Sriracha Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs

Sriracha Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs

30 Minute Meals Appetizer Chicken Food Gluten-free Japanese Main Course Recipe

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Up next I have some spicy sriracha teriyaki chicken meatballs that are just perfect for both snacking on while watching the game and for dinner. Anything teriyaki starts out with a teriyaki sauce and I like to make my own, especially when it's a simple combination of salty soy sauce with something sweet like mirin or in this case brown sugar. (Teriyaki sauce usually also contains sake but it's ok to omit it here.) These meatballs begin as you would expect with some ground chicken along with an egg and breadcrumbs as binders and they are seasoned with green onions, garlic, ginger and a touch of the tasty homemade teriyaki sauce. When I think about things teriyaki I often think about adding pineapple since it's such a fabulous combination so these meatballs also contains some crushed pineapple and the teriyaki sauce uses pineapple juice! Once the meatballs are assembled they just take a few minutes in the oven to bake, then you toss them in the teriyaki sauce and you are in teriyaki chicken meatball heaven! Serve with toothpicks and extra sriracha chili sauce if desired!

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Htipiti (Greek Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Cheese Dip)

Htipiti (Greek Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Cheese Dip)

Appetizer Dip Food Gluten-free Greek Recipe Vegetarian

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Htipiti (or tirokafteri or tyrokafteri or tyrokavteri) is a Greek style whipped feta cheese and roasted red pepper dip or spread and with game season on I just had to whip up a batch! At it's base this dip typically consists of feta, roasted red peppers, hot peppers, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic and it is all pureed or whipped into a dip. In this version I use use a roasted jalapeno pepper (which I roast at the same time that I make the roasted red peppers) as the hot pepper and I like to add some sun-dried tomatoes for an extra kick of flavour. I tend to serve this greek roasted red pepper and feta dip with toasted pita chips but veggies are also great for scooping!

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Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Appetizer Bacon Chicken Crockpot Food Gluten-free Main Course Recipe Slow Cooker

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While I was thinking about snacks for the upcoming game day party I got a bit nostalgic about two of my favourite finger foods, buffalo chicken wings and jalapeno poppers, and I had a brilliant idea, why not combine them in the form of jalapeno popper stuffed buffalo chicken meatballs? I started out with a base of ground chicken for the chicken wing theme to which I mixed in finely diced carrots and celery, which are commonly served with wings, along with onions and garlic. I then moved onto the jalapeno popper side of things and combined chopped up jalapenos with poppers common fillings, cream cheese and cheddar cheese, along with some bacon for good measure. I then wrapped the chicken mixture around the cheese mixture, forming meatballs which I then baked in the oven until cooked and lightly golden brown before tossing them in the buffalo chicken hot sauce! Yum! Up next was a garnish of ranch dressing and a bit of crumbled blue cheese to finish things off! Biting into these meatballs is like a dream come true! It starts with a hit of buffalo chicken which bursts apart releasing a spray of ooey gooey melted cheese along with spicy jalapenos and bacon! Game day just couldn't get any better then this!

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Butter Chicken Poutine

Butter Chicken Poutine

30 Minute Meals Appetizer Canadian Chicken Food Gluten-free Indian Main Course Recipe

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The other day I was eating some butter chicken (an India dish with chicken in a creamy, mildly spicy, tomato sauce/gravy) and as I was enjoying it I thought, wouldn't this be great served over fries and cheese instead of rice? (aka Butter Chicken Poutine) Poutine is a dish where fries are served topped with melting cheese and gravy and I was thinking that the butter chicken 'gravy' would be amazing in poutine form. I mean you really can't go wrong throwing a really tasty gravy on top of fries along with cheese that is all melty and good? It didn't take long for me to whip up a batch of butter chicken and make the butter chicken poutine and it was amazing! This butter chicken poutine is definitely going to be on my recipe list for my next football party!

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Spicy Tuna and Avocado Cucumber Sushi Bites

Spicy Tuna and Avocado Cucumber Sushi Bites

Appetizer Avocado Food Gluten-free Japanese Low-carb Main Course Recipe Seafood

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While thinking about appetizers and snacks for my New Year's Eve party I could not help but think of making something healthy, to get a head start on those New Year's resolutions, and I just had to make these Spicy Tuna and Avocado Cucumber Sushi Bites treats! The basic idea was to take my favourite sushi, spicy tuna, and instead of rolling it up in that carbalicious sushi rice that I would serve it on a slice of cucumber, which is nice and juicy and healthy and it makes it perfect finger food! The sushi grade tuna is seasoned with soy sauce for saltiness, sriracha for the spicy heat, mirin for a touch of sweetness, green onions and sesame oil and seeds. The final component is of course cool and creamy avocado which rounds things out when combined with the juicy cucumber! Not only are these bite sized 'sushi' appetizers ridiculously tasty but they are also super easy to make, so much easier than rolled sushi, so they are a great for entertaining! If you are looking for a healthy and addictively tasty way to ring in the New Year, these Spicy Tuna and Avocado Cucumber Sushi Bites bites are just what you have been looking for!

