Magnolia Mamas : Appetizers

Showing posts with label Appetizers. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Kitchen Confessions: Spicy Crab Dip

I love appetizers. Crackers with dips or spreads are my jam and I'd be happy to eat them for dinner just about every night of the week. I love easy, make ahead recipes like this Spicy Crab Dip that I made for our Father's Day celebration last weekend. I was able to put everything together the night before and then just popped it in the oven right before we were ready to have it. Everyone LOVED it, even though some of my kids didn't know they were eating crab until after the fact. We followed this up with a big steak dinner, but honestly, I would have been fine with just this!

Spicy Crab Dip

Ingredients:

8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 T dried diced onion

2 cans (6 ounces) lump crab meat, drained

1 tsp all purpose seasoning

1/2 tsp Worcestershire

1 T lemon juice

2 T finely chipped parsley

a few shakes of Tabasco

fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 jalapeño, diced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth.

3. Add in onion, all purpose seasoning, Worcestershire, lemon juice, parsley, Tabasco, pepper and jalapeño, stirring until well combined.

4. Fold in cheddar cheese and crab meat.

5. Transfer to baking dish.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly.

7. Serve with crackers, baguette slices or pita chips.

8. Enjoy!

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Sausage Pimento Cheese Dip Recipe

'Tis the season of comfort eating and yummy dips. Today I'm sharing a quick and easy dip recipe, and be warned - it's life changing.

Well, that's a tad dramatic. But it seriously this Sausage Pimento Cheese Dip will have you wondering where it's been all your life. I've made it three times in the past week and each time it was g-o-n-e GONE in less than ten minutes.

I wish I could give credit to the person I found this dip from. I took a screen shot of the recipe from Pinterest, but forgot to save it. So if this is your dip recipe - THANK YOU!

All my family, friends, and recent guests would also like to thank you. Because if you know my culinary skills, I might have actually earned myself a little kitchen cred by making this Sausage Pimento Cheese Dip.

SAUSAGE PIMENTO CHEESE DIP

Ingredients

1 pound of breakfast sausage, ground
1 8oz block of cream cheese
1 8oz container of sour cream
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese
1 4oz jar of diced pimentos

Instructions

1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2: Grease an 8x8 baking dish (or similar sized dish).

3: Brown ground sausage on stove top into crumbles.

4: In a large mixing bowl blend cream cheese and sour cream.

5: Mix in both cheeses and pimentos.

6: Add sausage crumbles to mixture.

7: Place mixture evenly into baking dish and bake for approximately 25 mins, or until edges are bubbling.

8: Serve with chips, wheat thins or bread.

9: Enjoy!

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Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Mexican Inspired Charcuterie Board

Our love for Mexican food runs deep. I mean what's not to love about chips, salsa, margaritas, and -my personal favorite - cheese dip?! Today we present to you the Mexican Inspired Charcuterie Board.

It's just as amazing as it sounds. And now we've been ruined of all other charcuterie boards forever.

A few weeks ago we were trying to think of a quick pre-soccer practice snack. Practice falls in that weird time frame that you have to decide to eat dinner at 4:30p.m. or 8:30p.m. (or both). Charcuterie boards I've found are a good way to sneak in a little healthy snack/dinner.

Call me crazy, but I feel like my kids are almost willing to eat a veggie more this way. It's as if broccolli being artfully styled near a block of cheese somehow makes it more appetizing.

As we approached Cinco de Mayo, I thought why not make a Mexican Inspired one? It was super easy to come up with items to put on it (not to mention - all the dips!!!), and the kids loved it.

I've thrown it in a few different entertaining situations we've had lately, and its been a huge crowd pleaser!

We're chatting about all the different ways you can create your own Mexican Inspired Charcuterie Board on Savvy Sassy Moms. Pop over to check it out, and don't forget to swing by and grab the Strawberry Margarita recipe Carrie Beth shared a few weeks ago. Your Taco Tuesday just got a whole lot yummier!

What are some of your favorite ways to make Charcuterie Boards?

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How to Make a Mexican Inspired Charcuterie Board

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Kitchen Confessions: Mango Salsa

Remember a few weeks ago when I shared about our Key West trip and all of those huge Mahi Mahi that we caught?!

Well, the good thing about having such great luck fishing means tons of fish to bring home. All of the couples got to bring home tons of fish and now our freezer is stocked! I've been looking for different ways to cook it and thinking back to some of our meals we had in Key West I immediately decided fish tacos with mango salsa would be added to the list.

I started looking around for some fresh mango salsa recipes, but couldn't find anything that was exactly what I was hoping for so I decided to just give it a whirl and try creating my own. That could have gone way wrong, but instead it went oh, so right! This mango salsa was seriously so delicious I might have hurt my shoulder patting myself on the back.

