Loaded Sweet Potato Rounds

This is a very easy appetizer idea, and tastes so delicious! You won’t even miss white potatoes in this recipe.
I adapted this recipe from http://www.prevention.com

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled, sliced into 1/2″ rounds
1 tsp olive oil
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Crumbled Bacon
Chives, diced
Sour Cream

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450.
Line a baking sheet with foil then coat the foil lightly with Olive oil
Toss sliced potatoes in a bowl with olive oil.
Place rounds onto greased foil without touching.
Sprinkle with the salt, garlic powder, and cayenne.
Bake for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, flip potatoes and bake for another 8 minutes.
Then sprinkle with cheese, bacon, and scallions and let bake for 2 more minutes.
Serve with sour cream.

Spinach & Artichoke Dip

Spinach and artichoke dip is one of my favorite dips! This is a really easy recipe that can be made quick for any get together.

Ingredients:
4 cups baby spinach
1-14 oz. can artichokes
1-8 oz. package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
5 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
A few basil leaves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray a shallow 1-quart baking dish with Pam.
Place spinach in a microwaveable bowl and add 1/4 cup of water.
Microwave for 2 minutes.
Drain spinach with paper towels and chop.
In a large bowl beat cream cheese, mayo, Parmesan, milk, and basil in a bowl until combined.
Add chopped spinach and chopped artichokes.
Pour into greased dish and add a little
more shredded cheese to the top.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Serve with carrots or pita chips.

Buffalo Chicken Poppers

Buffalo chicken is one of my favorite foods, I love it on pizza, sandwiches, anything! So, when I was hanging out with my friends last night we tried out a recipe that looked amazing for buffalo chicken poppers! They turned out amazing with a avocado Bleu cheese dip. I found this recipe on http://www.iowagirleats.com
It was hard to get good pictures because they went so quickly! 🙂

Ingredients:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tsp. ranch dip mix (We used actual ranch dressing)
1 large chicken breast, cooked, diced
3-4 tblsp. buffalo wing sauce (We used Franks Red Hot)
1, 8 count tube crescent rolls
1 avocado
1/3 cup Bleu cheese dressing

Directions:
Preheat oven according to crescent roll package directions.
Toss cooked chicken with wing sauce.
Mix together cream cheese and ranch in a bowl.
Unroll crescent rolls and cut each triangle in half.
Spoon 1 teaspoon of cream cheese filling into the middle of each half triangle.
Top with a scoop of chicken.
Being all three sides of crescent tool together at the top, then pinch all the seams together to seal.
Place on a baking sheet and cook according to package directions.
While cooking, make the dip.
Mash avocado in a bowl until smooth and stir in Bleu cheese dressing.
Serve with poppers.

Baked Taco Dip

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Here is a recipe for a hot seven layer dip. It’s easy to prepare and very delicious!
Adapted from: http://www.thishomemadelife.com

Ingredients:
3 avocados
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 (16 oz.) can refried beans
Salt
1 bunch green onions, chopped finely
1 (8 oz.) container sour cream
1/2 packet taco seasoning
1/2 cup drained green chilies
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350.
Spread refried beans in the bottom of a casserole dish.
In a bowl, mash avocados and mix with lime juice and green onions.
Pour avocado mixture on top of beans.
In another bowl, mix sour cream with taco seasoning.
Pour over avocado.
Place diced green onions, green chilies, and tomatoes on top of sour cream mixture.
Add shredded cheese to the top.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips.

Easy Salsa

This is a very easy salsa recipe. It is very similar to restaurant types salsas, but very spicy! If you don’t like too spicy of salsa, you can get some of the spicier ingredients in half. I used my food processor for this salsa, but if you don’t have one, a blender would work just fine!

Ingredients:
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 oz.) can Rotel original (use mild of you don’t want it to be too spicy)
1/2 of a small onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1/2 of a jalapeño, seeded
Salt to taste
Handful of washed cilantro leaves

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse for 30 seconds.

