The DIVA of TINY FOODS: 2008

20081224

CUCUMBER DIP - Holiday Spread and Dip

This is a favorite spread/dip I make with cucumbers and cream cheese that I have simply dressed up for the holidays in Christmas colors!

Now, forgive me but it's Christmas Eve and I have a lot of cooking to do so I'm back to slaving over a hot stove - BUT don't forget:

As A Special Holiday Treat for all you Baby Boomers
and Children Who Will Never Grow Up

I am presenting:
THE ENTIRE BROADCAST OF
PETER PAN
Starring MARY MARTIN
at The PopArtDiva Retro Baby Boomer Blog

YESTERDAY: PARTS ONE THROUGH SEVEN
TODAY: PARTS EIGHT TO END
SPECIAL SONGS from Peter Pan

ENJOY THE NOSTALGIA AND
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

If you have a Tiny Food question, please feel free to ask me in a comment and I'll respond back here in the comments section or in a new post!

My Favorite Tiny Food Recipes at PopArtDiva.Com
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20081223

CHRISTMAS CHEESE BITES - MIni Cheese Balls!

These little cream cheese and blue cheese tidbits are wonderful little mini cheese balls that your guests can just pop in their mouth - no cracker required! They're perfect finger food for your holiday buffet and the blue cheese gives them a nice little zing!

Stop by and grab some Holiday Martini recipes for your party too at The Martini Diva.

As A Special Holiday Treat for all you Baby Boomers
and Children Who Will Never Grow Up:

THE ENTIRE BROADCAST OF
PETER PAN
Starring MARY MARTIN

TODAY: Parts One through Seven
TOMORROW: Parts Eight to The End
watch them at The PopArtDiva Retro Baby Boomer Blog!

20081222

CRANBERRIED MEATBALLS - Ho, Ho, Wholesome!

This is a fun and sweet variation on the traditional boomer classic appetizer of Swedish Meatballs. It's kind of a Christmas style sweet and sour meatball recipe and it's really good!

Serve it up with The Christmas Cranapple-tini and then get on over to my pop culture blog for baby boomers because:

As A Special Holiday Treat for all you Baby Boomers
and Children Who Will Never Grow Up
Over the next three days I will present:
THE ENTIRE BROADCAST OF
PETER PAN
Starring MARY MARTIN
at The PopArtDiva Retro Baby Boomer Blog

20081219

IT'S GRINCH TIME with my Mean Grinch Spinach Dip

THE TINY FOOD DIVA GOES GREEN - TEEHEE!

Today on The PopArtDiva Blog I posted "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" for my Old School Friday meme. I just love The Grinch and I love that song - it always makes me laugh.

So, here's a little more Grinch for you for the Christmas season with Mean Grinch Spinach Dip for some holiday laughter - and this one you get to eat! And you can even have a Grinch inspired martini: The Grinch-a-tini!

20081217

Baked Cranberry Brie - Holiday and Christmas Appetizers

My last post was a recipe for Sugared Cranberries which ties in very nicely with this Baked Cranberry Brie appetizer. This is an easy snack recipe - just grab some of Pillsbury's Pie Dough Rolls, a round or log of good brie, some whole cranberry sauce, some pecans and you're ready to create an elegant, warm and creamy appetizer.

Try this with The Christmas Cosmo which is a cranberry based martini and will complement this dish nicely!

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20081215

HOLIDAY FINGER FOODS - Sugared Cranberries

One of my favorite holiday garnishes is Sugared Cranberries. They are a wonderful accent to meat and cheese plates or charcuterie platters.

They are wonderful as a snack all by themselves, make perfect Holiday Martini garnishes and are a wonderful taste accent on a baked brie!

And remember, if you need some holiday or Christmas cocktails, stop by The Martini Diva for all my Christmas Martini recipes this month!

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20081212

Christmas Appetizers - Blue Cheese Pear Tartlets

These Blue Cheese Pear Tartlets are so good I serve them all year but they are a really nice combination of sweet and savory to add to your holiday table.

To perk them up for your Christmas buffet cut some of the phyllo dough out with mini Christmas cookie cutters and place that on top of the filling just before you heat it again.

These are also great for a cocktail hour of a few people - especially if you serve them with my Pear Martini!

20081210

CHRISTMAS CRAB STACKS - Crab in puff pastry for your holiday buffet

If you read this blog often you will know I am very fond of crab appetizers. Whether they are hot or cold, dips or spreads, if there's crab in a tiny food I'm all for it!

This recipe uses puff pastry to make little fluffy crab sandwiches - stacks - for a perfect little finger food bite. The touch of horseradish gives the crab a great little zing!

Try them out and pop over to the Martini Diva for my latest Christmas Martinis to add some extra holiday cheer to the season!

If you have a Tiny Food question, please feel free to ask me in a comment and I'll respond back here in the comments section or in a new post!

Be sure to stop by and visit my DIVA of TINY FOODS Shoppe!

20081208

BACON CHEESE TART BITES - Holiday, Christmas Finger Foods

You just can't go wrong with appetizers that start with bacon and cheese! These Bacon Cheese Tart Bites are one small bite of savory holiday heaven. They're also easy as pie - get it? - pie, tart? Oh, okay, I'll stop with the bad puns and let you get back to your Christmas Recipe hunting!
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20081205

Christmas Cheese Ball - Traditional holiday appetizer

I'm going to be posting my Christmas Tiny Food recipes this month and to start I decided to post the one thing you almost always see on a Holiday H'ors D'oeuvre table - the traditional Cheddar Cheese Ball rolled in pecans.

No, it's not fancy or gourmet - but the reason these are still popping up during the Christmas party season is that people like them! So don't miss out on a finger food with that comfort food touch and try my Cheese Ball out for the holiday season!

I'll be posting my Christmas Martinis this month too at The Martini Diva so stop by there and download those recipe cards for your holiday parties.

20081203

GUACAMOLE - Avocado Dip

Today is my first post from California so I decided to post one of my favorite recipes that uses avocados - Guacamole. When I lived in California before I had an avocado tree and so I was lucky enough to be able to have Guacamole from my very own avocados! I plan on planting a tree again now that I am back in the Golden State.

I can be very happy with a huge bowl of Guacamole, some crisp white corn tortilla chips and a martini from The Martini Diva! In fact, I shall be sitting on the back deck later today, letting the warm California sun caress my body as I sip a martini and enjoy my avocado dip and chips - care to join me?

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20081123

DRIED CHERRY SAUCE - A Great Cranberry Substitute!

Like I've said all month, I am avoiding posting recipes for Thanksgiving dinner and turkey leftovers this month BUT. . .

. . . .if you are like me and don't really like cranberries a lot, this Dried Cherry Sauce is a wonderful substitute for those cranberry relishes and canned cranberry jellies that we always see plopped down on the holiday table.

The reason I don't consider this a Thanksgiving recipe is because I use it all year long on pork, duck, chicken and even on a great recipe I have for crostini, which turns it into a Tiny Food (today's bonus recipe below!)

Cherry Prosciutto Crostini
On baguette, sliced into 1/2" pieces
Dried Cherry Sauce (recipe above)
8 oz. Cream Cheese
Prosciutto Ham, sliced thin
Melted Garlic Butter
Salt to Taste

Brush your baguette slices with the melted garlic butter and salt to taste (remember the prosciutto will be salty so use a light touch!). Toast the baguette slices until nicely browned and crispy. Spread a nice layer of cream cheese on the warm baguette, layer on a few slices of the prosciutto and top off with a nice dollop of the dried cherry sauce and enjoy! Goes great with your favorite martini from The Martini Diva.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU!
Remember, I'm moving this week back to California but I'll be back after December 1st , so get ready for my Christmas Tiny Food recipes!

and speaking of Christmas - it's is just around the corner and
The PopArtDiva Boutique Holiday Department
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If you have a Tiny Food question, please feel free to ask me in a comment and I'll respond back here in the comments section or in a new post!

20081122

AUTHENTIC MOLE SAUCE - Spicy Chocolate Mexican Flavor!

Because everyone else is concentrating on Thanksgiving recipes all month I have been doing just the opposite. If you're like me by the end of November you've had your fill of turkey, gravy and stuffing - at least until Christmas!

This Authentic Mole Sauce is a spicy chocolate flavored gravy that I discovered in Mexico ages ago. It is not sweet - it is savory and the chocolate gives anything you serve it over or with a deep, smooth and unique flavor.

Yes, you can serve it over your left-over Thanksgiving turkey! Check out some of these recipes from Epicurious combining poultry and mole sauces. I've also found a great site that has an interesting history of Mexico's most famous culinary concoction!

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20081119

BREAD PUDDING with a LIQUOR SAUCE

Bread pudding is one of my favorite comfort food desserts. It's a classic recipe that's been around for centuries because it's easy, delicious and satisfying. This is a perfect recipe for chilly nights and a winter dinner party.

The sauce is based on a traditional whiskey/bourbon sauce that is often served with Bread Pudding, but I have also used rum, Framboise (a raspberry liquor), and other flavored alcohol. The rum is particularly good when you add raisins to the bread pudding, and I like the raspberry liquor if I can get fresh raspberries to sprinkle around the plated dish.

