Fab Finger Foods!

Summertime with friends and family is always fun! Y’all have cookouts, beach parties, lazy afternoons at the lake or even a living room picnic! Y’all ever trying to come up with easy ways to feed everyone?  How about some easy finger foods that you can serve at your next carpet party?

Pigs in a Blanket<—-LOVED these as a kid!!

Using refrigerated crescent rolls (have you seen the new ones that are just one sheet and you can cut them to size??) and hotdogs or those little smokies, roll each dog or smokie in an unbaked crescent roll. Place on a 9X13 pan(cookie sheet) and bake according to the crescent roll package directions. Serve with ketchup and mustard or ranch dressing. Smokies LOVE BBQ sauce! YUM!!

 

Taquitos (little tacos…..literally!)

Warm up some corn tortillas to soften them up. If they are cold, they will tear.(then you have to make chilaquiles(I’ll explain another day)) Place some already prepared taco meat (ground beef and seasonings) and shredded cheddar or jack cheese (shred your own cheese, please, pre-shredded cheese in the bag scares me!!) in each of them and roll them on up! Brush them with some veggie oil and bake on 350F until crispy. (about 10 min) Ole!

 

Fried Zucchini Great summer veggie!

Cut zucchini into ¼ inch slices. Heat ¼ inch oil (with a pat or two of butter for taste) in a skillet; sprinkle them with garlic powder, a little lemon juice, black pepper and parmesan cheese. Fry them until golden brown and flip. Repeat if needed. Make sure you wipe out the oil in the pan with paper towel after each batch of zucchini to avoid blackening. Blackened zucchini is not on the menu!! It’s hard enough to get folks to eat their veggies!!

 

Easy Nachos

Get ya some Tostitos Scoops, place a little bit of cooked taco meat (there’s that ground beef and seasonings again!) in each little scoop and top it with shredded cheddar or jack cheese(real cheese again! Maybe I have something here!!). Then load those little guys up with your favorite nacho toppings like sour cream, salsa, olives, jalapenos, chopped onions, etc. You can also put them on a cookie sheet in an oven at 350F for about 8-10 minutes to melt all that cheese!

 

Pizza Roll-Ups<– THESE are too COOL!! Make you own little hot pockets! (and you KNOW what’s in them!!)

Unroll refrigerated crescent rolls into triangles. Sprinkle each crescent roll with garlic and Italian seasonings. Place a few slices of pepperoni on each triangle. Place ½ a piece of string cheese in each triangle. Roll it up, sprinkle with garlic and Italian seasonings again and bake according to the crescent roll package directions or until brown. Dip in warm pizza sauce or if you are anything like me…..ranch!

 

Sweet Turkey Wraps

Soften ½ pkg. cream cheese (you know you can soften cream cheese in the microwave, just keep an eye on it and put it in there for about 20 seconds, stir and if it’s not soft enough, you can go another 10 sec or so, remember it will keep softening after you take it out) and mix with 2 tbs. applesauce and 1 tsp. dried thyme until smooth. Spread evenly onto big flour tortillas. Place a leaf of lettuce and thin sliced turkey on each tortilla and roll. Wrap each rollup in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours until firm. Cut into one inch slices (like cinnamon rolls) and serve. MMM-HMMM!

I have TONS of appetizer and finger food ideas but I am making me HUNGRY!!

Hope y’all enjoy!!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Faves
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • MySpace
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon

Chorizo ROCKS!!

chorizo-breakfastSpicy breakfast?? MMM-HMM!! Something that’ll wake ya up? Chorizo and potatoes~YUM!

I get this handmade chorizo down at the local Hispanic market and it is sooooo yummy!!! I have never had anything better! I buy it all the time. One thing I did learn from the butcher is to let it dry! So I do! I just leave it on a plate in the fridge for a couple of days. Makes it more chorizo-y.

Before you coochorizok it, take the skin off of it. I think it’s pig belly, which sounds kind of nasty, but if it works and we want authentic….??? Pig Belly it is!! (just take it off and DON”T LOOK!!)

Now, chorizo is not your regular kind of sausage. It isn’t stiff and crumbly like pork sausage, it’s more juicy, spicy and falling apart. (If you leave the pig belly casing on, you can also grill it which is really tasty!!)

I wanted to add it to some fried potatoes so I cut up about 3 pounds of potatoes (big family) into little cubes and started frying them in a pan (big pan) with just a little bit of oil and onion. Don’t use too many spices since the chorizo is spicy enough. A little salt and pepper will do.potatoes

Then after the onions and potatoes cook for about 5 minutes,  add about a pound (again, big family) of the chorizo and make sure it’s broken up so it can cook along with the potatoes. Put a lid on the pan so the potatoes can kind of steam. Check and stir about every 5-7 minutes. Potatoes should take about 13-15 minutes to cook with the lid on. Chorizo doesn’t take long to cook since it’s a juicy type sausage.

When the potatoes are soft, take the lid off and raise the heat a notch to put a little crust on them. Let it cook for a minute or two, flip everything over and give it another minute or so and there ya go!! Breakfast!! (or dinner)

Serve it up with some scrambled eggs and corn tortillas. YUM!!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Faves
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • MySpace
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon

MMMM!!! Carnitas? Pig in a pit??

pork-rice-and-cheese-burritoSo how was Mother’s Day?? We ATE! A LOT!! We went to a little Mexican Restaurant here in Corona and I had some delicious carnitas. Gonna have to learn how to make those…any ideas? I would also love to learn how to make a pig in a pit! You know, like at a Luau. MMMMMM!!!!

One thing I do make a lot is Chile Verde Pork. It’s so EASY!! Just get a pork roast of any kind, bone in preferably, sear in on all sides and pop it in the crock pot, pour some chili verde sauce on top and cook for about 6 hours on high. When it’s falling off the bone and so tender, just shred it up and there ya go!! Make pork potato and cheese burritos (YUM!), taquitos, tacos or just some chili verde pork on a plate and add whatever you like…beans, rice or just good old fashioned tortillas (standing in the middle of the kitchen!)!!

MMMM!! Now I am making me hungry!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Faves
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • MySpace
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon