Finger Food and Appetizers

Bruschetta is what I consider fancy garlic bread. It’s become some kind of trend in the USA to call the topping on this bread Bruschetta and you can even find it packaged in some grocery stores. Go figure. Whatev. It’s really delicious and just about everyone you know and care about will love it.

Bruschetta can be served with a meal to replace plain bread, it can be used as an appetizer; as a snack; or, for light eaters, as a small meal.

The recipe (just omit the spaghetti LOL): Bruschetta (bottom of the page)

This is Jeanne Zablotskyy’s video showing us how easy it is to make her amazing cream cheese chicken quesadilla.

This looks SO good – had to share and also wanted an easy place to find it again. LOL

I will definitely make this quesadilla one day soon. When I do, I’ll post about it and hopefully have pictures right here.

Video: Cream Cheese Quesadilla

Turkey Kielbasa Appetizer

Turkey Kielbasa with Spicy sweet mustard dipping sauce

There’s nothing really special about turkey kielbasa until you pair it with divine Spicy Sweet Mustard Sauce. Then you’ve got a delicious appetizer.

Ingredients:

1 package Hillshire Farms Turkey Kielbasa

Preparation:

Cut kielbasa links into 4 even sized pieces. Cook kielbasa links and a few teaspoons of water in a large frying pan over medium heat until browned on all sides. If kielbasa starts to burn, turn down heat and add a few more teaspoons of water. Remove from pan and slice into bite sized pieces.

Serve with Spicy Sweet Mustard Sauce for dipping.

Bell Pepper Snacks

For parents concerned about getting more nutritious veggies into their kid’s diet, this is a “snack”  and a side dish that I use as much as possible:

Raw red, yellow and orange bell peppers are delicious and can be cut into slices (strips not rounds) for kids to munch on. They taste great, most kids love them and they’re loaded with vitamins and other healthy nutrients. (I avoid the green ones because they don’t taste as sweet and what is it in those green ones that is so hard to digest?!)

These are also great as a side veggie with any protein and bread (or potato, pasta, noodles …) to round out a quick, easy and tasty meal the kids will eat.

– For a perfect kid-friendly meal, try chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes and sliced red, yellow and orange bell peppers. Easy, quick, delicious and healthy.

Try bell pepper slices for your kids if you haven’t already … they might like them and they’re a great nutritional snack and side dish.

My favorite appetizer and it’s easy and delish:

Dump a jar (small to medium) of very hot (spicy) Jalapeno jelly over a brick of cream cheese. Serve with Wheat Thin crackers.

This is a wonderful party dish to set out. Guests can dig into the cream cheese and scoop up some Jalapeno jelly with the crackers – no need for knives or serving utensils.

This is an easy way to make chicken cutlets, Italian style. Kids love them and they are a good finger food, too! You can call them “Chicken Fingers” if your kids will respond better to the fast food word.

These are also great as cold snacks when there are some left over.

Ingredients:

1 pound (approximately 12) skinless, boneless chicken tenders*
2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano (or Parmesan) cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup any vegetable (or olive)  oil

salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Wash chicken tenders and dip in beaten egg.

In large, sturdy plastic bag, add bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt & pepper. Shake to mix well

Add egg-coated chicken tenders to bread crumb mixture in bag. Shake well to coat completely.

Heat oil in large skillet on medium high heat. When oil is hot, add chicken tenders. Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Remove from skillet onto paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Blot tops with another wad of paper towels.

Serves 4

Enjoy!

*I always have a bag of flash frozen chicken tenders (the little piece of rib meat that is always tender and the perfect size for cutlets without having to cut into pieces) in my freezer. Whenever a recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, I use these and adjust the cooking time for the thinner tenders. This recipe cooking time is for tenders. If using thicker breast meat, you might have to cook them another minute per side to cook through. You will also want to cut the larger chicken breasts into 3 or 4 pieces. Do not overcook either the tenders or the breasts or they’ll be tough.