Mrs. Elvis makes an appetizer which sounds frightening but is actually unbelieveably good. Make a bunch of small meatballs (ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, form into small balls and bake until they look brown but not hard).
While they are baking, combine a jar of grape jelly with a couple of bottles of Heinz chili sauce. Get it good and hot and keep stirring. Put the meatballs in it and let it sit on low heat for an hour or so. Put em out with toothpicks nearby and a bunch of napkins.
Take a flour tortilla, lay a large, flat lettuce leaf on it and lay in an even, thin coating of chicken salad. Roll tightly, bind with toothpicks and cut into bite-size snacks.
scallops wrapped in bacon
devils on horseback
angels on horseback
chicken chunks with a dipping sauce (mini-satays)
pickled onions and cheese
pineapple and ham slices
My mother used to make that grape jelly/chili sauce for full-size meatballs, served on a bed of rice. Later my wife made it for one of our SFclub get-togethers, and it’s become (along with my chili) standard fare at all our pot-luck parties.
Another toothpick suggestion: spread thin slices of meat (ham, roast beef, turkey) with cream cheese, roll and slice into bite-size pieces.
I love those toothpick holders! I’m such a Koziol junkie. I have the napkin rings and honey dripper, as well as a bunch of assorted scrubbie things.
I had a lovely toothpick treat a while ago: Green grape halves covered in a mixture of stilton and softened cream cheese, and rolled in chopped slivered almonds.
One that I always do for holidays is kielbasa cut into coin sized slices, and layered in a crockpot with brown sugar. Cook all day until the sausage is caramelized and spear with picks. Yum.
Get some of the Pillsbury croissants-in-a-tube and some Li’l Smokies. Slice up the croissants into thin strips, and wrap up the Smokies. One tube equals one package of wienies, and they’ll all fit onto one large cookie sheet. Takes about fifteen minutes to prep, and 7 or 8 minutes to cook. For extra yummy, use the cheese-filled wienies.
My sister always makes candied keilbasa for family get togethers. Very good and easy to make.
Slice thin rounds of keilbasa and put in a crockpot. Empty a large jar of apple jelly in the crockpot, start on high for a couple of hours and then lower the temp and cook for another 2 hours. These are great and the good thing is that you really can’t overcook them so they can stay in the crockpot for hours on low until you are ready to serve them.
Sear sweet Italian sausages until they are cooked, and slice them into coins. Stir-fry little squares of green peppers and onion until they are tender-crisp, and skewer one sausage coin, one pepper and one onion square on each pick. Serve them warm.
Wrap peeled shimp in thin slices of pancetta, fasten them with toothpicks, and quickly broil or pan-sear them until the pancetta is crisp. Ultra-yum!
LOL, I make those! Sometimes I put a little piece of american cheese inside before I roll them. Note: don’t use the 2% American Cheese, it melts and runs right out.
I like to serve them with assorted mustards for dipping.
Toothpicks? I have only one word for you…Fondieu (Gawd sorry I can’t spell french)
A little chocolate melted with some cream and it’s great dipping for fruit or bits of cut up Twinkies.
A bit of cheese melted with some white wine and it’s great for dipping veggies, bread, or bits of meat.
My original thought was to prepare a rather thin sheet cake then skew, then then dip them in melted chocolate, but it’s a heck of alot of work, when you can have the guests do it themselves.
Sorry… but just a tip. If you’re going to put those tooth picks in the oven be sure to give them a good soaking in water first, that way they don’t get discoloured in the oven.
Wow, I didn’t know so many people knew the sweet and sour meatball recipe. Truly, it sounds awful – grape jelly and Heinz chili sauce? But it’s great and even we non-cooking single guys look like culinary geniuses when we show up with it.
I don’t usually bake the meatballs first – just dump them in the concoction and let them simmer until done.
You could also do stuffed mushrooms – basically mushroom caps and breadcrumbs mixed with whatever sounds good.
