A few weeks ago, I decided to make our Sundays more special by adding some flair to our evening snacks. Maybe I was influenced by the upcoming holidays. Who doesn’t spend November and December thinking about food?
When the kids were little, we used to have Sunday sundaes. Ice cream was our dinner every Sunday night during warm weather. It was a fun tradition, and I stayed free of ovarian guilt by offering bananas, nuts, and other nutritious toppings.
Now we’re all a bit older and we recognize that foods don’t have to be sweet to be delicious. We always have a big fellowship meal at church, so the evening meal doesn’t need to be heavy or formal. Snacks are what we do. We love sausage balls and I think we could happily eat them every week, but we want to experiment with new and different foods, and more interesting ways to present the usual snacks. My goal is to use presentation and novelty to make our snacks more exciting without breaking the budget. I think a modest splurge here and there with a side of creativity and a willingness to work can make a fancy feast that is still relatively frugal.
Old fashioned popcorn made on the stove top and drizzled with butter was fun and yummy, but I wanted to step it up a little.
Three Sundays ago I tried my hand at bruschetta, and it was a big hit. It’s cheap, easy, and delicious, and it looks very pretty on a big white platter. I made some of Smockity’s artisan style bread because I already had the dough in my fridge. I shaped it like baguettes, then topped it with a combination of fresh tomatoes and pesto. I don’t know just how authentic it is, but we topped some with sliced green olives (ugh!) and various cheeses. We also tried broiling some after adding the toppings.
The following week, we tried some baked brie in a homemade sourdough bread bowl with pear filling, but that was not a big hit. Nearly everyone decided they just didn’t care for the yeasty flavor of the brie. I bought it at Costco and used it very promptly, but I’m slightly suspicious that our Brie was past its prime. So many cheeses are stinky to begin with, it’s hard to tell a good stink from a bad stink when you’re not familiar with a particular variety of cheese. The fact that the remainder of the Brie wheel had pink and purple areas after just 7 days made me even more suspicious.
Last Sunday our church didn’t have the usual fellowship meal so our snacks at home were heartier than usual. We all worked together on a huge platter with 3 different types of sausage slices, smoked gouda, swiss (my favorite), pepper jack and sharp cheddar cheese, and 4 types of crackers. On the side we had baby dills, black olives, and bruschetta. There was wine and hot spiced apple cider to drink. It was glorious!
I think I’d like to try some sort of savory mini tarts – maybe little quiches since the big ones always go over well with the kids. Homemade, of course. And maybe we’ll serve up some shrimp cocktail. A $5 ring of shrimp will feed a big family when you point out to the children just how much shrimp resemble huge bugs. Just to reinforce the point, try to get into the habit of calling them Sea Cockroaches.
What fancy snacks have you tried? What’s on your list to try someday?
I just recently tried a sausage and cheddar and cream cheese roll up on the solid crescent sheet rolls. I cook the sausage, spread room temp chream cheese on the crescent sheet. Then I place crumbled sausage and cheddar cheese. Roll up and place in freezer for a good 15-30 minutes. Slice and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until browned. YUMMMM! We ate with boiled eggs.
I love baked brie, just wrap it in some puff pastry and bake! I like it on apples. The brand of brie does make a difference in the flavor, but it does sound like yours was past its prime.
I’ve been struggling with finding these types of snacks for our family right now, mostly because I can’t have dairy (or specifically, baby can’t have dairy). All the good snacks have dairy (CHEESE! I love cheese!).
I do like bacon wrapped dates though. Just stuff each date with an almond, wrap about 1/3 a slice of bacon around it and cook (I always forget the temp/time but this last time I think we did 400 for 5-7 min?). Hubby and I like these, and so do some of the older kids, but the littles stay away.
A microwaved (or toaster-oven-baked, surrounded by puff pastry) wheel of brie and a big baguette is our go-to fancy snack around here. You probably did get a wheel past its prime. I dislike a really ripened wheel as well. I always check the dates and try to get one that won’t be ripe very soon.
We make our own yogurt, so we also sometimes strain it through a cheesecloth to make lebneh. (You can do this with store yogurt, but I always think the result is kinda wonky in texture and taste.) Topped with some chopped fresh mint and extra virgin olive oil, it goes great with any stale pita bread we have around (I toast it and then it’s kinda like a chip.)
I’m a big dip fan. Some of my favorites are:
Layer – refried beans, guacamole, sour cream mixed with taco seasoning, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, and sliced black olives and eat with tortilla chips
or
Layer cream cheese, hummas, diced cucumbers and red and yellow peppers, and feta cheese. Drizzle greek dressing overtop and eat with tortilla chips or crackers
I love Sunday nights–we usually always have popcorn and cream cheese (just open an 8 oz block and everyone cuts a chunk off to “dip” their popcorn into). Then it’s “good” leftovers and a really nice dessert (we skip dessert for Sunday lunch or have something small and sweet).
I’ve got the artisan bread book on my Christmas list;)!
Krista
John and I both laughed at the Sea Cockroaches. Our 2 youngest were terrified of crab and wouldn’t even eat the meat knowing it came from a crab. But now, so sad, none of them care and they are all over the good stuff. We started a tradition a few years back that a friend did and on Christmas Eve we spend the day making a lot of really nice snacks: 7 layer dip, spinach and artichoke, some delish cookies, different things than we make thru the year. Now we love it and it’s so stress free. We haven’t been brave enough to try brie…and those stinky cheeses intimidate me!
Shrimp cocktail? I’m very sad to admit (because I’m selfish!), that all 6 of my 7 children LOVE shrimp! (The 7th child doesn’t only because he’s 4mths old, but give him time…) I”m off duty on Sunday evening, so snacks and left-overs are standard fare around here.
For our family Christmas party, we usually all bring various Hors d’oeuvre type of foods, since we graze all night. Some of our favorite ones are: ham roll up (tortilla, spread with cream cheese, ham on top, and a pickle in the middle. Roll up then cut), pico de gallo (fresh salsa), bacon wrapped water chestnuts (everyone’s favorite! Soak whole water chestnuts in soy sauce for 5-7 hours, then drain, coat with sugar and wrap bacon around. Bake @350 for about 15-20 minutes or until bacon is cooked. Serve warm. I’m talking some serious YUM here!), mini cream puffs, apple slices with whipped yogurt/honey dip, pigs n’ blanket (with those little smokie sausages), … we own a catering business, so you know we LOVE food!!
And our waistlines prove my words ….