Guacamole

Guacamole is one of my favorite things to have when the weather is nice out! Some tortilla chips with guacamole and salsa is the perfect warm weather snack! Try out this recipe for an easy guacamole. The more I write out the word guacamole the more I realize what a funny word it is…anyway, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados
1 medium tomato
1/4 red onion
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt, pepper

Directions:
In a large bowl mash together your avocados with lime juice and salt. Taste to see how much salt you like.
Dice up your tomato, onion, and garlic and gently mix in to your avocado mix.
Add salt and pepper as needed.
Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to let the flavors mix, not necessary but makes it better! 🙂

Pepperoni Bites

I found this recipe on Pinterest for a quick, yummy snack! My cousin Kayla and I were craving this snack so we decided to try it out. They’re turned out to be very addicting!
Adapted from: http://www.thegunnysack.com

Ingredients:
2 cans buttermilk biscuits, flattened
Pepperoni slices
1 block Colby-Jack cheese
Garlic salt
Shredded cheese
Marinara sauce, for dipping

Directions:
Grease a 9 x 13 in pan with cooking spray.
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut block of cheese into 20 pieces.
Flatten each biscuit and layer with one slice pepperoni, one slice cheese, and one slice pepperoni.
Fold in all of the ends so that it forms a circle and place seam side down in pan.
Repeat with all biscuits.
Top with garlic salt and shredded cheese.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
Heat marinara sauce and serve to dip!

Spinach & Artichoke Hummus

I love hummus, and I recently bought myself my first food processor so I decided to make a homemade hummus! I added a bunch of my favorite ingredients to turn it into a delicious and spicy spinach and artichoke hummus.

Ingredients:
1 can chick peas
Handful of fresh spinach
Handful of artichoke hearts
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon (approx.) sesame tahini
Salt & pepper

Directions:
Purée chickpeas, garlic, and sesame tahini in food processor.
Add spinach and artichoke hearts and pulse until combined.
Add salt and pepper to taste!

Sweet Potato Cakes w Black Bean Salsa

So lately I have been obsessed with sweet potatoes.
I saw this delicious recipe on pinterest, and it came from:
http://lisaiscooking.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html

I adapted the recipe though to make it healthier.

Sweet Potato Cakes with Black Bean Salsa! They were so good, I had one for dinner with a piece of grilled chicken, and my whole family liked them! These would also be yummy as little appetizers. My mom thought of maybe baking them in mini muffin tins instead of frying them to bring somewhere as an appetizer, I’ll have to try it out! But for now, here’s my adapted recipe that I made for dinner!

Sweet Potato Cakes
Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
3/4 cup almond meal (you can use normal flour if you’d like)
Salt & pepper to taste
Scallions diced
1 tablespoon Smart Balance Butter
1 tablespoon EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Directions:
Combine salt, pepper, scallions, and flour with the mashed sweet potato.
Heat a large skillet on medium heat and add the butter and olive oil.
Make 7 patties out of the potato mixture and put them in your pan.
Fry first side for about 6-8 minutes or until crispy and brown, then fry the other side for 4-5 minutes.

Black Bean Salsa
Ingredients:
16 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 avocado, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine!

Top each sweet potato cake with a tablespoon of sour cream and some
black bean salsa!

Hot Baked Potato Dip

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With the exciting Super Bowl tonight, I decided to make two delicious dips. I made my favorite buffalo chicken dip, and a new dip I have never tried called Baked Potato Dip. Other recipes that I saw had the potato dip served cold, but I like it baked and hot!
Enjoy!!
GO GIANTS!

Just so you don’t think I left an important ingredient out!
*There is no potato in this dip.*
Made to be eaten with potato chips and contain everything that would go on a baked potato!
This would be delicious filled in a potato skin too! Yum

Ingredients:
8 oz. sour cream
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 lb. center cut bacon
1/2 cup diced scallions
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Mix softened cream cheese and sour cream well.
Add crumbled bacon, diced scallions, and cheddar cheese, mix well.
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.
With 5 minutes left in your baking time, add some extra shredded cheddar to the top!

Hot Baked Potato Dip on right!

Visit my appetizers section for the recipe for the dip on the left, Buffalo Chicken Dip