Recipes from our Appetizer Exchange

Appetizer Exchange Recipes – February 2008

Cheeseball

Austin Ladies

3 8 oz cream cheese
4 oz sharp cheddar cheese
½ 4 oz pkg crumbled bleu cheese
2 oz bacon bits
2 tbls minced onion
Dash of worchestershire sauce
Finely chopped pecans – include some in mixture and roll rest

Mix well and form into ball. Roll ball in chopped pecans.
*Tip – longer cheeseball cures in fridge, the better the taste.


Sausage Balls with Honey Mustard Sauce

Jackie Harrison

1 pound hot sausage
1 pound mild sausage
5 cups charp shredded cheddar cheese
½ c finely chopped celery
½ tsp garlic powder
½ c finely chopped onion

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together thouroughly. Form into 1 inch balls. Place on un-greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Drain well and serve with toothpicks.

To Make Ahead:
Meatballs can be made several weeks in advance and frozen. Cook frozen in 375 degree oven allowing extra cooking time for frozen sausage balls.

Makes 6 dozen
Allow about 3 per person if serving lots of other foods; 4-5 if serving few foods

Honey Mustard Sauce
1 ½ c best foods mayo
¼ c Dijon mustard
½ c honey

Blend all together and refrigerate overnight before serving. Makes about 2 ½ cups.
Crab Rangoon

Hannah Kam

12 oz softened cream cheese
¼ lb. crab diced fine
1 green onion diced fine
1 pkg small wonton skins

Mix cream cheese, onion & crab. Put small amount in center of wonton skin. Dip your finger in water and run it along 2 sides of the wonton skin. Fold into a triangle. Drop in fryer until they turn a light golden brown.


Barkok Chicken

Terri Bryant

1 pkg chicken
1/3 c of water
1 pinch of anise seed
½ c soy sauce
5 T sugar

In a skillet, about 250°-300°, mix soy sauce, sugar, water & Anise seed. Melt sugar and then add chicken. Put lid on and let it cook. Check and turn chicken every 5 minutes. Chicken is done when sauce thickens.


Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos

Deirdre Eager

1 pound ground pork sausage
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 c shredded Parmesan cheese
1 pound large fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 (8 oz) bottle Ranch dressing (optional)

Preheat oven to 425° F. Place sausage in a skillet over medium heat, and cook until evenly brown. Drain grease. In a bowl, mix the sausage, cream cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the sausage mixture into each jalapeno half. Arrange stuffed halves in baking dishes.
Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly browned. Serve with Ranch dressing.


Raspberry-Jalapeno Spread

Amanda Hawkins

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 jar raspberry jalapeno jam
Combine and serve with crackers.
Gyoza

Ashley Nilssen

1/2 lb ground meat of your choice (I used beef, but pork and chicken are also yummy)
2 green onions
½ head of cabbage
1 inch fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 pkg of gyoza skins (these are round, but square wonton skins will also work)

Boil cabbage until soft. Using a food processor or by hand, chop finely: green onions, cooked cabbage, ginger and garlic. In a large bowl, mix meat into the finely chopped ingredients. Place a small amount of this mixture in the middle of a gyoza skin. Dip your finger into a bowl of water and use this finger to moisten half of the gyoza skin. Fold the skin over to seal. You can pleat the skin to make a pretty design if you wish.

Once you have made all of the raw gyoza, heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fill the pan with gyoza, making sure you touch each one in the oil. Cook until the bottoms are browned. Then add ¼ c of water to the pan and quickly cover. Allow the gyoza to steam covered for about 5 minutes, or until the water is mostly gone. Remove the lid. Allow the last of the water to cook off (another minute or so), then remove from heat.

Dipping sauce: Use equal parts Kikkoman soy sauce and rice vinegar. Add a few drops of La Yu (Chinese chili oil). Use small individual bowls to serve the dipping sauce.


Spanokopita
Recipe courtesy Ina Garten (and Taisey Higginbotham)Prep Time: 30 minutesCook Time: 17 minutesYield: 6 to 8 servings 1/2 cup olive oil1 bunch chopped scallions, white and green parts2 (10 ounce) boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (I usually use about1 teaspoon dried)3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten7 ounces feta cheese, crumbled¼ teaspoon kosher salt¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper40 sheets (1 box) frozen phyllo dough (defrostedovernight in the refrigerator)½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted½ cup plain dry breadcrumbs (I usually use Italianflavored bread crumbs)Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan and add thescallions. Cook 5 minutes or until soft. Meanwhile,squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and placeit in a bowl. Add the scallions, dill, eggs, feta,salt, and pepper and mix together.Keep the phyllo dough sheets covered with a dampkitchen towel. Unfold 1 sheet of the phyllo dough. Brush the sheet with melted butter and sprinkle with afew breadcrumbs. Repeat the process by laying asecond sheet of phyllo dough over the first sheet,brush it with melted butter and sprinkle withbreadcrumbs until you have used 10 sheets. Spoon ¾cup of the spinach mixture into a sausage shape alongone edge of the phyllo dough. Roll it up. Brush thetop with butter and score the roll into 1-inch rounds.Place it on an oiled baking sheet. Repeat until allthe pastry and filling have been used.Place in a 400º oven and bake for 12 minutes or untilthe edges are lightly browned. Serve warm.My changes - I think this recipe yields about double the servings,and I usually half the recipe)My only other modification to this recipe is that Ilike to make the Spanokopita into triangle shapes. Todo this, I follow the same method as above but onlyuse 5 sheets of phyllo. Once you have the last sheetdown, butter it and then cut all the sheets into fourequal strips (cutting from long edge to long edge ofthe dough). Then place about 1 tablespoon of thespinach filling in the corner of one of the strips andthen fold up flag style to create the triangle. Brushthe top with butter and sprinkle with a fewbreadcrumbs then bake as listed above.