Holiday Appetizers to Precede Your Holiday Dinner

Preceding your holiday dinner(s) during the upcoming season you might want a few simple appetizers to serve for family and guests while you put the finishing touches on your holiday meal. These appetizers are simple to prepare in advance and don't need to be heated in the oven or on the stove prior to serving. Just prepare in advance and serve with crackers.

Here are a few easy spreads -

Shrimp & Cream Cheese Spread with Cocktail Sauce

Ingredients:

1 can Shrimp (or ½ lb. frozen shrimp)
1 8 oz pkg. Cream cheese
Salt, pepper To taste
Worcestershire Sauce To taste
1 cup Cocktail sauce, prepared or homemade (mine is catsup, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce)

Steps:

1. Place cream cheese in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften. (Do it twice if necessary; don't just set it for one minute.)
2. Add shrimp and blend well.
3. Add spices and form a shape - ie: ornament shape for Christmas, heart for Valentine's Day, etc.)
4. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Pour cocktail sauce over it just prior to serving with crackers. (Tip: Reserve 1/3 of the cocktail sauce to pour over the spread a little later on.)

Spinach Cream Cheese Spread

Ingredients:

1 10 oz. pkg. Spinach, frozen
1 8 oz. pkg Cream Cheese
Salt, pepper To taste
¼ cup Minced onion
Garlic Powder To taste
Worcestershire sauce To taste

Steps:

1. Place cream cheese in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften. (Do it twice if necessary; don't just set it for one minute.)
2. Add spinach and onions and blend well.
3. Add spices, mix well and shape into a desired shape - wreath, perhaps. (Tip: if you do a wreath, you might use walnut halves and pieces of dried apricots (cut into halves) for the "ornaments." At Christmas time, use slices of pimento stuffed olives and cherry tomatoes for the "ornaments.")
4. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Tuna Cream Cheese Spread

Ingredients:
3 cans Tuna, water pack, well drained
2 8 oz pkg. Cream cheese
1 tsp. Lemon juice (or dill pickle juice)
Salt, pepper To taste
Garlic powder To taste
Dried parsley To taste
Worcestershire sauce To taste
Food coloring (red & yellow makes orange)
2 3" lengths Rosemary, 2 or 3 pretzels, green onion, or a celery stalk with leaves

Steps:

1. Soften cream cheese in the microwave for two 30 second "bursts." (Do it a third time if necessary; don't just set it for one time.)
2. Add tuna and blend well.
3. Add all spices, food coloring and continue to blend. Once you have the desired orange color, shape into a pumpkin. (Tip: at Christmas time, I make this in a tree shape & cover with dried parsley. Sliced stuffed olives, sliced radishes, cherry tomatoes and pickled onions are the ornaments.)
4. Chill for at least two hours. Add the rosemary lengths or 2-3 pretzels to be the greenery/trunk of the pumpkin.

I like these because once you put them out, there is nothing left to do except add more crackers. If they sell it in your area, you might use broken up pieces of cracker bread (Lahvosh). For the crackers, I normally use saltines because they're a little bland so you can enjoy the tasty spreads better. You can also use the stubby bread sticks. (Tip: Place the bread sticks and/or crackers in attractive baskets lined in fall or Christmas colored napkins. )

When you put the various spreads in the refrigerator to chill, use toothpicks (or the little round things that come with pizza) to hold the plastic wrap off the spread. This eliminates the plastic from sticking to the spread.

If there are young children at your holiday meal, serve a bowl of potato chips also. The really young ones don't usually care for spreads and crackers.

Enjoy!