Shrimp Spread

• 3 8oz packages of cream cheese
• 1 can tomato soup (zesty tomato soup is great if you can find it otherwise a few dashes of Tabasco, to taste, will zest it up for you)
• 3-4 cans tiny broken shrimp or 1-2 cups frozen salad shrimp thawed works as well
• 1/2 cup minced onions
• 1 teaspoon season salt
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

In a medium sauce pan, with the burner set to low, melt cream cheese and tomato soup stirring until well combined and smooth - do not let this sit or it will burn. Once the consistency is smooth mix in remaining ingredients. Pour into serving container (or air tight container if making in advance) and allow to cool completely in refrigerator (This will keep up to a week).  Serve on crackers or baguettes. 

Garlic Cheese Beer Bread Mini Muffins

Using this standard Beer Bread Recipe and few minor changes I made mini muffins for a weekend party. They were a BIG hit and super simple.This is how I did it.

• 3 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder (fresh!)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese. 
• 12 ounces draft beer
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter (melted)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Heat oven to 375ºF.
Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, garlic powder and cheese in a large mixing bowl.
Slowly stir in beer and mix just until combined. Batter will be thick.
Drop by teaspoons into 2 sprayed mini muffin pans (24 muffins each)
Melt butter. Mix in garlic salt. Pour 1 teaspoon butter over each muffin.
Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick  stuck in the center comes out clean.
Pop out of pan into serving basket. Makes 48

Dilly Vegetable Dip

• 8oz Cream Cheese - Softened
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Dry Onion Flakes
• 1/2 teaspoons Beau Monde seasoning**
• 1 teaspoons Dill Weed
• 1 teaspoons Dry Parsley Flakes

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Serve at room temperature with cut veggies of your choice.

**Beau Monde seasoning can be hard to find. Personally I like the dimension it adds but you can leave it out all together and it still tastes good. If you can't find it and want to make your own, here's a recipe that works just fine!

Beau Monde Seasoning:

1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground bay leaf
1 tablespoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons ground pepper
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon celery seed

In a small mixing bowl, mix together all ingredients. Pour into a tightly closed jar and store in a cool, dry place. Yields approximately 9 tablespoons.

Mozzarella Tomato Fingerwiches

• 1 loaf of small circumference Rustic Bread (French / Sourdough / Brochette size)
• Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
• Basil Garlic Pesto
• Fresh picked tomatoes
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Slice bread 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Brush one side of bread slices with pesto. Top with a 1/4 inch thick slice of fresh Mozzarella. Top with sliced fresh tomato, Salt and Pepper to taste, and another slice of Mozzarella cheese. Top with second piece of bread. Drizzle hot indoor grill or pan with extra virgin Olive Oil. Place sandwiches on hot grill cook until cheese is melted and bread is browned. Brush top slice of bread with. Turn and grill second side. These can be served open face as well by ending with the salt and pepper.

Cinnamon Maple Chunky Applesauce

• 4 cups peeled, chopped apples (fresh or frozen is fine)
• ½ cup very loosely packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup good bourbon or brandy (optional)
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Maple Flavoring or 1 Tablespoon Fresh Maple Syrup

Place all ingredients into the crock pot. Stir until apples are coated. Cook on high heat for about 3 hours. Stir ingredients and mash with potato masher leaving some chunks. Let cool slightly. Serve warm or cold.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• 2 teaspoons melted butter
  
• 1 generous pinch of kosher salt
• 1 ½ cups raw pumpkin seeds

Clean seeds from pumpkins. Rinse and remove all pumpkin strings. Let dry thoroughly. Mix with melted butter and salt. Adjust the butter and salt depending on how many seeds you have to roast.
For seasoned seeds use various kinds of salt or spices.  If you like them spicy try Cajun or Chili season. If you like them sweet try a cinnamon sugar mixture.
Place in single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 300°F oven, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Pizza Buns

• 1 pound ground meat
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1  package small dinner rolls (split horizontally to make 24 tops and bottoms)
• 1 jar cheese whiz or 8 cheese slices (quartered)
• 1 jar pizza sauce
• Grated Parmesan Cheese

Place about 1 tablespoon oil in fry pan and heat. Dump chopped onion in pan and let sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add ground meat and brown as usual. In the meant time separate tops from bottoms of dinner rolls. Place on cookie sheet cut side up. Spread each bun half with Cheese Whiz or top with 1/4 slice piece of cheese. Top each half bun with a 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon of sauce (more or less) in the center of each half, until all sauce is used. top with heaping teaspoon spoon full of meat mixture in the center of each half bun on top of the sauce. Sprinkle each half bun with grated Parmesan cheese. Preheat oven to 350°F bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until buns are golden and crunchy.

