Easy Appetizers

Since spring is finally here, sort of (it snowed here in Denver on Easter day, sigh), I thought I would share one of my favorite strawberry recipes with you. It is a pretty easy recipe that does not even require any baking. Start to finish, it takes about 20 minutes. As I do at my baking site, I am going to share with you here the story behind the recipe.

Cream Cheese Strawberry Pie

Strawberries are my favorite fruit. I always have them around when they come into season in the spring. It always brings back memories of going to pick berries with my family in the summer. We would all pile in the car with buckets and ice cream pails, eager to taste fresh summer berries. We would go to one of the nearby berry farms that had acres and acres of berries. I remember it seemed so huge to me as a kid and I could not believe how many rows upon rows upon rows there were. All of us kids of course ended up eating just as many berries as we picked. There is nothing that has quite as much flavor as a strawberry fresh from the field, warm with sunshine. Makes me want to go hunt down a local berry farm so I can share that memory with my daughter!

Prepare the vanilla pudding according to the package directions. (Put the pudding mix and the milk into a bowl and whisk together for 2 minutes.) Allow it to set for 5 minutes. I usually use this time to start washing and cutting the strawberries. I typically just cut them in half for this recipe. Once the pudding has set, place the cream cheese in a medium sized bowl and mix with an electric mixer for 30 seconds at low speed. Add the pudding to the cream cheese and mix for about one minute on low speed. Put the mixture into the pie crust and put it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Continue washing and cutting the strawberries while the pie is in the refrigerator. Place the strawberries on top of the pie. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Enjoy your spring (and your berry picking adventures)!

Happy Baking!

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Organizing a picnic, and running out of picnic food ideas? Picnic food items are easy to prepare, delicious and healthy. When preparing a picnic meal keep it simple and play with the flavours and aromas.

Picnic food items should be easy and fast to prepare, easy to eat, tasty and healthy too, especially for children. Picnics are the best occasion to encourage your kids to inculcate good and healthy eating habits.

On picnics one wants to relax and be casual. Thus, no one wants to follow sophisticated table manners. Therefore, keep the food item simple, which can be easily eaten with hands. Keep hassle free finger foods like or you can also keep a barbeque and serve grilled food, which are delicious, filling and easy to eat.

Following are the best and easy to cook picnic food ideas:

Picnic Appetizers: Appetizers will keep your guests and kids engaged and will prevent them from getting bored. Plus, the appetizers will keep them from getting hungry till the time you decide to start the lunch. Now it is very much easy, convenient and comfortably possible to accomplish he vacation one wished for, that too with a complete indulgence in luxury and comfort at its level best.

For appetizers arrange a platter of raw vegetables like cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, asparagus, etc and serve it with one or two nice dips. Keep one spicy and aromatic dip and the other one little subtly flavour and easy on hotness. You can probably keep one salsa dip and other a celery-sour cream dip. You can even buy readymade dips from the market. Instead of accompanying the platter with usually fried and unhealthy chips, try baked chips. These are healthy, less filling and a tasty option.

Sandwiches: Sandwiches are easy to make and does not take much time. Moreover, everyone likes sandwiches. You can get hundred of different recipes from the internet. Add sausages, pepperoni and lots of vegetables to make them delicious as well as healthy.

Desserts and Fruits: A meal is incomplete without a dessert. Bake or buy some pastries and pies for the desserts to relish your sweet tooth. Cut different fruits and top them up on whipped cream and garnish it with golden honey. This makes for a healthy and a delicious dessert promotional items.

Barbeque: If you are planning to set up a barbeque and serve your guests with freshly grilled scrumptious meats, then you can go in for frozen burger patties, kebabs, sausages, etc that are readily available in stores. Or else marinate the meat pieces, like chicken, seafood, etc. In herbs, flavoured olive oil, etc in advance. This, way the grilled meat will be tender and will have an intense flavour. Serve the barbeque dishes with readymade barbeque sauce or the freshly prepared two dips mentioned in the appetizer section.

Drinks: go in for lots of juices or juice concentrates and lemonade. Stock up lots of bottled water because children tend to be quiet active on picnics, and can get dehydrated.

Picnics can be more fun if you plan each and every detail well in advance, like the venue, picnic table plans, food items, etc. Easy to cook, easy to eat, delicious and nutritious food items can make picnic all the more enjoyable.

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How to make pepperoni pizza rolls, gyoza and the best fondue ever.

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The downside to writing up new recipes is remembering how good they taste and getting hungry in the process!

This recipe for a wonderful nibble called Mandarin Chicken Bites is good for any time of the year, but during the holidays, with all the eating and snacking going on, adding this recipe to your repertoire will be a terrific addition to your holiday fare.

Easy to make, these mandarin chicken bites are even easier to eat. Most importantly, make sure you make more than you think you'll need. These tasty tidbits get eaten up in a big hurry.

What you'll need:

- 1 cup of flour (all-purpose)

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- 1/4 teaspoon of pepper

- 1 pound of chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)

- 2 Tablespoons of butter (or margarine)

- 1 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges (drained)

- 2/3 cup of orange marmalade

- 1/2 teaspoon of dried tarragon

The first thing to do is cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Then, combine the salt and pepper and flour in a large plastic bag (resealable). Adding a few pieces of chicken at a time, shake to coat. Remove the chicken pieces and brown them in a skillet in melted butter. When the juices run clear, you've cooked the chicken long enough.

Next, in a small saucepan, mix the oranges, marmalade and tarragon and then bring the mixture to a boil.

Simply, pour the mixture over the chicken and stir everything gently to coat it all.

Transfer the coated chicken to a pretty platter and serve warm with some toothpicks.

This delicious recipe makes 12-15 servings.

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