Cool and Creamy Vegetable "Pizza" Crescent Cups

These Cool and Creamy Vegetable "Pizza" Cups are fun twist on the traditional version of veggie pizza that many of us know and love. They are perfect appetizers for summertime parties or you can even enjoy them as a light meal. They are easily customizable - use whatever fresh vegetables that you love or have on hand - and they seem to always be one of the first things to be devoured at parties.

For the recipe, you'll, basically, need a couple of tubes of refrigerated crescent seamless dough sheets, a few simple ingredients to make a cream cheese/sour cream filling and some fresh vegetables. After a short bit of oven time and a few minutes of cooling, the crescent cups get a dollop of cool and creamy filling before being topped off with your chopped veggies of choice.

From my experience, these can be made up to six hours {or so} in advance. While I do enjoy them just fine the next day {if there are leftovers}, they are best when freshly-made the day of service.

NOTE: VEGETABLES SHOULD BE CUT INTO SMALL PIECES AND BE OF UNIFORM SIZE. THE AMOUNT OF VEGETABLES NEEDED TO MAKE A SINGLE BATCH OF THESE IS VERY MINIMAL. ROUGHLY ONLY 2 - 3 TABLESPOONS OF EACH CHOPPED/SLICED VEGETABLE IS NEEDED. HOWEVER, THE AMOUNT, OBVIOUSLY, WILL VARY DEPENDING ON THE NUMBER OF VEGETABLES USED AND THE TYPE/VARIETY OF VEGETABLES CHOSEN. THEREFORE, I AM NOT PROVIDING EXACT MEASUREMENTS IN THE VEGETABLE SECTION OF THE INGREDIENT LIST BELOW.

Also, note that the recipe yields sixteen "cups," but is easily doubled or tripled for large crowds. And, to clarify, the cups are made in muffins tins with regular-sized wells - not mini muffin tins.

Yields 16 cups.

Veggie Confetti Wraps

Oh, my lawdy ... I am so craving warm weather. While I cherish steamy comfort food dishes during these chilly winter months, I've been making a few of my more-summery recipes (hello, Veggie Overload Pasta Salad ) this past week in an effort to fool my brain into thinking sunshine and greenery have arrived. We've had one heck of a winter here in Michigan. And, may I just say that I am so, so over it! I am incredibly ready for salads, cookouts, flip flops and lounging by the pool.

Of course, hit me up say, mid-August and I'm sure I'll be complaining about the humidity and mosquitos.

These Veggie Confetti Wraps were something I developed recently in homage to that traditional crescent roll-style vegetable pizza that so many of us know and love during the summer months. This, however, is made with one of my favorite ingredients - Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Lavash. You could use any type of soft tortillas or wraps if you cannot find Lavash. I find it easily at Wal-Mart and other major supermarkets - usually in the deli/bakery section or sometimes in the bread section for around two dollars for a four-pack.

Cut into pinwheels, these would be so fun for a party. These would be great to take to the beach in the summer or to enjoy pool-side. Or, you can cut the wraps simply in half if you're just utilizing them for lunch.

Individual Party Cheese Balls

It's such a busy time of the year for us all, isn't it?  And, in the midst of the Christmas shopping, decorating, baking and planning, most of us are racking our brains for recipe ideas for all of those holiday parties we are hosting or attending.

Here's a great appetizer recipe ... one that I plan on making for New Year's Eve and maybe a couple of other Christmas parties we are attending.

The idea is that each guest can take an individual cheese ball along with some crackers.  It allows everyone to have their very own to use on their own plate and it, also, allows people to take those with ingredients they prefer.

What I love about this idea is that there are so many flavor combination options ... especially when it comes to the coatings on these little, adorable orbs.  I've chosen fresh dill, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes and sesame seeds for these.  But, you could use chopped nuts, other herb combinations, shredded cheese or even chopped dried fruit.  (I did try chopped dried cranberries and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.  Note that they make the cheese balls a lot larger than ones coated in herbs or sesame seeds, for example, so the sizes were not quite the same.)

If you already have a cream-cheese based cheese ball recipe that you love, you can simply use that as your base.  Then, just roll the balls into whatever coatings you like.  You could, also, add in some horseradish, pimentos, dried chipped beef, cooked bacon, cayenne or other ingredients. 

I placed a cute party pick in each cheese ball for easier service.  I, also, find that they make a convenient "spreader" for guests to spread their cheese onto their crackers.

Yields 20 - 24 mini cheese balls.

Fresh Veggie Pizza Wonton Cups

 

Most of us are familiar with crescent roll-style vegetable pizza.  With a base of baked (and cooled) crescent dough, a layer of seasoned cream cheese and loads of fresh-cut veggies, it's often a staple at many potlucks or parties - especially in the summer months.

 

My regular readers can probably vouch for my recent love of using wonton wrappers in recipes.  I've used them for my Buffalo Chicken Wonton Cups, my Fiesta Taco Wonton Cups and my Lasagna "Cupcakes" recently.  Wonton wrappers are incredibly versatile and are so fun to work with.  They can be used for all kinds of both savory and sweet concoctions.  I used them for this recipe in place of the crescent dough. 

These cups offer a perfect balance of crunchy texture, creaminess and freshness.  The cream cheese mixture is a blend of dill, minced garlic and black pepper.  I love these flavorful gems and will be serving them this summer at parties and get-togethers.

I used reduced-fat cream cheese to try to keep these a little more healthy.  Cutting out the crescent dough is a huge fat and calorie saver.  And, with such an array of vegetables, you can rest assured that you're getting a good dose of healthful ingredients in your diet when you eat a few of these.  Yes, there is a tad bit of mayo, but it's one tablespoon spread out between twelve wonton cups.  (Plain Greek yogurt would be a good substitute for the mayo.)

Yields 12 wonton cups.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Monkey Bread

 

 

We've been making monkey bread for years.  We roll small balls of dough in butter, cinnamon and sugar, then bake in a bundt pan and pull it apart as we eat it while it's still warm.  Yum!  My family adores it.  I often prepare it ahead of time (the night before) on Christmas Eve so we can pop it into the oven to bake as we're opening presents early Christmas morning.

Strawberries and Cream Pretzel Dessert

 

The combination of sweet and salty is a high point of this dessert. This recipe has been in my family for years and used to make an appearance at most family gatherings. Why we stopped making it is beyond me because it truly was always one of our favorites! And, it's especially perfect for Memorial Weekend or Fourth of July get-togethers!

This recipe is composed of three layers.

Grandma's Lemon Chiffon Cheesecake

 

 

This is such a light, refreshing version of cheesecake ... so fluffy! It truly lives up to the "chiffon" part of its name. And, no baking is required! It is fabulous with blueberry pie filling on top, but can be left plain!