Be creative, these can be topped with any type pizza toppings.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

• 1 pound sliced bacon cut into thirds
• 2 -8 ounce cans whole water chestnuts drained
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
• 1 – 2  teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Slice bacon into thirds. With round tooth picks secure 1 piece of bacon around each water chestnut.  Place in a sprayed 9″x 13″  pan.  In small sauce pan mix last three ingredients stirring just until it reaches the boiling point.  Pour on top of water chestnuts.  Cover pan with foil and bake in a 350°F oven for about one hour.  Remove from oven. ** See note

Remove water chestnuts to plate using slotted spoon allowing the grease and sauce to drain well from them.  Pour sauce into 2 cup measure and place in refrigerator so that layer of grease forms on top.  Once cooled remove the layer of grease. Add water chestnuts to crock pot pour sauce over water chestnuts and reheat on high 1/2 to 1 hour prior to serving. 

 **(If you don’t mind the grease you can serve immediately without draining.  I hate the grease so I make this ahead of time and do it in two steps.)

Mexican Tortilla Roll-Ups

• 1 – 8 pack of large tortillas
• 1/3 cup minced onion (1 small fresh or dry or about 3 green onions chopped small)
• 1 – 4.25 oz can chopped olives
• 1 -4 oz can chopped green chilli’s
• 1 – 8 oz package room temperature cream cheese
• 1 – 8 0z container sour cream
• 1 package or ¼ cup taco seasoning

Cream cheese until fluffy, blend with sour cream. Add taco seasoning blend until creamy. fold in onions, olives, and chilli’s until well incorporated.
 Put a thin spread of ingredients on a tortilla shell leaving a bit of space at the bottom for the oozing spread.
 Roll tightly making sure seam is sealed with spread.  Repeat for all shells until spread is gone.  Place in Tupperware seam side down and chill for several hours.  Just prior to serving remove roll from container and cut into bite sized pieces, placing each on a plate.  Insert toothpicks if you desire.

**I’ve also made these roll-ups in a variety of other ways placing a single piece of sliced lunch meat, such as ham, pastrami or turkey on top of an appropriate flavored herb cream cheese.  Use your imagination, mix it up and enjoy.

Easy Sweet BBQ Cocktail Meatballs

2 - 3 lbs Italian style meatballs (home made or frozen)
1 (12 oz) jar chilli sauce
1 (12 oz) jar grape jelly

Mix chilli sauce and jelly in bottom of a 1 - 2 quart crock pot. Toss with meatballs. Warm on low for about 4 hours (or high for 2 hours before lowering the temperature to low before serving).

Easy Cold Veggie Pizza

2 cans (8oz) crescent dough sheets

8 oz cream cheese softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups (approximate) vegetables of your choice chopped small **

1 to 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese 

Heat oven to 375°F.
Press both cans of dough into bottom and up the sides (to form a crust) of an ungreasted 15x10x1 inch jellyroll.
Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
In small bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, dill and garlic powder until smooth. Spread over crust. Top with vegetables. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours before serving.

**(options might include, cucumber, scallion, sweet peppers, shredded carrot, broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, etc)

Mock Liver Paté

8oz braunschweiger (softened)
8oz cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup onion (minced)
1 1/2 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Mix ingredients together until well blended.
Serve with rye crackers or rye toast.

Savory Cocktail Meatballs

• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 medium onion (minced)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon Accent
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1-2 can(s) golden mushroom soup.

Preheat oven to 350ºF .
In large bowl kneed spices into ground beef.
Roll into teaspoon sized balls and place on baking sheet.
Bake approximately 45 minutes until done.
Drain off grease.
In frying pan, slow cooker, or baking dish, top meatballs with mushroom soup and toss.
Heat until warmed.

This is an excellent hot dish for a party all by itself. Serve it over mashed potatoes or egg noodles and you have a great entree.