I’ll admit, cooking is not my favorite thing to do. Luckily, my husband is really into it so most days I don’t have to worry about cooking. However, when we host, I chip in and take care of the appetizers and sides while he works the grill. I like to keep things easy so I selected appetizers that are festive, but can be prepped before guests arrive.
Skewer Caprese Wreath – Assembly time 20 minutes
Instructions, this is really as easy as it looks.
- Alternate adding tomatoes and mozzarella balls to skewers. I assembled the skewers prior to guests arriving and stored them in the refrigerator until they arrived.
- Arrange basil leaves on a round platter.
- Layer skewers on top of the leaves.
- Add salt and pepper to taste on the arranged skewers.
- Add a bowl of balsamic vinegar in the middle of the arranged skewers.
Ingredients
- One large package of cherry tomatoes
- 2 packages of mozzarella cheese pearls
- 20 Basil leaves, or enough to cover your platter
- Salt
- Pepper
- Balsamic vinegar
- Skewers
Festive Puppy Chow – Assembly time 20 minutes, allow 1 hour to refrigerate
Puppy chow is always a crowd pleaser, you can’t go wrong with peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar. It’s really easy to make, just a little messy due to the powdered sugar. I gave this a festive twist with green sprinkles.
Instructions
- Measure out your rice chex into two large mixing bowls and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Melt butter, chocolate chips and peanut butter in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat. Remember to stir it to prevent the butter from burning.
- Stir in vanilla once the ingredients are melted together.
- Pour chocolate over cereal in one bowl in stages. As you add more of the chocolate mixture, add in more cereal from your second bowl. Separating the cereal and adding the chocolate in stages ensures all of your pieces will be coated.
- Place powdered sugar in a large airtight plastic bag and gradually add in cereal. Shake the powdered sugar over the chocolate coated cereal to coat it. Don’t have massive ziplock bags handy? Separate the powdered sugar into two freezer gallon bags instead.
- Spread the coated cereal onto a few cookie sheets in single layers, cover with foil and refrigerate for an hour.
- Remove from refrigerator, add the mixture into a bowl. Sprinkle festive sprinkles on top.
Ingredients
- 9 cups Rice Chex (about 1 box- I used two because I didn’t want all of the broken pieces at the end of the cereal box added in)
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 package of sprinkles
There you have it, two super easy recipes for holiday appetizers. We are celebrating Christmas with my side of the family today and decided on a Mexican food theme to switch things up this year. I’m making my favorite guacamole recipe and tried a new recipe for dessert, churro cheesecake bars. Check back for those recipes for your next Taco Tuesday.