The sauce can be a bit tricky - blending in those eggs into the warm base is a tempering trick that is one of the more difficult cooking techniques so here are a couple of links with some tips: Temper, Temper, Tempering Eggs into a hot sauce.

Now, just to let you know, if those links don't help and you get some scrambled egg in your sauce - shhh! don't tell anyone I said this! - just strain the sauce before serving! Honestly, it still tastes great and only you will know!

Yes, I have even figured out how to serve this up as a Tiny Food! Just cut the bread pudding into cubes, warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds, or toast them in the oven for about 12 minutes at 350, put some appetizer picks in them, warm up the sauce and serve it on the side for dipping!

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20081117

EGG STRATA CASSEROLE - Faux Quiche

If you like quiche this is a recipe for a faux quiche that is easy and can be thrown together in a few minutes with ingredients that most people always have in the kitchen. You can add all sorts of other goodies like cooked sausages, avocado, peppers, ham - whatever you happen to have on hand.

I usually make this up for a brunch but the leftovers can be cut into bite size squares and served up as finger food with your favorite cocktail!

20081114

EDIBLE TUNA CASSEROLE - Yes, I said Edible!

Though certainly not anything a gourmet chef would serve up, this Tuna Casserole is a wonderful recipe for comfort food. One of the things I hated about a typical tuna casserole was the peas and this one has no peas, instead it uses broccoli.

The Miracle Whip is a must - mayonnaise is not a good substitute because this recipe really sings with the added sweetness of the Miracle Whip. The bell pepper and herbs and spices in the recipe take this normally mundane entree into the edible catagory!

If you want to turn this into a "tiny food" or finger food just bake it up then spoon the hot mixture into some of those little bread shells. AND you can use your leftover Thanksgiving turkey instead of the tuna so I've given you another recipe for turkey leftovers!

If you have a Tiny Food question, please feel free to ask me in a comment and I'll respond back here in the comments section or in a new post!
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20081110

CHOCOLATE PASTA? Oh, yeah - beats turkey leftovers any day!

There is nothing further removed from turkey leftovers than chocolate pasta! Yes, I said chocolate pasta! Chocolate and carbs in one dish - you just can't beat it!

Try this out for a wonderful, surprising dish at your next dinner party - your guests will thank you for it. After they recover from the chocolate high and sugar rush, that is!
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CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
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If you have a Tiny Food question, please feel free to ask me in a comment and I'll respond back here in the comments section or in a new post!

20081107

TACO SALAD becomes Mini Nacho Bowls Finger Food

This is a recipe for THE BEST TACO SALAD I've ever tasted - period! This recipe spoiled me to a point I can't order taco salad anywhere now. My friend, John Evans, introduced me to it about 20 years ago and it was his regular Saturday night dish during an art show when a group of us were at the same show. Don't mess with this recipe if you can avoid it - every element is part of the whole and without each element exactly as it is this will not taste the same, trust me I've tried! John does have a vegetarian version where he substitutes a mixture of beans for the meats, but I have to tell you that without the Italian Sausage this dish looses most of it's unique and savory taste. Oh, and be sure to give a slice of that Vermont white cheddar to any dog in the house, John swears it's part of the recipe!

This recipe is for serving it up as an entree, but here's what I do when I want to serve it as an appetizer: I simply follow the recipe exactly but instead of crumbling the tortilla chips into the salad in a big bowl I buy those tortilla scoops and spoon the salad into them! I do toss a small handfull of extra shredded cheese on the top before serving. That's it, plain and simple!

Swing by The Martini Diva for one of my tequila martinis to go with!

20081105

NO RECIPE TODAY

Today I am not in the mood for food, fun or recipes. I lost a very dear friend yesterday and in her honor I am simply posting a link to my honorarium to her and our friendship:

In Loving Memory of My Friend, Betty Mae Turner

20081103

CHEESE MANICOTTI - Sometimes Big Food is Good!

Okay, sometimes I just have to have something that isn't bite size, okay? Yes, I do make entrees too. What? You thought because I'm the Tiny Food Diva that my oven was too small or something?

This recipe for my Say Cheese Manicotti is one of my favorite comfort foods. It's easy, very satisfying and stick to your ribs. Serve it up with a small salad and some toasted garlic bread and you'll think you've died and gone to an Italian heaven!

When your guests arrive prime them with one of my martinis from The Martini Diva - they'll think you're the host or hostess with the most or mostess, lol.

