Small Bites of Happiness

“Moderation, small helpings, sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.” ~ Julia Child

I couldn’t agree with her more. I love little bites of food and dessert because of the variety of flavors you can savor and not feel like you have eaten a mountain of food. I came across a great site for just this kind of food simply called Finger Food Recipes. A couple yummy ones I can hardly wait to try are waiting right here just for you!

Cheese Bites

Ingredients:

1/2 - cup warm butter or margarine
1 - cup plain flour
2 - cups grated medium or sharp flavor cheddar cheese
1/4 - tsp ground Cayenne pepper
1 - tsp paprika/red pepper

* bacon, sausage, ham or green onions (optional)

Makes 35 cheese appetizers

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400˚F

Mix the butter, pepper and flour together. Add the cheese and mix in well.

Shape into small bite-size balls and arrange on a baking sheet.

Bake in a preheated oven (400˚F) for about 10 minutes.

*You can add some crumbled bacon, sausage or ham into the batter to really jazz it up. Also, try some chopped green onion.

Little BLT’s

Ingredients:

1 container of cherry tomatoes about 24

½ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup green onions, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 pound turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled

Small can sliced black olives (optional

Directions:

Cook Bacon and crumble after it has cooled.

In a bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, bacon, green onions, and parsley until well blended. Set aside.

Cut a small slice from the top of each tomato. Using a melon baller or small spoon, scoop out the inside of each tomato and discard.

Fill each tomato with the bacon mixture, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Before serving, you can top them with some sliced black olives, parsley or some more chopped bacon.

NOTE: If you plan on making a lot of these then using a decorating bag to fill the tomatoes will make things go along faster. If you don't have a decorating or pastry bag then you can make one very easily by taking a plastic sealable bag, such as a Ziploc, and put your filling mixture into it. Then, when you are ready to fill the tomato, cut one of the bottom corners off of the bag with some scissors. Don't make the cut too big, you want to make a hole just large enough to squeeze out the right amount into your tomato. Start by cutting off about a 1/2 inch corner and adjust from there.

Olive Garden Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

24 fresh mushrooms

1 cup Italian-style bread crumbs

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 - 6-ounce cans chopped or minced clams, drained, reserve the juice

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

6 tablespoons melted butter, divided

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/4 cups grated Italian cheese blend. Parmesan and Romano. (Divide into two portions)

1/4 cup melted butter, for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Clean mushrooms and remove stems.

Combine the clams, green onion, garlic, 2 tablespoons of the butter and oregano in a medium bowl.

Add 1/2 cup of the reserved clam juice, bread crumbs, eggs and 1 cup of the grated cheese and stir to combine.

Fill prepared mushrooms with the mixture, mounding slightly.  To get that perfect rounded top, we use a small scoop used for making cookies. Use a regular spoon first to get the filling inside the cavity of the mushroom and then top it off with a scoop.

Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and place the mushrooms in the dish.

Drizzle the remaining butter over the top of the mushrooms. Cover with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese. Return to the oven uncovered and bake 5 minutes.