Appetizer

Thanksgiving is next week, but we’re starting the celebration early by having my mom, brother, and sister-in-law over for a pre-Thanksgiving party. Since we know a heavy meal is right around the corner, we’ve opted to keep things lighter and each provide several appetizers to share.

I haven’t had a lot of time to plan what to make, though. It’s been insanely busy at work lately – I’m a graphic designer for three magazines, and it’s right around deadline for all three. Add to that all the busy-ness that comes with being a parent to three kids under 10, and it’s easy to see why it’s hard to invest a lot of time in party prep! I’m sure many of you can relate to this not-enough-time-in-the-day feeling, right?

Because of all I’ve got going on right now, and because easy is always appealing to me, I wanted to find something quick but delicious to contribute, so I decided on this 3-ingredient recipe that I’m sharing with you today.

The idea for this recipe centers around the cheese. I love a good cheese, and when I saw this Boursin® Garlic & Fine Herbs gournay cheese at Walmart I knew exactly what I wanted to make.  I went ahead and picked up some of the monterrey jack & spicy pepper cheese dip, too, thinking it’d provide a completely different flavor profile to have at our gathering. Just a note – these cheeses were in a stand-alone refrigerated display up near the deli counter at our Walmart.

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Note: I received samples and promotional materials to facilitate this post. I was not compensated monetarily for this post.

Olives have always been a mainstay at Thanksgiving and other “big” meals for my family as I grew up, and now Brian, C & E love olives too so they’ll always be included in our holiday traditions.

I’ve never really thought about where these olives come from before, but now I know that many olives come from Spain. Spanish olives are a flavorful, versatile, novel, sophisticated and nutritious. There is a longstanding history and tradition of olive production in Spain, which is now being combined with the most advanced technology available. This guarantees the highest possible levels of food safety and quality. Furthermore, Spain is a world leader in the production and exportation of table olives, which demonstrates its expertise and ongoing adaptation to the tastes and needs of consumers worldwide.

We received some manzanilla olives, and of course we could just serve them as is:

But instead I decided to do something a little different and create a fun appetizer (easy, too!) – fried olives.

Yep, you heard that right. Fried.

This is a great way to still let the flavor of the olives shine through while giving an added crunch.

Simply dip olives in a mixture of 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk, then toss them in bread crumbs with salt, pepper, and thyme. Fry in a thin layer of olive oil over medium heat, turning the olives to get them golden brown on all sides. So easy!

What’s on your list to bake this Thanksgiving? I love to bake and Thanksgiving is a great opportunity for all kinds of baking fun.

Luckily I have several friends who like to bake too, so I decided to hold a baking party Thursday – it’s one week before Thanksgiving and a perfect time to share some recipes and get some practice in for the big day. We’re going to be using Great Value pie crust to make a couple of different pies, and the Great Value crescent roll dough to try out a new appetizer recipe!

When picking an appetizer recipe for us to try, I was very tempted to go with an all-time favorite – Crunchy Chicken Crescents. But instead I decided to try a recipe my friend Jennifer found that combines some of my favorite flavors – jalapeno, bacon and cream cheese. Sounds like a perfect Texas appetizer, don’t you think?

Jalapeno Cream Bites

• 2 tubes Great Value crescent rolls
• 1 8 oz. block of cream cheese
• 4  medium jalapeno peppers, with seeds & ribs removed, chopped and broiled in oven
• 1 package of bacon, cooked, drained & crumbled

1. Unroll tube of crescent roll dough. While still in a single sheet, sprinkle half of the crumbled bacon over the dough, pressing the pieces into the dough. Then separate triangles and cut each one in half. 
2. Place a small spoonful of cream cheese and several pieces of jalapeno in the middle of each triangle, then fold up the sides so the cream cheese and jalapeno are sealed inside the dough.
3. Bake in the oven according to package directions for the crescent roll dough, or until golden brown.
4. Enjoy! 

For pies, I think we’re going to make an American classic – the apple pie – and one of my friend Chemese’s favorite, a sweet potato pie (which I don’t think I’ve ever tried before). Each of us will get to pick which type of pie we’d like to make so we can have one to enjoy after the party. One tip – beyond extra pie crusts needed for double-crust pies, I’m going to purchase an extra Great Value pie crust to use for cutting shapes (leaves would be great for fall) to embellish our pies with. It’s an easy way to add a little something special!

I’m looking at trying this apple pie recipe, and this sweet potato pie recipe. I hope you’ll check back  to see how our baking party turned out. If only there were a way to share food through the internet so you could sample some, too!

I went shopping with my little shopping buddy this morning to pick up ingredients for the baking party.

She was mostly there for moral support. ;)

I love shopping for Great Value products, I must say – I was able to buy so much for the party and keep it affordable! My first stop was getting the crescent roll dough:

And I decided to go ahead and pick up some biscuit dough, too. We love to have biscuits on hand for breakfast or dinner – they’re so versatile.

I bought pie crusts, too – 10 of them, in fact! I wanted to make sure everyone has a pie to take home from the party, and to have extra dough for embellishments like I mentioned earlier.

Check out all that I got for the baking party (I had a few ingredients, like sugar, cinnamon, etc. on hand already):

I’ll do some prep work prior to the party like pre-cooking the sweet potatoes and cooking the bacon, but we’ll do most of the work once everyone arrives. Can’t wait to show your our finished products!