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Halloumi Sliders with Harissa

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Halloumi Sliders with Harissa

Appetizer Food Gluten-free Low-carb Recipe Vegetable Vegetarian

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When I was thinking about appetizers for New Year's Eve parties I could not help but think about roasted brussels sprouts sliders filled with grilled halloumi cheese and caramelized onions! Roasted brussels sprouts sliders are so fun and tasty and I've made them before with various ingredients and this time I went with the grilled halloumi, caramelized onions and some harissa. Harissa is a spicy chili pepper sauce that is balanced with sweet roasted red peppers and it goes really well in these brussels sprouts sliders. You start by cutting the brussels sprouts in half and roasting them and then you assemble them by skewering them on a toothpick along with the fillings to make a nice mouth sized snack that is perfect for parties! The filling for these sliders is grilled halloumi cheese, which retains its shape when grilled and it has a nice squeak when you chew it, along with some sweet caramelized onions and the spicy harissa making for one tasty bite sized treat!

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Ham and Cheese Rolls with Caramelized Pineapple and Onions

Ham and Cheese Rolls with Caramelized Pineapple and Onions

Appetizer Breakfast Food Ham Recipe

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Are you looking for a snack for game day or an appetizer for a New Year's Eve party or just something for a get-together? These tasty ham and cheese rolls with caramelized pineapple and onions are perfect; nice and quick and easy and oh so good! I came across the idea for hot ham and cheese party rolls a while ago and the holidays was a great time to pull out the recipe. They are super easy to make, you just roll out a dough, lay down some slices of ham and cheese along with caramelized onions and pineapple, roll them up, pour on a tasty sauce and bake them until they are fabulously golden brown and flaky and good! The original recipe calls for a pizza dough but I went with a crescent dough and I added the caramelized onions and pineapple to add a touch of sweetness and tanginess that compliments the ham and cheese combo really well. These ham and cheese rolls with caramelized pineapple and onions are the perfect finger food for any party!

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Maple Candied Bacon

Maple Candied Bacon

Appetizer Bacon Cookie Food Gluten-free Low-carb Recipe

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Over the holidays I like to give homemade treats as gifts and although my favourite gift is the maple bacon jam this candied bacon is a close second! Candied bacon is essentially bacon that is coated in sugar(s), in this case maple syrup and brown sugar, and roasted until the bacon is cooked and the sugars melt and form a sweet coating wrapped around the crispy and salty bacon! When I was a kid and went camping one of my favourite breakfasts to help out making was pancakes and bacon because I could pour some maple syrup into the pan while I was cooking the bacon and it would coat the bacon and caramelize on it creating this amazing combination of sweet and salty in the crispy bacon and this candied bacon is pretty much the same idea! Once the bacon is coked and crispy it's the perfect gift Bacon-mas, I mean Christmas! (Assuming that you can resist eating it all yourself!... My precioussss...)

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Caramel Apple Crumble Cheesecake Dip

Caramel Apple Crumble Cheesecake Dip

Appetizer Breakfast Dessert Food Gluten-free Recipe Vegetarian

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The other day I was thinking about ideas for snacking over the holidays and somehow I arrived at the idea for this caramel apple crumble cheesecake dip. I guess I was thinking of seasonal dishes like apple crumble and somehow that led to the idea of an apple crumble dip. Most of my favourite dips involve plenty of cheese so I could not help but think about how to incorporate some and at once it seemed obvious, a creamcheese cheesecake layer! I started out with a simple no-bake style cheesecake with cream cheese and instead of whipped cream I went with greek yogurt and I used caramel sauce as the sweetener. Next up was the apple layer which is simply some diced apples that are cooked until just tender and then smothered in caramel sauce along with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. The crumble layer is pretty easy, consisting of the usual suspects, butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon and once you get that all mixed up you bake it until lightly golden brown and crispy. So the final dish is a caramel apple sauce on top of a creamcheese/cheesecake layer that is served with cracker as a dip but you could also just eat it by the spoonful!

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Pecan Pie Cookies

Pecan Pie Cookies

Appetizer Cookie Dessert Food Recipe Southern Vegetarian

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A nice slice of pecan pie is always a welcome treat so when I came across the idea for these pecan pie cookies I knew that I had found one of the cookies for my holiday cookie platter this year! These pecan pie cookies are really just little pecan pies that actually use a pie crust for the cookie base and they are filled with a pecan pie filling. Having said that, they are actually really easy to make, you simply roll out the pie crust, cut some circles out, fold up the edges, fill them and bake them until they are lightly golden brown and crispy! I have to say that these pecan pie cookies are just like little pecan pies that you can eat with your hands! I am going to be making a lot of them for this years cookie platter because they will disappear quickly!

