Nicki's Cookbook

Category Archives: Appetizers

When you’re trying to impress at a party, appetizers wet the palette for something more!

Basic Beef Jerky

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hickory smoked teriaki jerky

This may be what we call “basic” but it is super flavorful! My husband recently got a food dehydrator for Christmas and this is what we concocted from it first! We love it so much, we haven’t tried to make another jerky recipe yet!

Makes: 32 – 1 oz. servings

Ingredients:

2 lbs. beef top round steak, cut into 1/8″ slivers
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 Tbs. Worchestershire sauce
2 Tbs. liquid hickory smoke
2 Tbs. Splenda brown sugar blend
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. course ground black pepper
1 tsp. meat tenderizer
1 tsp. california style garlic powder with parsley
1 tsp. california style onion powder with parsley
1 tsp. paprika

Method:

MARINATE OVERNIGHT

In large glass bowl, add all ingredients except beef and whisk to incorporate. Add beef and toss with hands to make sure meat is thoroughly covered with sauce. Cover tightly and marinate overnight.

The next day, remove meat from bowl and place between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using meat hammer, lightly beat down slices to an ultra thin (without falling apart) slice. Arrange meat strips in dehydrator and use your dehydrator’s settings to complete. Ours is a very basic dehydrator with no settings. We rotate the trays as directed by the manufacturer every 2 hours, starting to check meat after 6 hours of cook time. It usually takes a good 8-10 hours for all of our jerky to be complete so make sure you have time!

jerk

Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas

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chickpeas

These crunchy little snacks are a healthy alternative to processed chips and so easy to make!

Makes: 1 lb. snacks

Ingredients

1 lb. Garbanzo beans (dried or canned)
seasoning salt

Method

If using dry beans, soak overnight in water before cooking. If using canned beans, rinse. Pat dry with paper towels. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Bake for 45 minutes, checking every 20 minutes to watch for burning. Let cool and sprinkle with salt.

Get creative with a variety of flavors! Powdered cheese, garlic pepper, wasabi powder..ideas are endless!

 

7-layer dip

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IMG_2926

This is my number 1 requested dish for potlucks. Everyone loves it! 

Makes 8-10 cups dip

Ingredients

1/4 cup sliced black olives
2 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
12 oz. chili sauce
1 lb. ground sirloin
taco seasoning packet
1 box rice-a-roni, spanish or mexican rice flavor
1 lb. sour cream
2 cups refried black beans

Method:

Prepare rice as directed, set aside. In medium pan, brown ground beef with taco seasoning until cooked through and broken up into crumbles (the crumblier the better). Set aside.

In large bowl, layer: beans, then beef, then rice, then sour cream, then chili sauce, then cheese, then black olives. Make sure to smooth each layer before adding the next to ensure layers are even with every bite.

Can be served warm or cold. Our family likes it both ways!

Rum Chocolate Fondue

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chocolate fondue

This delicious treat is very quick and easy to make! You’ll be the life of the party with just a few minutes to make! It’s best to serve in a fondue pot (traditional or electric) to keep the chocolate nice and smooth. In a pinch, you can put it in a bowl but eat like crazy, it will firm up fast!

Makes 6 servings

 

 

choc fondue nut

 

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 Tbs. Splenda (cup to cup sugar substitute)
dash ground nutmeg
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
8 oz. ghiradelli semisweet chocolate chips
4 tsp. Krakken spiced rum
1 tsp. fresh squeezed orange juice
various dippers (pinapple, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, bacon, cantalope, peaches, etc.)

 

Method:

Over medium high heat, bring cream, splenda, butter and nutmeg to boil, whisking constantly. Lower heat to low. Add chocolate chips half at a time until melted and smooth, stirring slowly. Add rum and orange juice. Remove to preheated fondue pot set to warm or low setting. Serve immediately with dippers.

Classic Fondue with Havarti

on by in Appetizers, Dips Gravies Spreads, French ⋅ Leave a comment

IMG_2907

 

The most important thing to remember when making a fondue, is a good fondue pot! Electric or traditional, do not skimp on your pot or all of that hard work will be for nothing!