20081031

Gazpacho Soup makes great MAD SCIENCE SOUP TUBES for the Last HALLOWEEN TREAT ' N EAT!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This is my favorite and most fun Halloween Treat 'N Eat! It's cold Gazpacho Soup served up in test tubes (or small beakers for a larger serving). Cold soups are refreshing and very delish - plus it's easier to serve up in a test tube! Just pop those test tubes into a holiday bucket filled with crushed ice and watch your guests "ooooh" and "ahhhh" over your creative Halloween Appetizer!

I hope you've enjoyed all my Halloween appetizer recipes this month and I hope your guests do too. Come back tomorrow (or Sunday if you're pooped from your Halloween Party) and tell me all about your party and the fun my recipes added to your celebration of October 31st!

Don't forget to stop by and get my final Halloween Martini on The Martini Diva!

20081029

SLIMEY GREEN GOO is a Spicy Spinach Dip for HALLOWEEN TREAT #13!

Here's another great dip for your Halloween Party which will spice up your spooky eats for all those costumed guests Trick or Treating at your house this Friday. Slimey Green Doo Dip is a spinach and sour cream dip with just a bit of salsa to pack some ghostly punch. This one goes great with my Dem Bones Dem Bones breadsticks!

Stay tuned Friday for my very favorite Halloween Treat 'N Eat idea - it's a little test tube fun!

Be sure to stop by The Martini Diva for today's Halloween Martini is The Brain Drain-a-Tini!

ONLY TWO MORE DAYS TO HALLOWEEN and my RETRO HALLOWEEN PAJAMA PARTY RADIO SHOW - Join the fun on Friday, October 31st at 4 pm (pacific), 6 pm (central) or 7 pm (eastern)!

20081027

Guacamole: Goblets of Gloppy Green Goo? HALLOWEEN TREAT 'N EAT #12

Guacamole dip is a real party favorite and the green color makes it perfect for a Halloween Buffet. This is my favorite recipe for guacamole because it's simple and gives you the full flavor of the avocados.

Have some fun with the serving dish - hallow out an orange or yellow squash or find a fun Halloween bowl shaped like a skull!

Serve it up with some of my Halloween Bat and Pumpkin Chips along with my Worms in Black Ooze for a South of the Border twist to your Halloween party!

Don't forget to Martini Up your Halloween with all my Halloween Martinis from The Martini Diva too!

If you have a Tiny Food question, please feel free to ask me in a comment and I'll respond back here in the comments section or in a new post!

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20081024

Cheese Tipped Breadsticks is HALLOWEEN TREAT 'N EAT #11: Nose Booger Pickers!

If you really want to gross out your Halloween party guests make them up some of these simple Nose Booger Pickers! These are simple bread sticks and cheese that you turn into a truly gruesome sounding but tasty treat in just a few minutes.

I like to use the skinny bread sticks, grissini, but you can use standard bread sticks if you can't find the slim grissini. Just some Cheez Whiz and food coloring complete the ingredients. You can't make a quicker spooky snack and the kids will love the name.

Serve them up with The Nose Picker Martini from The Martini Diva and you've got finger picking feast fit for any nose booger aficianado! It's Booger Time!

20081022

Black Bean Dip becomes WORMS IN BLACK OOZE for Halloween Treat #10!

This is a variation on my Black Bean Salsa which takes advantage of the dark, black color to liven up your Halloween Table! It's terribly tasty and devilishly delish and slightly frightening at the same time!

The "worms" are quite edible too - they're chow mein noodles! It's a fun way to Halloween up a really good appetizer and your guests will enjoy the holiday touch - remember to tell them these "worms" are high in carbs, not protein like regular worms, lol!

If you'd like a fun black colored martini to serve with your Black Oooz, pop over to The Martini Diva and download my recipe card for The Spider 'N Snake-a-tini - it's made with Blavod Black Vodka!

20081020

An Olive Tampenade is HALLOWEEN TREATS, SPOOKY EATS #9 - Bat Guano Caviar

If you like olive tampenade then you're going to love this Halloween recipe I'm calling "Bat Guano Caviar"! It's sure to make your Halloween party guests go "euwwww" when they see it but "ahhhhh" when they taste it! It's a salty, moist bowl of monster munch!

Serving it up in a hallowed out orange squash will give your holiday table a great black and orange color accent and the toasted bread in spooky shapes will give it that little extra kick of fun for the gobbling goblins at your Halloween party!

Feel free to download any of my recipe cards, reduce them a bit, tape them up on a stick and poke into the dishes! Your guests will know exactly what they're eating and the cards will add some Halloween fun to your table!

Now, click on over to The Martini Diva for today's Halloween Martini: The Nose Picker Martini - yeah, it's a gross name but it's a great melon-banana martini with a great green color and fun garnish to spook up your party on October 31st!