The hardest thing was cutting that dang mango. I had to google how to do it properly and still ended up throwing half of it away because I pretty much butchered it. Next time I make this (and there will be a next time!) I think I'll probably just buy some already pre-cut.

Mango Salsa
-3 mangos, diced (again with my mix-up I'd probably substitute 2 cups worth of diced mango)
-1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Combine mango, pepper, onion and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with lime juice and mix well, season with salt to taste. Stir and serve!

This salsa was SO very good. I had made it ahead of time for the dinner we were going to be cooking the next night, but we couldn't wait to eat it so we had some of it that night with tortilla chips and I could have finished off the whole thing. It was that good!

I made myself save some for the next day though because those fish tacos were calling my name. I baked the Mahi Mahi and added that with lettuce, cheese and the mango salsa to our taco shells. Not only did it look nice and colorful, but it seriously tasted like something from a restaurant!

This is such an easy thing to make ahead of time and last for up to 2 days covered in the refrigerator.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Kitchen Confessions: Italian Sausage Roll-ups

Now that we've fully recovered from our whirlwind weekend, I wanted to share with you some of the yummy that was shared. From impromptu play dates turned dinner parties to game day fun, our house was a bustle of activity this weekend - and I wouldn't have it any other way! I absolutely love when our house is full and adults and children alike are having a ton of fun conversing, laughing, and enjoying great food and drinks.

Confession: The more chaos, the more I enjoy the event.

Crazy? Absolutely! Crazy fun!

Weekends like these remind me of when I was growing up. I have a large family and often even the smallest of events were large gatherings. There would be a large buffet set up and every corner of the house would contain family and friends enjoying each other's company, cheering on their favorite team, or toasting to the holidays. It was such a fun way to grow up and now any chance I can get I fill my home with celebrations.

Whether it's a spontaneous gathering or a planned tailgating event, it always amazes me how the kitchen is usually the hub of activity and the food holds center stage. I used to stress about planning the perfect menu, or crafting exciting new dishes to share, but I as time has progressed I realize keeping things simple and traditional make for an easier event all around. Who wants the stress of being a slave to the kitchen?

That's why when weekends arise like these, I resort to one of my favorite traditional appetizer recipes.

These Italian Sausage Roll-Ups are always a crowd pleaser, and as an avid sports enthusiast, and general food eating aficionado, I suggest you make them to please your crowd too.

They are super simple, can be made quickly, and - most importantly - are extremely tasty.

The secret is all in the sauce. Literally, the sauce makes this recipe. It's used as a simmering base on the front end, and for dipping deliciousness on the final product.

Long gone are the days of me attempting to make my own sauce. Ragu® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Sauces are perfect for recipes like this. Roasted Garlic was my flavor of choice for this recipe, but there are a ton of yummy ones to choose from (you can find them here).

ITALIAN SAUSAGE ROLL-UPS

Serves: 4-6
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

1 cup of ground sausage
1 jar of Ragu® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce
1 pkg of crescent rolls
3 mozzarella cheese sticks

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice the mozzarella sticks into thirds and set aside.
Brown the ground sausage. Once browned place in a small sauce pot with 1/3 jar of Ragu® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce. Let simmer on low for approximately ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
On a pan place slices of crescent rolls. Put a tablespoon scoop of sauce mixture onto each crescent and top with mozzarella. Roll each crescent and fold all ends to the top.
Heat in oven for approximately ten minutes or until brown.
While the roll-ups are baking in the oven warm the remainder of your jar of Ragu® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce to be ready for dipping.
Remove crescents from oven and serve warm with sauce. Enjoy!

Super easy and so tasty!

For more creative ideas to use Ragu® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Sauces for your next gathering or big game day check out the Ragu® recipe website. Warning: you might leave craving something delicious!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Kitchen Confessions: Pepperoni Roll-up Appetizer

This past weekend we were invited to a fun dinner party with some of Mr. Cute's co-workers. The hostess asked everyone to bring an appetizer to share. With a quick look at my favorite cookbook (a.k.a Pinterest), I found this easy recipe for Pepperoni Roll-ups and it did not disappoint!

With Super Bowl parties just around the corner it would be the perfect yummy snack to bring and share with guests.

Ingredients:
- Mozzarella Sticks
- Can of crescent rolls
- 1 pkg of pre-sliced pepperoni (small or medium sized)
- 1 jar of marinara sauce

Instructions:
1: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
2: Slice mozzarella sticks in half

3: Place pepperoni on crescent roll, and then place mozzarella stick on top.

4: Roll crescent until formed, and place roll on cookie sheet. Repeat until all rolls are complete.
5: Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes, or until edges of crescent are beginning to brown.

6: Serve with marinara sauce and enjoy!

What are some of your favorite easy appetizer recipes?

Magnolia Mamas

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