SPICEY BACON RUMAKI - Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts!

Since I'm into bacon this week, having already posted the Bacon Wrapped Barbeque Shrimp Rumaki, I thought I'd stick with the theme and post another rumaki recipe.

This one is a classic rumaki recipe, bacon wrapped around water chestnuts, with a hot twist. You can't go wrong adding a little heat to things, can you? I'm talking food and life!

REMEMBER to download both the images! The ingredients are on the front but the directions are on the back!! I try hard to keep the info on the front

These go great with the ORANGE JULIUS MARTINI from THE MARTINI DIVA.

Add some Mini Quiches (will be posting the recipe later this week!) and you've got a unique Brunch Menu of DIVA deliciousness!


TO DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE CARDS: Mini Size: Right Click image and "Save As" Full Size: Left Click image and then Right Click to "Save As"

Bacon Wrapped Barbeque Shrimp - Rumaki Appetizer

I love rumaki. Probably because I love bacon and essentially that's what rumaki is - a tidbit wrapped in nice crisp, smoky bacon.

This recipe is a twist on a basic rumaki recipe where the bacon is wrapped around shrimp. It's simple and tasty as the dickens.

You can opt to grill these instead of baking them in the oven - it's up to you. Also, you can wrap the bacon around water chestnuts and other goodies for some variety. The classic rumaki is bacon wrapped chicken liver - but I'm not going there!

I like to serve these with my What A Peach Martinis from The Martini Diva. The peach goes nicely with the shrimp and bacon and complements the smoky essence of the barbeque sauce as well. The combination of the martinis and these appetizers brings a little taste of sunshine and summer to come into the cold of winter. Put on your sunglasses and get out the sunscreen!

For more appetizer recipes visit my Appetizers Page at PopArtDiva.com.

TO DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE CARDS: Mini Size: Right Click image and "Save As" Full Size: Left Click image and then Right Click to "Save As"

New Recipes and Recipe Cards Soon

I have been so busy celebrating the New Year and my birthday and eating appetizers that I haven't had a chance to post any for a while.

All that will change because I have tried out some great new recipes and I'll be making up the free recipe cards and posting them here this week!

I've developed a couple of new twists on a favorite Rumaki recipe, I tested out, reworked and loved my new Taste of the Island Nachos, I have a great recipe for Ham and Cheese Roll-ups, Stuffed Mushrooms and Mini Quiche.

I am also going to be posting links to the best martinis for each recipe from my blog, The Martini Diva to help Diva up your cocktail hour!

I'll be posting them day by day so come on back and sit a spell!

PIGS IN A BLANKET and MINI CORN DOGS, Classic Retro Fifties Appetizers

I just posted my recipe for the Orange Julius Martini at my sister site THE MARTINI DIVA and it gave me the idea to post these two recipes for some classic hors d'ouvres you would find at any self respecting neighborhood party in the fifties and sixties!

These little morsels were shunned as party tidbits during the decades of the uber hors d'ouvres, and the amuse bouche crowd will shudder at the simplicity and downright Middle American flavors, but ask anyone and they will tell you that they secretly love them! I know I do and I'm proud of it, being the middle class American that I am!

What's more American than a hot dog? Can anything remind you of the excitement of the county fair like a corn dog? And they go great with the Orange Julius Martini! Go back to simpler times and the nostalgia of suburban party food with these two recipes:

PIGS IN A BLANKET

Lil Smokie Sausages or Mini Hot Dogs
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Cut each crescent roll square into 4 pieces, wrap around sausage.
cook according to crescent roll package directions.

(You can also use puff pastry instead of the Crescent Rolls!)

MINI CORN DOGS
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold butter
1 tablespoon shortening
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
24 miniature hot dogs or cocktail franks

In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients.
Cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Beat egg and milk; stir into dry ingredients until a soft dough forms.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead 6-8 times or until smooth.
Roll out to 1/4-in. thickness.
Cut with a 2-1/4-in. biscuit cutter.
Fold each dough circle over a hot dog and press edges to seal (dough will be sticky).
Place on greased baking sheets and bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Both should be served with classic Catsup or Mustard to retain the classic retro appeal, but if the gourmet in you can't resist, go ahead and add some other dippers like dijons, cherry catsup, etcetera.