20081017

HALLOWEEN TREATS, SPOOKY EATS # 8 - Fearsome Finger Sandwiches

One of the easiest and most popular party foods is the finger sandwich or tea sandwich. These Wickedly Good "Witches" for your Halloween party table are miniature sandwiches that are about 2 or 3 bites of flavorful and fearsome fun.

The "Witches" are easy to make, all you need is some of your favorite savory meat salads (home made or deli made), some hearty bread, butter, a few olives and grape tomatoes for garnish, some toothpicks and some Halloween cookie cutters!

Why use butter when the salads already have mayo or some other salad dressing? Because if you butter both insides of the bread the butter will keep your Wickedly Good "Witches" staying wickedly good and not soggy!

The butter acts as a barrier to keep the moisture from the salad soaking into the bread! So don't forget this step - especially if you prepare your Halloween finger sandwiches ahead of time! And yes, you can make these a day before if you remember the butter and wrap the sandwiches up really well with saran wrap to keep them from drying out.

By the way, you can make sweet sandwiches too - just use some sweet breads like pumpkin or raisin and fill them with fruit flavored cream cheeses or other sweet spreads, you could even serve up some of my Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches - cut them out with your cookie cutters or even some holiday mini cookie cutters (I found mine here at The Cookie Cutter Shop - what a great website for foodies!)

Today's Halloween Martini is The Monster Mash-A-Tini - a tasty terror of a green colored, melon flavored martini with a little pineapple boo of flavor!

Now, get your Goblin going and get ready for a ghostly and great 31st of October - you can still get some great Halloween apparel, home decor items>

HALLOWEEN ART, APPAREL, TRICK or TREAT BAGS, GIFTS:

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20081015

HALLOWEEN TREATS, SPOOKY EATS #7 - Spooky Slimy Slaw

This is a great coleslaw recipe for your Halloween buffet table. With the purple (red) cabbage, the orange carrots and the pumpkin seeds, the ingredients bring the perfect holiday colors to your table.

This is a sweet coleslaw that uses your favorite poppyseed dressing or coleslaw dressing and it's a great side dish for those Spooky "Witches" I'll be posting Friday. Your ghostly goblin guests will crave and rave over it!

Remember to stop by The Martini Diva for a whole month's worth of Halloween Martinis too!

Only ten more days to October 31st - do you have your spook on?

HALLOWEEN ART, APPAREL, TRICK or TREAT BAGS, GIFTS:

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20081013

HALLOWEEN TREATS, SPOOKY EATS #6 - Mummified Pizza Heads!

Putting on a Halloween party is a big job, you've got to do special spooky decorations, get your own Halloween costume together and maybe your spouse and children's costumes too and then you have to worry about feeding all your guests!

This recipe for Mummified Pizza Heads is a simple way to give those ghosts and goblins at your party table a hot appetizer that is also themed to October 31st!

These start with those little round pizzas that you find in the freezer department of your local grocer and all you do is add a little extra cheese and some olive slices for eyes! I always add extra cheese and toppings to frozen pizzas anyway, don't you? They will be loved by kids and adults alike!

Halloween Martini Recipes at The Martini Diva!

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20081010

HALLOWEEN TREATS, SPOOKY EATS #5 - Spider Horrors D'Oeuvres

Here's some fun cheese and cracker appetizers that become scary spiders with just a few minutes of work each! You just need some prepared cheese spreads from the deli, a box of Ritz crackers, some stick pretzels, cream cheese and olives and you'll have creepy crawlers being gobbled by all your hobgoblin guests!

Need a way to entertain your younger Halloween guests? Just use peanut butter and a red jam instead of the cheese spread - PB & J spiders that bleed - oh, the kids will love them!

Don't forget to stop by The Martini Diva all this month for my best Halloween Martinis!

HALLOWEEN ART, APPAREL, TRICK or TREAT BAGS, GIFTS:

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20081008

HALLOWEEN TREATS, SPOOKY EATS #4 - Cheezy Finger Food!

Halloween is when the term "finger food" can really get a workout! Yes, these are appetizers that you make to look like fingers with just a little work and some help from a goblin or two.

String cheese is perfect for these Cheezy Finger Food party snacks because it's already in the shape of a cylinder and all you have to do is a little shaping with a paring knife and a spooky food manicure!

Add some of my other Halloween recipes here and some of my Halloween Martinis from The Martini Diva I'm posting all this month and your party table will have the best Trick or Treat Theme of any party of October 31st.

My Favorite Tiny Food Recipes at PopArtDiva.Com
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FOOD THEMED ART, APPAREL & GIFTS

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