Looking for some easy party food that is quick to prepare and healthy too? Here are some simple and flavorful summer appetizer recipes that come together very quickly. Each one is made with just a few simple, wholesome ingredients and can be made with very little preparation, allowing you to enjoy every moment of your celebration.
Cheesy Bean Appetizers: Take a variety of whole grain crackers and top them with some canned refried beans, a sprinkle of cumin, a little prepared guacamole or a chunky salsa, a square of cheese of your own choosing, and a couple of slices of pitted black olives.
Smoked Salmon Appetizers: Take a seedless cucumber, remove skin and make very thin lengthwise slices. With one slice of cucumber, place a slice of packaged and sliced smoked salmon along the length of the cucumber. Then spread some plain whipped cream cheese on top of the salmon and then some chopped fresh dill and a few jarred capers (drained). Now roll the cucumber slice as tightly as possible and place seam side down on a serving plate lined with lettuce leaves. Chill until ready to serve.
Cranberry Toasts: In a mixing bowl combine plain whipped cream cheese with dried sweetened cranberries (roughly chopped), chopped walnuts, and some grated lime zest. Thinly slice some French bread and toast until lightly browned. Spread the cranberry mixture on each bread slice and serve.
Veggie Quesadilla Appetizers: Take one 7-inch soft tortilla shell and sprinkle half of the shell with grated cheddar cheese. Then top the cheese with diced, jarred roasted red peppers, diced celery, chopped pimiento stuffed olives, some chopped onion, and little more grated cheese. Fold tortilla in half. Lightly spray a skillet with oil and over medium heat brown tortilla lightly on both sides. Cut tortilla in half and serve this summer appetizer as is or with a little bowl of sour cream for dipping.
Laura Cokherell, a food lover, shares a wide variety of low-cost meal ideas from breakfast to dessert, including more summer appetizers, at Quick Salad Recipes.com. You will find a large selection of quick recipes for healthy, flavorful, natural meals that require a minimum of ingredients, time, effort and clean-up for the time-pressed world we live in.
Filed under Recipes by on Jun 16th, 2010. Comment. 
Like Camembert, Brie is from cow’s milk as well. Soft and ammonia hinted. I recommend for daily consumption this healthy cheese? Why? Let’s see.
The production area of Brie de Meaux lays about 30 miles east of Paris. Originally it is produced from unpasteurized whole or semi- skimmed milk on maximum 98.6 F. Traditionally, the cheese is cast manually with the help of a “pelle brie” (perforated ladle/shovel). After heat treatment Brie is salted, exclusively with dry salt. Its fat content: 45% and affinage between 4 and 8 weeks. Should be consumed within this period to avoid it aging too much and making you sick.
Many varieties of Brie are all over the world, but despite the varieties, the French Atlantic government officially certifies only two types of Brie to be sold under that name.
Brie de Meaux which known as the King of Cheeses. Old one, because first production started around 800. Second one is Brie de Melun.
“Le Roi des Fromages” (Brie de Meaux) is on the top region of the world’s cheeses. Very soft and it has an exceptional combination of hazelnut and fruit aromas. Secondly mentioned Brie de Melun preserving the old farm traditions as it comes from small dairies.
Anyway we know herb-ed varieties, double and triple Brie and versions of Brie made with other types of milk. (Brie de Nangis)
Without drafts you should keep it in dark, aerated place. After packaging out cover with a damp cloth. Best if you keep it in the vegetable crisper of your fridge.
What you can expect? Brie has creamy center with a less tasty, edible rind. The older your brie the stronger its richness. But do not forget to consume on time.
Best to consume on room temperature. Before serving take off your refrigerator. After slicing eat with fruit or put it into a sandwich. Country bread is highly suggested. But in alone is fine as well.
As a part of a simple but demanding dining Brie can be paired with alcoholic beverages. Brie is a perfect match with Champagne. A red Bordeaux (Ch. Coufran Haut-Medoc) or Bourgogne is an excellent choice as well.
Brie the Nangis take of some very special tastes from your matching too. A recommended white wine is Sauvignon Blanc.
As you could see Bries have many wonderful secret. Make your days better with Brie cheese.
Learn more about foods and wines. Stop by the suggested pairing site where you can find out all about matchings, travel tips and many articles what you will love.
Filed under Wines by on Jun 9th, 2010. Comment.
Throughout the history of pizza, many types have been invented. Some are made in certain locations; others are made everywhere. It just goes to show how popular it is all over the world. It is delicious, convenient, and offers a great deal of variety. It does not matter whether you buy your pizza or make it yourself… you are in for a great meal that everyone will enjoy.
Fans of New York style will fold their slices in half while eating them. This style features a crust that is thin and chewy, topped with a sweet tomato sauce and delicious fresh mozzarella. One of the hallmarks of a real New York pizza is the yellow grease that runs down your arm from the rich cheese. You will not find a pile of toppings on a New York pie… they like to enjoy the genius of a simple pizza.
Ike Sewell invented Chicago style in 1943. This deep-dish pizza was meant to make a hearty meal. With a crust featuring high sidewalls to contain all the toppings, you need a knife and fork to eat a Chicago pizza. This style also changes the order of the ingredients. They put the cheese on the crust first, then the toppings, and the sauce goes on top. A little margarine is added to the pan before cooking to create a crisp bottom crust.
California Style tends to focus on exotic toppings and unusual combinations. The crust is double baked after rising, to retain the height gained. The crust tastes light, tender, and airy. Toppings can be as unusual as smoked salmon, shrimp, or asparagus. Vegetarian toppings are common.