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Pumpkin Butter Tarts with Pepitas and Cranberries

Pumpkin Butter Tarts with Pepitas and Cranberries

Appetizer Canadian Dessert Food Maple Pumpkin Recipe Tart Vegetarian

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When it came time to plan my Thanksgiving dessert this year I knew exactly what I wanted, these pumpkin butter tarts! Butter tarts are a Canadian tart with a light and flaky pastry crust filled with a mixture of butter, sugar, and eggs that is baked until the filling is set and either semi solid or still a bit runny. Normally I make butter tarts for the Christmas holiday season but this year I thought that I would try making a fall seasonal variety and add pumpkin to the filling! Butter tarts can be made plain or you can add nuts like walnuts or pecans and/or raisins but for these pumpkin butter tarts I went with toasted pumpkin seeds, pepitas, and dried cranberries instead. These butter tarts start out with an all butter pie crust pastry and I went with a slightly different version of the filling substituting half of the brown sugar with maple syrup which is something that I like to do with my regular butter tarts, along with the addition of the pumpkin puree. These pumpkin butter tarts turned out even better than expected! They are quite simply divine! The pumpkin, pepita and cranberry flavours work so amazingly well with the butter tarts flavours and lets not forget those fantastically light and flaky pastry crusts!

The only problem is that I have already polished off two batches of them all by myself and I'm going to have to make a few more batches! No, wait, that's not a problem at all! :)

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Halloumi Sliders

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Halloumi Sliders

Appetizer Food Gluten-free Low-carb Recipe Vegetarian

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While that turkey dinner is roasting for Thanksgiving you have the opportunity to start impressing your guests with some tasty snacks and appetizers and you really can't go wrong with these roasted brussels sprouts and halloumi sliders! The idea is to start with some large brussels sprout, cut them in half and roast them, which really brings out their flavour, and then to skewer them up on toothpicks along with some tasty fillings and then serve them up as finger food! These little roasted brussels sprout sliders are one of my favourite fall appetizers and a great way to fill the is with some fried halloumi cheese, sweet caramelized onions and some tangy grainy mustard! Halloumi is a cheese that retains it's shape when fried it's so amazingly good when fried in a bit of butter until it's nice and golden brown and crispy on the sides and warm in the centre and finishing it off with a splash of fresh citrusy lemon juice is just heavenly! The combination of roasted brussels sprouts, fried cheese, sweet caramelized onions and grainy mustard in these sliders will ensure that they disappear quickly and they may just outshine your Thanksgiving dinner!

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Crispy Baked Cheddar Dijon Chicken Tenders

Crispy Baked Cheddar Dijon Chicken Tenders

30 Minute Meals Appetizer Chicken Food Main Course Recipe

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Looking for something fun, quick and tasty for dinner? How about these crunchy baked cheddar dijon chicken tenders? This recipe starts out with boneless and skinless chicken that is cut into strips, dipped into a tasty honey dijon sauce, coated in crumbled cheddar crackers and baked until nice and golden brown, crispy and good! These chicken fingers are great when served with even more of the honey dijon sauce for your dipping pleasure! No matter how you look at em, these crispy baked cheddar dijon chicken tenders are a great quick, easy and tasty family meal that everyone, including the kids, will devour!

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Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

Appetizer Dip Food Gluten-free Pumpkin Recipe Vegetarian

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With all of the pumpkin recipes these days I could not help but think of one of my favourites, this caramel pumpkin cheesecake dip! Yes, that's right, all of the flavours of a caramel pumpkin cheesecake in the form of a dip that literally only takes 10 minutes to make! Cheesecake has to be one of these best desserts around and it only gets better when you add the flavours of pumpkin pie but lets face it, a nice cheesecake takes a bit of time and effort to make, and this dip takes almost no effort so you can whip it up on demand whether for last minute guests or just for yourself for some late night comfort cravings! When I make a pumpkin pie or a pumpkin pie cheesecake I like to use a gingersnap crumb crust because the ginger flavour goes so well with pumpkin so when I make this dip I add that gingersnap flavour either by using the ginger snap cookies for dipping or just crumbling them on top! If you're looking for a snack or appetizer for halloween or Thanksgiving, or for any time for that matter, you really can't go wrong with this caramel pumpkin cheesecake dip!

