Twitter Dinner Party: Appetizer Recipes

When­ever the Hol­i­days are around I always start comb­ing the Inter­net for yummy recipes. This year was no dif­fer­ent from any oth­ers. I found myself on my favorite recipe sites Recipe Zaar and Food Net­work, going through page after page of scrump­tious look­ing easy appe­tiz­ers, and then it dawned on me. So many Twit­ter Peo­ple tweet about dishes they’re mak­ing, made, or gonna make; why not try to get a col­lec­tion and post them here? Bet­ter yet, why not break the bunch into a series? I could start with appe­tiz­ers for the hol­i­days from them and move on from there. That’s when I came up with a Twit­ter Din­ner Party Series!

First, how about some fin­ger foods to add to your Hol­i­day Menu? These are a great way to get the Hol­i­day Party started…plus my favorite Hol­i­day con­coc­tions of course, but those come later in the series.

ENJOY!

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Appe­tiz­ers

@MomsWhoSave offers great coupon codes, dis­counts, and free­bies! You’ll find big deals at her place!

We used to order bruschetta in a restau­rant that tasted sim­i­lar to this, but they took it off the menu. After some trial and error, my hus­band (the cook in the fam­ily) came up with this recipe. We love it, and our guests always do too. It makes a great appetizer!

John’s Bruschetta

- 1 pack­age gar­lic Texas Toast (Texas Toast brand or your favorite brand from the freezer sec­tion of the super­mar­ket)
– 8 slices Muen­ster Cheese
– 1 8 oz con­tainer Pesto
– 2 Roma Toma­toes
– 1 Tbs Basil
– 1 Lime
– 1 small bunch of spinach

1. Dice tomato, and put in a small bowl. Add basil and juice from lime and mix.
2. Place toast on bak­ing pan, then spread pesto evenly over the slices.
3. Add two to three leaves of spinach to each slice. Next add one slice of Muen­ster cheese to each, and top with diced tomato mixture.
4. Put into pre­heated oven and cook per direc­tions on box.
5. Cut slices in half and serve.

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@CiaoBella50 has a won­der­ful blog where peo­ple can “Bitch, Brag and Bond”.

I like to make bacon wrapped water chest­nuts for the hol­i­days! They’re really easy to make and deli­cious too!

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

- 1 Can Water Chest­nuts – drained
– 12 Bacon Strips – cut in ½ to make 24
– Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce – sub­sti­tute your favorite bbq sauce
– Toothpicks

Pre­heat oven to 375°.

1. Wrap each water chest­nut with a strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick.
2. Bake for 20 to 30 min­utes or until the bacon is crispy.
3. Remove from oven and brush with Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce.
4. Return to oven and con­tinue to bake another 10 minutes.

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@LindaCarmical A.K.A. @lindawrites63
I got this recipe off of T.V. and they were a lit­tle bor­ing so I took them up a notch. These are yummy and always a huge hit no mat­ter what the occa­sion.  I’ve also adjusted this recipe a lit­tle and made this as a main course before. I’ll include the adjusted recipe in the Main Dishes part of this post.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken ‘n Spinach

4 Bone­less Chicken Breasts – cut into 1″ x 2″ pieces
1 Box Frozen Chopped Spinach — thawed and drained well
24 Strips of Bacon (or ½ the num­ber of chicken pieces) – cut in ½ to dou­ble the strips (I use maple)
Cream Cheese Mix­ture *See recipe below.
Toothpicks

Cream Cheese Mixture

Cream Cheese (I use onion & chive)
1 Gar­lic Clove – minced (1/4 tsp. gar­lic pow­der works too)
¼ Cup Water Chest­nuts – chopped
1 Scal­lion – chopped small (optional)
Salt (optional)
Pep­per (optional)

Pre­heat the oven to 400° F. (You’ll change to broil to fin­ish cooking.)

Com­bine cream cheese, minced gar­lic, and chopped water chest­nuts together. Add salt (optional) and pep­per (optional) to taste then mix well. Set aside.

Thor­oughly wash and clean any fat off the chicken. Cut the chicken into 1″ x 2″ pieces. Set aside.

1. Cut all 24 bacon strips in half to make 48 strips.
2. Lay a strip of bacon out on a work surface.
3. Place a piece of chicken across the bacon strip 1/3 from one end. (Like a let­ter t.)
4. Spoon a small amount of cream cheese mix­ture onto the chicken.
5. Place a small amount of spinach on top of the cream cheese mixture.
6. Start­ing with the short end, wrap the bacon over the chicken. Now wrap the long end over the chicken and tuck it under if long enough.
7. Repeat for all other pieces of chicken.

Place chicken pieces in the oven and cook for 7 to 10 min­utes. Set oven to broil and cook chicken for 2 to 4 min­utes. (Watch closely so they don’t burn.) Serve warm.

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Do you have fans on Twit­ter and want to share your favorite recipe with them to try out? Post a com­ment to let me know!

Will you favorite Twit­ter Peep’s favorite recipe be next? Check back to see!

Don’t for­get, fol­low this Twit­ter Din­ner Party Series and you’ll find yummy Hol­i­day recipes from some of your favorite Twit­ter Peeps!

Thank you @MomsWhoSave and @CiaoBella50 for your con­tri­bu­tions.

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