Pan style features a crust that is a bit thicker. Oil is added to the pan before cooking, making a crunchy fried crust bottom. The flavor is also slightly different. All sorts of toppings can be used on pan style.
Cracker style crusts became the rage in the 1950s. This dough was allowed to ferment before baking, which gave it a cracker-like texture. This was a new technique. Normal thin crust is usually hand stretched. One may wonder where did pizza originate? Most think of Italy, but these thin crusts were very popular with the Greeks and Etruscans, who happened to be occupying Italy.
Focaccia style pies reach back into the far reaches of history to pizza’s early beginnings. This type does not have sauce. Instead, it is topped with oils, grilled vegetables and whatever other toppings that may be on the menu. This type of pie has been eaten in Europe since before the introduction of the tomato.
Still more styles are invented all the time for example. Tex-Mex versions offer Mexican toppings like corn, picante sauce, shredded beef, and other ingredients on a crust that is made with a percentage of masa flour. The crust is more corn chip-like than a normal crust. Other regional styles may use specific ingredients. For example, in the Midwest, Provolone cheese is preferred to mozzarella.
There are many different types of pizza crust including thin and crispy, whole wheat, stuffed crust and more. There are also flavored pizza crusts like cheese and onion dough or Greek pizza crust, so you can match the pizza crust to the toppings perfectly. The pizza crust recipes at our site will definitely inspire you.
Filed under Recipes by on Jun 4th, 2010. Comment.
Pecora means in Italian sheep. A cheese which is made from ewe’s milk named Pecorino. A hard Italian cheese what we will present for you here. Would you like to taste this healthy cheese? Follow us and test it.
World wide known Italian cheese is Pecorino. It comes from ewe’s milk. This is the most favorite way to get a fine cheese.
There are four best known Pecorino. The place where they origin shows difference between them.
Pecorino Romano: Most of the cheeses are produced on the island of Sardinia, but allowed to make in Tuscan as well.
Pecorino Sardo: same organic and origin like the previous one
Pecorino Toscano: origin from Tuscan
Pecorino Siciliano: from the great Italian island of Sicily
These cheeses are aged and hard. Despite of this Ricotta cheese is white and soft, but young. Pecorino Sardo is the next one which is aged and has sharper flavor.
Pecorino Sardo is one the greatest which has minimum 40 percent of butterfat. It has mild aroma, pale straw color paste with little holes. It has smooth texture and its flavor enjoyable at once. If you want and you have time to enjoy everything then kept it indefinitely. Very healthy because it has lots of Omega-3 acid that’s why I recommend.
Generally the more mature this Italian cheese are harder but crumbly in texture and it has nutty flavor. Especially in South Italy farmers give additional ingredients to Pecorino like red chili flakes, black peppercorns, walnut or even rucola.
This hard cheese is very good for finishing your daily supper, like pasta and can be paired with walnut as well. Your tongue will answer.
Mostly these cheeses – while their color is from light yellow to purple – a bit salty that’s why can be sprinkle a tablespoon of olive oil.
Pair with red wines, whole grain bread. Pastas for it:Pesto Sauce and Linguini. Dolcetto is a unique choice.Italian Pasta in herb sauce. Wine pairing with La Spinetta Barbera d’Asti Ca Di Pian from 2005. Enjoy!
Learn more about foods and wines. Stop by the suggested pairing site where you can find out all about matchings, travel tips and many articles what you will love.
Filed under Wines by on May 31st, 2010. Comment.
One of our favorite foods in the United States is Pizza. There are many kinds of pizza, traditional, and non-traditional. On the last category, we have the tropical pizza. Just as its name suggests, the ingredients for topping are fruits. Here is a good recipe for tropical pizza.
Ingredients for tropical pizza:
Pizza dough
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
cup of tomato based pizza sauce. You can buy the sauce already made or you can make your own sauce using tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, and basil, and a pinch of rosemary
cup of cleaned cooked shrimp large size (6-8 shrimp) you can put more if you wish.
2 tablespoons of pineapple chunks
1 tablespoon of grated coconut (buy already made if you cannot find fresh coconut)
Half banana cut into round slices
1 teaspoon of olive oil
Directions for tropical pizza
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Take your pizza dough and shape it. With a spoon, rub olive oil on the dough. Spread the tomato sauce over it and top with pineapple chunks, banana, shrimp, and mozzarella cheese. Follow by sprinkling the coconut shavings over the mozzarella cheese.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until the mozzarella, cheese starts to brown.
And that is all there is to it. It is a different twist to traditional pizza but one with flavors that will explode in your mouth.
Another variation of this pizza is the following recipe, which will include chicken instead of shrimp and a meatier base.
Tropical Pizza Variation
Ingredients:
Pizza dough or you can use a pre-cooked pizza crust; it is up to you.
1 teaspoon of olive oil
cup of pre-made pizza sauce
cup mozzarella cheese – grated
cup of cheddar cheese – grated
cup of parmesan cheese – grated
cup of pineapple chunks
cup of chopped onions (green or red)
Six ounces of chicken – grilled or cooked chopped into pieces
cup of cooked bacon pieces
Directions:
Spread and shape the pizza dough and cover with olive oil. If you are using a pre-cooked pizza crust, skip the oil. Spread the tomato sauce over it and top with chicken, pineapple chunks, onions and bacon pieces. Then cover with the cheeses, all three. Place in the oven and bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, less if your crust is pre-cooked, or until you see the cheese getting brown.
This meaty variation can be changed to use your favorite meats instead. If you like the sweet and savory taste, this pizza is for you.
Find all the info about pizza recipes and how to even find the ideal pizza dough recipes .
Filed under Recipes by on May 16th, 2010. Comment.