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Coconut Shrimp with Sweet Chili Sauce

Coconut Shrimp with Sweet Chili Sauce

20 Minute Meals 30 Minute Meals 6 Ingredients Appetizer Food Gluten-free Main Course Recipe Seafood Shrimp Thai Vietnamese

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After rounding up my tastiest shrimp recipes I realized that I had not shared one of my favourites, coconut shrimp! Coconut shrimp are large shrimp served coated in a crispy golden brown panko breadcrumb and coconut mixture that are just asking to be dipped into some sweet chili sauce or better yet pineapple sweet chili sauce! I sometimes like to add a touch of lime zest to the breadcrumb mixture for a hint of citrus and you can always kick up the sweet chili sauce with something like apricot preserves if the pineapple sweet chili sauce does not float your boat. (I think the coconut and pineapple flavour combo is just fabulous!) This coconut lime shrimp is the perfect finger food for your next dinner party, it's also great on game night and to be completely honest, I like to make a large batch and just eat it as a meal!

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Mushroom Quesadillas with Chipotle Crema

Mushroom Quesadillas with Chipotle Crema

30 Minute Meals Appetizer Food Gluten-free Main Course Mexican Mushroom Quesadilla Recipe Texmex Vegetarian

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Today, October 15, is National Mushroom day and do I ever have a tasty mushroom recipe for you today! Mushroom quesadillas with chipotle crema! These mushroom quesadillas are super easy to make where you pretty much just saute the mushrooms with some onion, place them in tortillas, along with plenty of cheese and then fry them until the tortillas are lightly golden brown and crispy and the cheese has melted! I always like for there to be a source of spicy heat with my quesadillas so I serve there mushroom quesadillas with a smokey chipotle crema that you can either drizzle on or serve it on the side for dipping!

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Mexican Street Corn Nachos

Mexican Street Corn Nachos

Appetizer Food Gluten-free Mexican Recipe Texmex Vegetarian

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With the new football season starting we're going to need some new snacking ideas and I have one for you right now, some Mexican street corn nachos! I am a big fan of the Mexican street corn (elote) style flavours which vary but the flavour combo that I like is with butter, mayo, crumbled cotija (or feta), cilantro, chili powder and lime juice which goes so well with sweet juicy corn! When I came across the idea of Mexican street corn nachos on Simply Recipes I just had to try it! Normally when I make nachos I load them up with ingredients, sprinkle on plenty of cheese and then throw it into the oven to melt the cheese but this recipe calls for a cheese sauce which is always a nice alternative especially when it's a creamy Monterey Jack cheese sauce! Other than the addition of the tortilla chips and cheese sauce these nachos have all of the ingredients of Mexican street corn and when in nacho form they are perfect for snacking on while watching the game!

Check out below the recipe for links to other recipes that use this amazing flavour combo!

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Crispy Lemon Parmesan Zucchini Chips with Basil Aioli

Crispy Lemon Parmesan Zucchini Chips with Basil Aioli

Appetizer Food Gluten-free Recipe Vegetable Vegetarian

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Summer's not over yet and there's still plenty of zucchini around and these crispy lemon parmesan zucchini chips with basil aioli are a great way to enjoy some of it! These zucchini chips could not be easier to make, you simply coat the zucchini in a mixture of panko breadcrumbs, parmesan and lemon zest and then either fry or bake them until the are nice and golden brown and crispy! Although they are great just the way they are, I thought that I would throw some more summer into the mix by serving them with a basil aioli, basil pureed into mayonnaise! Don't let summer slip away, enjoy it with some of these crispy lemon parmesan zucchini chips with basil aioli while you still can!

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Avocado Tzatziki Sauce

Avocado Tzatziki Sauce

Appetizer Avocado Condiment Dip Food Gluten-free Greek Low-carb Recipe Sauce Vegetarian

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I recently made some tzatziki sauce and while I was enjoying it I thought, wouldn't it be even better, even creamier with avocado? With that thought I just had to grab some avocados and add them to the tzatziki (which is a cucumber and yogurt salad or condiment that also typically includes garlic, lemon juice and fresh herbs) thereby creating avocado tzatziki! It may just be the avocado addict in me but the avocado tzatziki is so much better than the original and just look at that gorgeous green colour! This cool and creamy avocado tzatziki is the perfect side or condiment on a hot summer day!

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Tzatziki Sauce (Greek Cucumber Salad)

Tzatziki Sauce (Greek Cucumber Salad)

Appetizer Condiment Dip Food Gluten-free Greek Low-carb Recipe Sauce Vegetarian

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Tzatziki is a Greek meze or appetizer that is made from strained yogurt, cucumber and garlic. Optional ingredients include herbs such as dill, mint and/or parsley and lemon juice is also common. If you are feeling daring you can even hit it up with a splash of ouzo. In addition to being served as an appetizer it makes a great dip or condiment especially when served in gyros or with souvlaki.

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