Makes 6 servings

fondue nutrition

Ingredients:

8 oz. emmental cheese, shredded
8 oz. gruyere cheese, shredded
4 oz. havarti cheese, shredded
2 Tbs. corn starch
1 cup chardonnay
1 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. cherry wine
1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
dash ground nutmeg
garlic clove
fondue pot (electric or traditional) preheated
various dippers (baked mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, steak, cubed french bread, cubed salami, panchetta, etc)

 

Method:

Smash garlic clove, season (smear around to cover) inside of medium sauce pot, discard. Add all 3 cheeses to medium sized bowl and toss with corn starch. set aside. Over medium high heat, bring chardonnay and lemon juice to a steady simmer in seasoned pot. Add cheese to wine in small handfuls, whisking slowly and constantly letting cheese melt and smooth before adding more until creamy. Add spicy brown mustard, cherry wine and dash of nutmeg. Stir to incorporate and move directly to preheated fondue pot. Serve immediately with dippers.

 

Tips: If your cheese is crusting or hardening on top, it’s cooling off! Turn up the heat slowly and continue stirring until smooth and creamy once more. Alternatively, if the heat is too high, the cheese will burn to the bottom of the pot. Give it a little stir once in awhile during consumption to help counteract both effects.

Colorful Deviled Eggs

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IMG_1768 Great for Easter, St. Patty’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day and 4th of July..orange for halloween…have fun with color and remember to always play with your food!

Makes 24 servings

deviledeggs

Ingredients

Food coloring of your choice
1/2 cup water per color you want
12 hard boiled eggs
paprika for sprinkling
2 tsp. spicy mustard
1/3 cup fat free miracle whip
pinch kosher salt
pinch fresh ground black pepper

Method

Peel, rinse and cut in half boiled eggs. In small bowl, add boiled egg yolks. In cup (or cups), add a few drops of food coloring to 1/2 cup water. Drop egg half in color mix and let sit for at least 2 minutes. Meanwhile in yolk bowl, add mustard, miracle whip, salt and pepper and whisk to creamy. Set aside.

Remove egg halves from water and shake off extra water, sitting upright on plate, ready to fill. Using a spoon or squeeze bottle (if you don’t have a squeeze bottle, you can use a sandwich bag with the corner clipped off like a pastry bag), fill colorful eggs with egg mixture. Sprinkle tops with paprika.

You can serve them right away, but I like to refrigerate mine for at least an hour to make them super cold. I think they taste better that way! Keeps for 2 days.

Tips:

Need to cover your eggs but don’t want plastic wrap sticking to them? Poke toothpicks into center of eggs and it will hold the plastic up and out of the food! You can even stick an olive on the toothpick before serving or just take the toothpicks out!

Egg Salad “Carrots”

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IMG_1769 These were a little difficult and time consuming to make, but they were delicious and the kids loved them for Easter lunch!

Makes 6 servings

eggsaladcarrots

Ingredients

16 baby spinach leaves
pilsbury cresent rolls tube
1 egg
orange food coloring (or red and yellow to make orange)
about 1 cups worth of egg salad

Method

There are many different ways to make the “cones” for the carrots. The easiest would be cream horns (which you can find at Michaels craft store), but the cheapest is aluminum foil! Using a little bit of your imagination, craft 6 horn shapes out of aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Preheat oven as specified on back of cresent roll package. Unroll cresent rolls into one large, flat sheet and pinch together all of the perferations. Cut into six pieces lengthwise (evenly, cut in half, then cut the halves in half). Roll each slice into a noodle and then starting at the tip of each cone, wrap 1 noodle around each, placing on a cookie sheet.

Whisk egg in small bowl until frothy. Using a basting brush, brush each cone before inserting in oven. Cook as directions on package instruct.

Make food coloring (or put some orange in a small dish). Using a basting brush or pastry brush, paint cones with food coloring once out of the oven. Let cool.

Once cooled, remove tin foil from cones. Fill cones with egg salad and push 3 spinach leaves into the ends of each.

