Easy please-y appetizers?

[all_empty]

Bummer about the Trader Joes, their mushroom truffle oil pizza is restaurant-quality.

Here's an easy dish that I always get rave reviews on. Not really an appetizer but a super easy side or main:

Chicken pesto pasta

Box of pasta (rigatoni or smaller shells preferred over noodles)
Jar of pre-made pesto (Buitoni)
Pre-cooked chicken (either from the deli aisle or a rotisserie chicken you hand shred)
Chunk of fresh parmesan

Cook the pasta and let it cool. Stir in the pesto, chicken, and shred large curls of parmesan over it. Easy and tasty.

For a healthier crowd, i like these salad pockets

Pita bread, halved
Ripe avocado
Mesclun greens
Hummus
Lemon

Halve the pitas, schmear with hummus, add mesclun greens and avocado slices sprinkled with lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Elegant, filling, and healthy.

[mysticchic]

This goes over huge at any parties I take this to.
1 pound of fake crab meat
1 med onion
1 can of articoch hearts drained well
1 box of cream cheese (melt it in the microwave so it's soft)
1 cup of mayo
1 cup of sour cream
1 cup of parmesan cheese.
in a food processor chopped up the crab and articoch. Put in large bowl and stir in the rest of the items. Once they are mixed put in to pie dish or cake pan (or whatever you have). Bake for 1/2 hour at 375. Serve with plain taco chips.

[FigureSpins]

Take thick-sliced pepperoni from the deli and smear it with Wispride cheddar cheese spread. Roll them up and refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

Another similar treat is to take sliced deli ham, spread cream cheese and chives on it, roll it up, slice into 2" pinwheels.

I also make a mean artichoke dip - easy and quick, but you need a round bread to make a bowl to bake it.

My all-time favorite is Brie en Croute', but it might be too frou-frou for a football crowd. Take a sheet of puff pastry (freezer section) and place a wedge of Brie in the center. Add some apricot preserves on top...a 1/4 cup or so. Close it up, seal the edges and brush with egg wash. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes until the pastry is cooked.

Serve with plain water crackers.

[Rock2]

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[Rock2]

Take a bag of frozen meatballs put them in a crock pot with a jar of salsa and a can of cranberry sauce....very easy!

Make sure the meatballs are the small cocktail sized ones. For another sweet/spicy/tangy combo that tastes a bit like BBQ but has a unique flavor, try this for the sauce: equal parts blueberry jelly (not jam) and Heinz Chili Sauce. Doesn't seem to mix very well when you first pour it in but it all blends together. yum!

[Allen]

Two of my favorites

BBQ Chicken Pitas

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
BBQ Sauce of your choice
Caramelized Onions
Pita

Cook the chicken breasts (I cook them in the pressure cooker with chicken broth and salt and pepper)

When the chicken has cooled a little, shred it and then season it with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Mix in BBQ sauce

Caramelize onions

Slice the pitas in half, stuff with onions and chicken. Bake in the oven until pita is crisp. Slice into triangles.

Blue Cheese Pinwheels

Mix 1 package of cream cheese with blue cheese (put as much as you like). Season with ground black pepper. I also like to put a tiny bit of Sri Racha in the mix.

Take one package of crescent roll (the best kind is the one that is not perforated). Separate into two rectangles. Spread the mixture over the crescent roll. Roll the crescent roll horizontally and then cut into 1 inch slices. Bake at 350 until the crescents are golden brown.

While the crescents are baking, make the red onion jam to top the pinwheels.

Dice 1/2 of a red onion very small. Sautee with olive oil until transluscent, but not caramelized. Dash the pan with balsamic vinegar and remove from heat. Stir in two spoonfuls of apricot jam and 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme.

Remove pinwheels from oven and top with jam.

Every time I have a party, I make both items and they fly off the table.

[Jenny]

small town girl here...do you use fresh or frozen? Do you cut the wing from the drum yourself or buy them that way? Hubby lived in Buffalo at one point; he lurves wings!

We buy fresh from a local meat shop that only sells locally raised organic meat. If they are separated, great, but otherwise we will do it ourselves.

If hubby is from Buffalo, then all you need are a big batch of these with big chunky celery and carrot sticks and a bottle of Kraft blue cheese dressing!

[Cupid]

In addition to an assortment of easy appetizers, I would be sure to have something substantial, like a pot of chili with toppings (corn chips, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, avacado, green onions). The chili could be made in advance and then placed in a crock pot of low.

One of my neighbors recently had a caterer from a local rib shack do set up with buffet warmers with barbecue ribs and all the sides (probably more costly than doing it yourself). I thought that was a greatl idea. Who wouldn't like that?

All Recipes website has a nice superbowl recipe collection.

I kind of feel like having a superbowl party myself now, with all the wonderful ideas here!

[skatemommy]

Just wanted to let you know that I made cocktail franks & BBQ in the crockpot, ham pinwheels with cream cheese flavored with a dry dip I bought at the farmer's market this fall, crab/cream cheese/cocktail sauce block with pita chips and lots of chips/salsa/dip and cut up veggies. Most of the stuff I already had in the pantry which saves on shopping time and $. Thank you all again!