Unbelievable Thanksgiving Appetizers
These recipes from tastesbetterfromscratch.com are just the thing to start your Thanksgiving Feast off right.
Slow Cooker Cranberry BBQ Meatballs - These sweet and tangy treats carry a little kick you will love. The easiest appetizers and finger foods that are perfect for parties and entertaining.
Slow Cooker Cranberry Barbecue Meatballs
Author: Lauren Allen
Ingredients
- 50-60 frozen meatballs store bought or homemade ((I love the frozen Costco brand)
- 1 14 oz can whole cranberry sauce
- 1 12 oz jar cocktail sauce, or homemade
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
- Finely chopped green onions for garnish
Spray the bottom of your slow cooker lightly with cooking spray. Add frozen meatballs to the bottom of pot. In a large bowl stir together cranberry sauce, cocktail sauce, brown sugar, water, and barbecue sauce and pour over meatballs. Cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours. Serve warm garnished with chopped green onions, if desired.
When a crowd is gathered it’s always the little bite size appetizers, like these Cranberry BBQ Meatballs, that get devoured the fastest. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how picky you are, EVERYONE loves a yummy little meatball appetizer.
More crowd pleasing party appetizers:
Mini Cheese Ball Bites
Author: Lauren Allen
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp salted butter , room temperature
- 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/8 tsp hot sauce
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup crushed nuts (almonds, pecans or walnuts)
- 1/3 cup finely chopped green onion , or parsley (whichever you prefer)
- 12-15 pretzel sticks
In a medium bowl add the butter, cream cheese, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and ground pepper. Beat with an electric mixer until well combined and smooth. Stir in cheddar cheese.
Use a spoon to divide the mixture into 12-15 tablespoon-size portions. Dip your clean hands in a little bit of water and smooth each portion into a small ball. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or as long as you want to in advance). Before serving, roll the balls in cranberries, nuts, parsley or green onion. Place a pretzel stick in each. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Make Ahead Tip: The cheese balls can be made a day in advance. Make them as instructed, but don't add the pretzels until right before serving.
Artichoke Dip Stuffed Bread
Artichoke Dip Stuffed Bread - our favorite hot artichoke dip recipe stuffed into a delicious crusty baguette. Makes a great, easy party appetizer!
Servings: 5
Author: Lauren Allen
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 8 oz. softened cream cheese
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese divided
- 1 clove garlic minced
- dill weed to taste
- 8 oz can non-marinated artichoke hearts drained and chopped
- 2 baguettes crusty bread
Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, cream cheese, 2/3 cup parmesan cheese, garlic, and dill weed, until smooth. Stir in artichoke hearts.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut the top edge of the bread loaves off and hollow out 1 1/2 inches deep to create a well for the artichoke dip. Spoon the dip evenly into the 2 loaves. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese.
Place on a baking tray and bake at 350 F degrees for 25-30 minutes
Loaded Potato Skins
Servings: 10
Author: Lauren Allen
Ingredients
- 6 small to medium sized russet potatoes , rinsed clean and pat dry
- 8 oz of cheddar cheese , shredded
- 8 slices of bacon , cooked and crumbled
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (half of a stick), melted
- Sour cream , for topping
- Chives or green onion , chopped, for topping
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Poke potatoes with a fork, place on a baking sheet and cook for 1 hour.
Remove from the baking sheet, and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
Once your potatoes are cooled, use a sharp bread knife and cut each lengthwise, into three sections, creating three long slices. (So each potato should yield two skins, plus a middle section that you can either discard, use to make something else, or keep to make some extra potato skins without the skin
Now you've cut all the potatoes, use a small spoon to scoop out about 70 percent of the potato to make a little boat. You still want to have a thick layer of potato near the skin, but you want it to be slightly hollowed-out in the middle to create a "boat".
Turn your oven on to a high broil. Brush the potatoes with butter on the inside and outside and place them back onto the baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Broil for 7-8 minutes until the insides get a bit crispy from the melted butter. Remove from the oven and add a generous amount of shredded cheese into each skin, topping with bacon pieces. Place back under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly.
Remove from oven and top with sour cream and chives or green onion. Serve warm.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from Simple Comfort Food
These tastee starters are sure to please any crowd.
If you are looking to repay your gracious Thanksgiving hostess, my book “The First and Last Thanksgiving” is a humorous, heartfelt, retelling of one special Thanksgiving. Any Hostess is sure to be entertained by this true story of embracing generations and holiday pandemonium. It’s the perfect short read this holiday season.
Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.
-Dianne
Buy “The First and Last Thanksgiving” on Amazon
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