Serve same day. They do not taste as good the next day and won’t keep longer than that!

Fruit Kababs

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IMG_1725 The kids LOVE making these and they are surprisingly filling for a healthy lunch. Apparently my dog thinks so too!

Ingredients

Bamboo skewers
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
8 oz. red seedless grapes
1 can mandarin oranges, drained and rinsed of syrup
8 oz. sliced fresh pinapple

These do not keep, eat them right away!

Method

starting with banana slice (this holds the other fruit in place) make a pattern of alternating fruits until you end up with 3 banana slices on each skewer. It’s that easy!

Bite-sized Bacon Cheddar Cheeseballs: Easter style!

on by in Appetizers, Dips Gravies Spreads ⋅ Leave a comment

IMG_1766

Although time consuming to make, these delicious little bite-sized appetizers are a fun project to get the kids involved in and a hit at any party!

 

 

Ingredients:

 

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 ounces  finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped cooked hickory smoked bacon (about a 12 oz. package)
at least 4 slices of sliced cheese (I used colby from the deli)
a few whole black olives (for the eyes)
100% whole wheat ritz crackers
orange food coloring (or red and yellow to make orange)
Tools needed:
mini cookie cutters (these can be found at art supply stores in the sculptey clay department), a flower shaped one, tear drop shaped and square or diamond
squeeze bottle with lid – empty
knife
cutting board
disposable gloves (if you don’t like your hands getting sticky!)
food brush (you can use any painting brush as long as it will ONLY be used on food and is new!)
lots of time to waste!
Method:
Cook bacon until crispy (it has to be crispy), then transfer to paper towel to soak up excess grease and let sit until cooled, about 8 minutes.  Once cooled, using knife or fingers, break up bacon into small bits ( the smaller the better) and place in bowl with 8 oz. of shredded cheese and cream cheese. Mix until fully incorporated.
Either loose chop or use a food chopper and pulse for 3 or 4 times, the remainder of the shredded cheese. Place on plate.
Open sleeve of crackers and line up along your assembly surface.
Place slices of cheese flat against cutting board and cut out 2 flower shapes, 2 teardrop shapes and 1 diamond for each “chick”. I had a problem with the cheese sticking inside of the cutters so I popped them out with a chopstick. My 5 year old son used a fork prong.
In sauce dish, prepare food coloring
Slice into thin sheets, black olives. This is where the squeeze bottle comes in. I’m sure there are many variations of how to cut a small, perfectly round eye out of olive, but this was the easiest for me! When pushing the top of the squeeze bottle into the olive, it would easily cut perfectly through the olive but then, it was stuck inside the tube! Well the back pressure shot the olive out with a little squeeze and the kids thought it was hilarious!
Now you are ready for assembly!
Using about a Tablespoon’s worth of cheeseball mixture, form into balls and then roll in shredded cheese.
Place the two flower shaped “feet” on a cracker and squish on the cheeseball “bird body”
Apply tear drops to each side of bird body for “wings” and cut diamond shape in half to make the “beak”
These will actually stick quite easily because the cheeseball is very sticky
Carefully place eyes over beak and then using brush, color with food coloring the beak and visable feet to give a little color contrast.
Voila! You made a chicken! Repeat process until done.
Tips:
Tired of making these millions of chickens? Use the rest of the cheese ball mix to form into one big ball, cover in shredded cheese and surround with crackers, DONE and no one will know you just got tired of making chicks!
Can’t get to the art store to get mini cookie cutters? You can use a knife to cut out your shapes but be warned, it takes a long time and becomes frustrating after awhile. Ordering the pieces online is much easier, around $5.00 for a set and they can be used over and over for all kinds of projects with food!
Although these are time consuming to make, they do not keep long because the crackers get soggy. Making ahead of time? Make them without the crackers and feet a day in advance, cover and refridgerate, then apply chicks to crackers right before serving so the crackers remain crisp!
Don’t know where to find a squeeze bottle? They are located in the cake decorating section of stores, the kitchen utensil aisle, the picnic aisle (as they are often used for mustard and ketchup dispensers) or even at the dollar store!