Champagne Sauce - For your next Champagne and Caviar affair!

I've an open bottle of champagne sitting on my counter for the past 8 days that was left over from New Year's. Since I never drink champers that's been opened more than a few hours, I planned to use it in a marinade or something.

Tonight I got inspired and decided to create a champagne sauce to use as a party dip. Surprisingly, when I poured the champagne into the measuring cup there was still a considerable amount of effervescence - after 8 days! Maybe I shall have to reassess my rule of not drinking champagne that's been open too long, lol.

Luckily I was cooking some chicken for salad so I had fresh chicken stock to use, I had almost exactly a cup of cream left and, of course, the champagne was the initial ingredient. I was set to create a nice sauce using leftovers!

And with that said, here's the recipe for my Champagne Sauce/Dip:

3 tablespoon Butter
3 tablespoon Flour
1 cup Chicken stock
1 cup Heavy cream
1 cup Champagne
1/2 - 1 Tsp. dried Tarragon (I grow my own and dry it for the winter months)

Melt the butter, mix in the flour to create a roue. On a medium heat, slowly add the cream, then the stock and then the champagne.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and slowly reduce the sauce/dip until it reaches a nice thick consistancy - usually when the sauce "coats" the spoon.

BTW, I was too lazy to actually make the chicken salad after a hard day of work so I poured a bit of the sauce over the warm chicken and gobbled down a quick, but elegant little serving for my dinner! Yum, this sauce is a winner.

Recipe Card for Diva CRAB SALAD

Here's the recipe card for the Crab Salad Appetizers I gave you the other day. This recipe uses half the amount of crab but you can double it for more crab flavor and a dryer salad. I tend to like a lot of mayonnaise because I love the taste of Best Foods mayo. Also I upped the cilantro because I really love cilantro, if you don't use dill instead!

This is a recipe that can be played with and made into your own because crab is wonderful with so many flavors and spices. I've been known to marinate my crab and other seafood in marsala wines for additional flavor and occasionally I'll add chipotle seasonings. So go ahead and have some fun. This is simply a classic crab salad for you purists out there.

And don't use that awful fake crab! Please! That stuff isn't fit for bait!

TO DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE CARDS: Mini Size: Right Click images and "Save As" Full Size: Left Click image and then Right Click to "Save As"

For those of you who subscribed to my posts via e-mail recently:

• You may have gotten a subscription to another of my blogs
• I messed up and put in the wrong code on some of my blogs
  
• I am an ashamed Diva
  
• I have fixed this error
• PLEASE RESUBSCRIBE via the e-mail or rss feed
  
• You will now get a subscription to THIS blog
• I'm an idiot and I'm sorry!
• You may beat me with a blogging stick 50 times
• Okay, I said 50 times - you can stop now!
• I will forgo chocolate for the entire day to make amends!

Seriously, I am very sorry for this mistake and hope you will forgive me and continue to visit. I value each and every visitor and subscriber to my blogs, and I will endeavor to bring you fun, informative and delicious DIVA content without error in the future.

Terri, aka PopArtDiva, The Martini Diva, The DIVA of TINY FOODS ,The Normal Challenged Artist, The DIVA of DIVAVILLE

QUICK CRAB BITES - CRAB SALAD APPETIZERS

 

True to my nature I had appetizers for New Years Day. I got some great crab on sale for $6.99 a pound and I lazed around on the first day of the year, dipping my warm crab in hot butter and feeling decadent, fat and purring over my choice of meal.

I ate the entire crab population of the Eastern seaboard - well, I felt like I had! What I didn't eat, because it was too small to dip in the butter, were the little pieces you get when you crack crab. Though this crab was sweet and succulent the shell was hard as a Rhino and I had a bit of a problem removing my morsels of seafood. But, I am not one to waste anything - let alone crab!

So yesterday I took those smaller pieces and made a crab salad, then spooned it onto some little "buns" I had made with puff pastry. Pepperidge Farm makes a nice puff pastry and you can find it in the freezer section of your local market. I was not into fancy so I stacked several layers, cut them in squares and baked them according to instructions. Bingo - little puff pastry buns! Then I split them open and spooned my crab salad inside!

Here's my own, personal CRAB SALAD RECIPE.

Tweet