Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Bring Back the Cheese! And other fun Appetizers.


It's almost PARTY SEASON!

Here are some fun and easy ideas that let you get to the party on-time.
Nuts - The Cheese Ball - and a Relish Tray



Nuts: great for snacking with cocktails
* Spiced Walnuts
* U Pick: Sweet or Spicy, and works with any nut combo

The Cheese Ball: fun, cute, and can be made ahead!
* Martha shows you how to do Cheese Balls Three Ways
* Amy Sedaris' Li'l Smokey Cheeseball

The Relish Tray: salty and martini-worthy
* What goes on a relish tray? All things pickled
        Try: baby pickles, jarred artichoke hearts, pickled cherry peppers, spiced apple rings, spiced pickled pears, pickled mushrooms, anything from your grocer's olive bar or pickle aisle!
* Make it Special
       Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives are fantastic - when they are fresh. The jarred version offers a bland, dry and crumbly cheese filling. However, you can buy a small chunk of blue cheese and a jar of big pitted green olives - and stuff them yourself! Just plug the hole with the cheese, and put the olives back into the original jar until you are ready to use them. They are TASTY!!
* Special Equipment
          A long tray, divided if you have one, with those tiny little forks - you can even get forked toothpicks from the grocery store if you don't have a mini relish fork on-hand.

3 comments:

Kate (KnitsInClass) said...

Reading this before dinner ... I could really go for some cheese... and olives

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

This reminds me of the relish trays my mother would prepare for holiday entertaining when I was a kid.

MommaC said...

I like the olive / blue cheese trick - simple and fresh! Gotta try it. Bet it would be great in a bloody mary!