My go-to Appetizers that won't break the bank

With the holidays just around the corner, I am starting to get my plans together for what appetizers I will be making. This would be a great time to share my top choices and tips.

I love outdoor entertaining. Outside, there are more things to do than in my tiny little house. Plus, when I am entertaining outdoors, the house doesn’t get as dirty from all the traffic resulting in a long day of cleaning up after all that fun.

I think a little bit of it is the cleaning aspect. When you do indoor entertaining, I feel like no matter how hard you try, there is always crap everywhere. If you do the outdoor entertaining, as far as kids running around or people with dirty shoes or things like that, it's all mainly kept outside.

Sometimes I tell myself that everything doesn't need to be perfect and relax and enjoy. Especially when it comes to the food, I want it to look a specific way; if it doesn't turn out quite the way I wanted or thought, sometimes that irks me a little bit.

I did have a meltdown at one of the kid’s birthday parties. I had dropped the vegetable tray that I had spent hours working on. My enormous pregnant belly got in the way, and I bawled my eyes. I was so deep in my emotions that I felt the whole party was ruined because this tray fell and everything was on the floor, and I felt like everyone needed to go home.

My mom said, “let's wash everything off. You already meticulously cleaned the kitchen floor from top to bottom; it’s not like you dropped it in the mud. Let's rinse everything off and put it all back on the tray. Calm down.”

My go-to is simple and easy appetizers that you can still make look fantastic for any occasion.

Cucumber bites

You will need cucumbers, cream cheese, dill dip mix, and smoked salmon. Mix cream cheese with dill dip mix. Put a dollop right on top of the cucumbers. One time, I bought a jalapeno and artichoke pre-made dip to put on top of some cucumber slices. Then put a small piece of shaved smoked salmon. You can even put these toppings on crackers or toast instead of cucumbers.

My husband thought I was weird for making these things. He said, “It's just my buddy coming over. We’re just going to watch a football game; you don't have to get all fancy. This isn't ladies’ night or anything.” I'm like. You worry about getting the TV and all that set up. I will take care of the food because I love making delicious, beautiful food. When I get compliments on the look and flavor of what I made, I get such a boost of confidence. It is like when you get a compliment on your looks; it makes you feel great! I did not have one cucumber bite left, and they both insisted I needed to make more for them to take to work the following week.

Tea sandwiches

It doesn't necessarily have to be a cucumber spread that you traditionally have for tea sandwiches.

You can make PB&J, ham, egg salad, or whatever combination you want, and then just cut the square bread sandwich into triangles and place them all nicely on the tray. You can do that for birthday parties, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or a small gathering with friends. Another great option is rainbow wraps. You can get that recipe here.

Cheese balls

Arrange summer sausage or meat sticks, then your fruits, vegetables, and some nuts around the cheese ball, and you have a platter people will be asking for again and again. You can find these pre-made or make your own for the cheese ball. Recipe here if you want to make your own.

Fruit bowl

Take a watermelon, cut it in half, and scoop out all the watermelon. Fill the watermelon with all the fruits you have selected.

You can do grapes, cantaloupe, muskmelon, berries, pineapple, and kiwi. Any other fruits that you like.

Sausage stuffed mushrooms

You will need Italian sausage, mushrooms, garlic powder, pepper, onion powder, and cayenne. Wash your mushrooms and pull off the stems; whether you prefer portabellas or your traditional white mushroom bell, either will work. Put them stem side up on a tray so you have a small bowl in the mushroom for the filling. Put the Italian sausage inside, sprinkle some garlic, pepper, onion powder, and a pinch of cayenne if you like spice. Throw in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Crab stuffed mushrooms

Same directions as above for filling and cooking after making your crab filling. Cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, crab meat, and garlic powder are what you need for the filling. Mix it all up, and then you stuff the mushrooms. The key point here is to spray the top of those mushrooms with a little cooking spray. So, when you bake them, they get that little bit of gold. Any brown on the top looks like a 5-star restaurant gourmet. It's like a crab Rangoon stuffed mushroom.

Pizza bites

You can do this in several different ways. Bake your crescent on a cookie sheet. You can buy them in a can or make your own from scratch. Once you have cooked your crescent and let it cool, you can add all your toppings, cut them into bite-sized squares, and place them on a platter for serving. A few options to try are taco dip, cucumber and dill, fruit pizza, vegetable pizza, traditional pizza, smores, or just some good old cheese! Kids and adults love these. Recipe for a fruit pizza here.

Bruschetta

I love this one. This is my go-to when I am in a rush and need something super quick to throw together! You can buy the pre-made bruschetta or make your own.

Mix chopped tomatoes, onions, balsamic vinegar, basil, garlic, and oil, then set aside. Toast your slices of baguette, sourdough, or French bread. They all work great. Top with the bruschetta or leave the bruschetta in a bowl for people to top their own. It's that simple and easy.

Cheesy bread

I did some of the bread toasted with some melted cheese on top of it. This paired so well with the several bottles of wine I had one evening for a ladies’ night. I am somewhat of a cheese snob and pick out some fancy-flavored cheeses. If this is not your cup of tea, that’s perfectly fine. For this to still be delicious, you do not have to have specialty cheeses. The only thing I would suggest is to use cheeses that melt nicely, as those do work better than others.

Charcuterie board

I get all my supplies from Aldi's. Especially around the holidays, they have some excellent specialty cheeses, and some of those smoked ones are absolutely to die for. And then it's just nuts, fruit, olives, dried fruit, fresh fruit, crackers, meat, and some fruit spreads. You can do as much or as little as you like. Arrange this all on your tray and serve!

The other thing I find essential to entertaining is knowing your crowd.

Know if people are allergic to something, it's OK to ask. No one will ever get offended if you're checking with them. I've never had anyone say that they were offended. I've always just put it flat out there like, does anyone have any food allergies?

If it is a classier event where you need to supply any alcoholic beverages or beverages in general, get the variety, and spend that little bit of extra money. It's going to look so much better if you have that little bit of variety versus not.

Let's move on to serving trays. I use a ton of metal and wood trays to display the foods I make for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and other get-togethers.

I have a long metal tray with handles that are perfect for those larger platters of food. I also have a couple of smaller trays for smaller appetizers.

They don't have to be costly items. You can find some great pieces at thrift stores, rummage sales, or in the clearance section. I've collected these over the years and still keep an eye out if I ever want to switch them up.

You can still get a bunch of disposable tableware that comes in whatever color you may need for your theme. The Dollar store or a party store is my go-to for these because the prices are more reasonable than big box stores.

Get yourself some decent crock pots of all different shapes and sizes. Watch thrift stores and rummage sales for these. You can find some rather nice ones that will do the job perfectly. Plus, with all those DIYers out there am sure there is probably a way to repaint the metal part of the crockpot to make it fit your style.

The best thing about crockpots is that you dump everything in them, turn them on, and stir right before your guests arrive. What to make in a crockpot: cheese dips, seasoned meatballs, BBQ meatballs, BBQ weenies, and Chex mix.

There are a ton of recipes you can do in crock pots. I should do a whole post on my favorite crockpot dishes.