A Great Appetizer.....Layered Reuben Spread!

Christmas will be here before we know it.  It's been such a busy time around here.  All the festivities, all the baking, the entertaining, the Christmas parties, and the shopping!  But I do love it all.  I am happy to be home today, catching up on things here in the house, and I'm making a really great dinner tonight, Meatloaf 101, it's a great dish, easy, and my family loves it! 

I love appetizers, and I am always looking for new ones.  This Layered Reuben Spread is really delicious, and so very easy.  When I have a dinner party, I always have 1 or 2 appetizers, something not too heavy, so everyone isn't so stuffed, and still want to enjoy the dinner I prepared for them.  Try this recipe, so easy and delicious!

Layered Reuben Spread

1/3 cup Mayonnaise
1/3 cup Thousand Island dressing
1 can 8oz sauerkraut, well drained
1 bag 8oz shredded Swiss Cheese (2 cups)
1 pkg (6oz) thinly sliced corned beef, chopped
2 TBS sliced green onions (2 medium)

Heat oven to 350.  In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise and dressing until well blended.

Using a greased 9 inch casserole dish, layer the sauerkraut, half the cheese, the corned beef and mayo mixture.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese and onions on top.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes and it's all bubbly around the edge.  You can serve this with crackers, but I like to serve this with that little pumpernickel bread!  YUMMO!

A GREAT Appetizer..........Pizza Biscuit Wreath!!

I love Appetizers!  They are easy, and perfect for parties!  I came across this Pizza Biscuit Wreath years ago, and it was a keeper! It's kind of like mini calzones, made with refrigerated biscuits.  It's delicious, and easy!  Make this for your next Christmas Party, you will WOW everyone!  YUMMO!


Pizza Biscuit Wreath

2 cans (12 oz each) Pillsbury Golden Layers Refrigerated Biscuits
60 small slices of that thin pepperoni
20 small chunks of Mozzarella cheese
1 egg beaten
2 TBS Parm cheese
Pizza Sauce or homemade if you like

Love these biscuits!

Heat oven to 375. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Separate the 2 cans of dough into 20 biscuits.  Press each biscuit flat.

Place 3 pieces of pepperoni and 1 piece of cheese on top of each flattened biscuit.  Wrap the dough around the pepperoni and cheese, pinching the edges to seal and forms a ball.  Leaving a 4-inch hole in the center, arrange 8 balls seam side down and sides almost touching into a ring on a greased cookie sheet. Arrange remaining 12 balls sides almost touching around outer edge of first ring.  Brush with beaten eggs, sprinkle with parm cheese.  Bake 18 - 20 minutes until golden brown.

Carefully slide wreath onto a round serving platter and put a small bowl of Sauce in the center of the wreath. Serve warm.  Enjoy!

Counting Down to Thanksgiving......A Great Appetizer...Stuffed Mushrooms!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow, actually it feels more like Easter than Thanksgiving, it's just too warm here in Northern New Jersey!  It would be nice for some colder days to roll in, just makes the holiday feel so festive, especially when the fire is going.

Here's another great appetizer for your Thanksgiving Feast, Stuffed Mushrooms.  My Stuffed Mushrooms are so delicious, and EASY!  Actually this recipe is my mother's but she never used lemon juice in her recipe, but I think the added lemon juice really adds flavor. 

I like to serve appetizers for Thanksgiving, but the meal is so heavy, and when my family comes, I want them to eat a little bit before dinner, you know while I'm in the kitchen getting the final things done, and they all can just mingle around and munch. But I don't want to serve "heavy" appetizers.  Stuffed Mushrooms are perfect, they are light, and I think everyone loves them. I usually serve them with tomato juice, and a tray of cheese and crackers. Usually around Thanksgiving, the grocery store has those big "stuffing mushrooms", I love those, and they are big enough to hold a lot of the stuffing.  Try my Stuffed Mushrooms, you will love them! 

Stuffed Mushrooms

About 20 big White Button Mushrooms (if you have a crowd, double the recipe)
3 cans Minced Clams - sold by the tuna fish
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs or more
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
4 TBS Parm Cheese
2 TBS Lemon Juice

With a damp paper towel, rub the dirt off the Mushrooms, and carefully pop the stems out.  In a frying pan, melt the butter on med heat, add the clams, bread crumbs, oregano, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper, Parm cheese, and lemon juice.  Mix up, is the mixture dry?  Add some water, if too wet, add more bread crumbs, you don't want it crumbly, it should look like stuffing and moist enough to hold together to stuff a mushroom. Taste it, what does it need, more salt, pepper, more lemon juice? Taste your food, make sure there's enough seasoning in it!  Stuff each mushroom generously, and put on a cookie sheet, or a 9x13 dish, and bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, until the mushroom is soft.

Hint....I always make these a couple of days before, they hold great in the frig, but bake them the same day you make them, and heat them up in the microwave or oven right before everyone comes to dinner!  YUMMO!

Counting Down to Thanksgiving.....Baked Brie with Strawberry Jam and Almonds!

Here's another appetizer that I love to make, and it's one of the easiest around.  It's a Baked Brie!  It's so simple, but whenever I make it, I "WOW" everyone.  Baked Brie is truly a most delicious appetizer.  I know, Brie is an expensive cheese, but I buy a nice size round in Costco, so much cheaper than at the local grocery store.  I wrap a whole Brie round in 1 sheet of puffed pastry, but first I spread strawberry jam on both sides, and top it off with either almonds or walnuts.  So delicious, and EASY!  Try it!

Baked Brie with Strawberry Jam and Almonds

1 6 inch round of Brie
1 sheet of puffed pastry thawed
4 TBS strawberry jam, or whatever kind you prefer
1/2 cup chopped or sliced almonds or walnuts whatever nut you prefer
1 egg and 1 TBS Water for Egg Wash

Unroll the puffed pastry and put it on a floured board, and just roll it out to get rid of the lines from the fold.  In the middle of the pastry, put 2 TBS jam, spread it in a circle, about the size of the Brie, top with 1/4 cup of the nuts. Take the Brie out of the package, and keeping the white part on, put it on top of the jam and nut mixture, and add more jam and nuts to the top side of the Brie.  Fold the Puffed pastry up around the top side of the Brie, folding it into a neat package.  Turn it over, the bottom will now be your top, since it's smooth and prettier.  Put it on a greased cookie sheet.  Crack the egg into a small bowl and add 1 TBS water, and mix, brush it all over the package puff pastry Brie,.  Now you can either bake it in a 375 oven for 20 mins or put it back in the frig and pop it in the oven right before your guests come. Serve with crackers on a pretty platter. YUMMO!