using store bought dough/crust. There are several now that the regular grocery store carries and they keep well in the fridge.
I also do a tomato tart when it is the season, that's also one I can pretty much make at a moments notice. And if I can't pull something together, we order in or someone makes a food run. It's eased my stress about having a stocked pantry.
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Pizza Dip
1. Spread 8 oz of cream cheese in the bottom of a pie pan or small casserole dish.
2. Add a layer of pizza sauce. Eyeball it depending on how much sauce you like.
3. Top with mozzarella cheese and chopped (I usually quarter the regular-sized pepperoni) or mini pepperoni. I like to use turkey pepperoni.
4. Bake in the oven at around 350 or 375 until everything is melted and bubbly (20 minutes or so).
5. Serve hot with tortilla chips, crackers, or toasted pieces of bread.I used to have the actual recipe for this, but it is so easy that I pretty much just eyeball it now. You can also add other pizza toppings if you want, but we usually just do pepperoni.
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Another thing I thought of is to keep a log of polenta on hand (it's shelf stable). You can slice it and then fry it and serve it with tomato sauce. People flip over it and it's super easy.
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Keep some jars of spicy jelly in the pantry, and some crackers. Dump on a log of cream cheese or goat cheese.
Jarred olives, pretzel chips, shelf stable salami.
There are some boxed mixes to make hummus that are pantry stable. Usually you just mix with water. Serve with pita chips and olives. Maybe dried fruit.
Bagel chips and whipped cream cheese.
Peanut butter and maple syrup beaten together served with cinnamon raisin bagel chips.
Cornichon, cheese cubes, crackers, cherry tomatoes.
Mixed nuts in fun flavors and sliced whatever fruit you have around.
Skinny girl flavored popcorn and chocolate almonds.
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My go to is chicken enchilada dip:
2 blocks cream cheese, 2 cans cream of chix, 2 cans chicken, and jalepeno. (I have jars on hand). Throw in a crock pot and heat. Serve with tostitos or toasted bread (my fav).You can also make-ahead meatballs, I use a betty crocker recipe with onions, Worcestershire and bread crumbs, and keep them frozen. Pull out, cook, and then throw in a crock pot with bbq sauce and pineapple chunks.
My SIL brought over this really good dip... cream cheese with deli ham and chives mixed in, served on crackers with summer sausage. So good!
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Easy so soooo delicious.
https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/baked-brie-recipe-with-sun-dried-tomatoes/I love it with those thin rice crackers.
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Baked Brie... top with 1/4 c of cranberries, 1/4 c of brown sugar ,and 1/4 chopped pecans. Bake until melted and serve with a baguette. So easy and so delicious!
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