Help - appetizers

[slsh]

I have to make appetizers for school open house on Sunday. I don't do appetizers, aside from Velveeta and sausage spread or hot wings. Heck, I only cook when absolutely necessary. My skills are very limited.

I'm thinking needs to serve about 50 people, give or take. Cannot be messy. Can't be something that has to stay warm (food is put out on long tables in cafeteria, stays out from about 10:30 until gone or 2:00, whichever comes first). I don't want to wimp out and do cheese and crackers. Would like it to be tasty, obviously (though that may be a minor miracle since I'm the cook, LOL).

I'm having cooker's block - cannot think of a single doggone thing. You guys always talk about such yummy goodies you've made, can you please throw me some suggestions? Thank you *so* much!

 

[muttmeister]

I do lots of appetizers and could post a lot of recipes but they all take time. One of the easiest is - take a large block of cream cheese. Dump on a jar of jalapeno jelly. Serve with a kinfe and some crackers or with tortilla chips.

I'll be thinking to see what other easy ones I have.

 

[jal]

This dip I got from my college roomate. It's always a hit. I double it because I love to keep some at home for us when I take it to a get together.

Spinach Dip in a Pumpernickel Bread Bowl

Double the recipe for more:

1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
1 16oz container sourcream
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 envelope dry vegetable soup mix
1 can water chestnuts chopped
3 scallions chopped

Mix all ingredients together. Hollow out bread bowl and place dip inside. Cut up bread for dipping or provide crackers.

 

[hearts and roses]

Mix together sour cream, cream cheese and salsa (drained). Spread onto burrito sized flour tortillas and roll up. Slice into 1" pieces and stick a toothpick into each to hold it. Delish and easy and can stay at room temp for a long time.

 

[trinityroyal]

A few quick thoughts:

1) Veggie tray with dip. I usually make the dip using sour cream and dry vegetable (not onion) soup mix. Knorr makes a good one.
2) Fruit tray with dip made from vanilla yogurt.
3) Layer: cream cheese, salsa, grated cheese (mixed store bought pre-grated if you're in a hurry) and sliced jalapenos in a shallow rectangular pan. Serve with tortillas or crackers.

I'm drawing a blank at the moment. That's all I can think of.

 

[KTMom91]

Frozen mini quiches, maybe? They're good even if they aren't steaming hot.

Frozen cream puffs are wonderful, and all you have to do is let them thaw.

You see my theme here...it starts out FROZEN, meaning I don't have to do much to it.

 

[AnnieO]

OK, this is bad but... Kids like these.

Ritz crackers, a teensy bit of cheese spread (as cement), a slice of summer sausage, more cement, a cube of Swiss or Cheddar, and a frilly toothpick. OR instead of the cube of cheese, an olive.

Also, fruit pizza is always good, take croissant dough and roll it thin, bake per can and cool, then spread on fruit dressing (below) and put kiwi, berries, sliced apples, etc on it.

Fruit dressing: about 1 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup honey, 1 tsp lemon juice. Mix together well.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Everybody else will be bringing fancy stuff... how about something for the people who don't like fancy?
(I pull this trick...)

Take your favorite muffin recipe, but use the mini-tins instead to make 2-bite muffins (they bake in about 80% of the time).
Cut in half, stack on platter, and bring butter and a knife.

 

[Malika]

OK, this is bad but... Kids like these.

Ritz crackers, a teensy bit of cheese spread (as cement), a slice of summer sausage, more cement, a cube of Swiss or Cheddar, and a frilly toothpick. OR instead of the cube of cheese, an olive.

Also, fruit pizza is always good, take croissant dough and roll it thin, bake per can and cool, then spread on fruit dressing (below) and put kiwi, berries, sliced apples, etc on it.

Fruit dressing: about 1 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup honey, 1 tsp lemon juice. Mix together well.

Bad, Step? Yours is a very exalted world! In mine (and J's), these are very GOOD!

 

[ctmom05]

I think some of the appetizers that I made for Thanksgiving would be useful here .. .. ..

One was Beefy Biscuit Cups Beefy Biscuit Cups Recipe | Taste of Home Recipes. They're kind of like mini pizzas, but taste good hot, warm, and even cold. I made mine with homemade biscuit dough, which is very simple to make - instead of store bought dairy case biscuits. The spaghetti sauce I used was leftovers from another meal.

We also had stuffed mushrooms and deviled eggs. You could do a quick search for appetizers at the Taste of Home site(my favorite such resource) Appetizers Recipes | Taste of Home

 

[DDD]

How 'bout those baby weiners fixed like "pigs in a blanket"? They can be teired with foil in between layers to keep them warm and a bowl of mustard never goes bad. The good thing about this idea is that you can use a holiday designed heavy duty aluminum pan with bowl so there is no cleanup. I'm totally a foil use addict, lol. DDD

 

[Suz]

Here are two that are really easy...

1. 1 bag of frozen tiny Italian meatballs. Thawed. Put in crockpot on low.

Stir together a can of tomato sauce and a can of jellied cranberry sauce. Heat and stir the sauces until blended.

Pour the sauce over the meatballs and keep the temp on low. Have a large spoon handy so people can remove the meatballs from the crockpot and put on plates. Keep toothpicks handy for them to use as utensils


2. Bologna (or you can use ham or Lebanon sweet bologna. I think any kind of bologna is better- the ham doesn't have enough flavor for my taste), dill pickle spears (cut in half lengthwise), cream cheese.

Smear some cream cheese on the bologna and lay a pickle spear in the middle. Roll up, use toothpicks to hold together and slice into about 3 pieces each.


Suz

 

[slsh]

Thanks, guys. You jump started my brain. I especially like your suggestions, KTM (frozen is about my speed, LOL), but some of the others are doable as well. I'm trying to stay away from dips because, having worked the open house the last 2 years, it seems like the dips get pretty urgggg after a short period of time out on the table. We probably get a couple hundred or more people at these things. Definitely have to go the finger food route to avoid major messes. Can't do dessert-type stuff, 'cuz freshman parents are assigned that (though will get to do that next year with- Diva and have already decided on gooey butter cakes, LOL).

ctmom -thanks for the website. If I get no work done this week, I'm blaming you! Already found some things I'm drooling over.

Will have to experiment this week, as my execution is not always so grand, LOL. Family might be happy about being my guinea pigs (or maybe not).

Thanks again.

 

[tiredmommy]

Buy 4 pkgs of phyllo dough cups/shells (15 in each pkg). Crisp in the oven at 350F for 3-5 minutes. Mix up two pkgs of choc pudding (use the pie filling recipe on the box), pour into a gallon zipper bag, snip off a corner and "pipe" into the shells. Top half with sliced strawberries and half with reddi-whip. That gives you 60 in 15 minutes.

 

[trinityroyal]

Since you can't do a dessert, Tiredmommy's phyllo dough recipe would also work with a savoury mixture.

Take light cream cheese (softer, therefore easier to work with) and blend with salsa (or chutney, or some other sort of chunky condiment) and a touch of whipping cream until smooth. Pipe into the phyllo cups, per TM's suggestion with the chocolate pie filling.

 

[DammitJanet]

Go to Sam's Club and BUY the dang already filled Phyllo dough appetizers! LOL That would be my speed.

Or the crockpot and little smoked sausages and bbq sauce.

 

[CrazyinVA]

I brought these to a party a couple years ago, and my friends demand I bring them all the time now. They're really bad for you, but REALLY good. I substituted turkey lil' smokies once, and no one noticed the difference.
Brown Sugar Smokies Recipe - Allrecipes.com

Allrecipes is my favorite recipe site, too.