All posts filed under: AppyHolidays

Cranberry Glazed Meatballs

Published by

Hello everyone! I am happy to announce that #AppyHolidays is back on the blog! This is the third year I am doing this blog series where I post a holiday recipe once a week for the month of December. So this year, there will be FIVE holiday appetizer recipes for you to make and enjoy with your friends and family. However this year is special as I am partnering with a wonderful not-for-profit organization called We Heart Local BC. We share similar philosophies of cooking with local and seasonal ingredients wherever possible. Head over to their website to check out some awesome blog posts about local farmers in British Columbia as well as lots of tasty recipes. Retro Recipes with a Modern Twist For my #AppyHolidays series this year, I took my inspiration from the retro holiday appetizers that my parents and grandparents used to make when I was a kid. In this case, I experienced these retro appetizer recipes growing up in the early/mid 1990s, but these recipes most likely originated between the 1960s …

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

Published by

For my final recipe of 2018, I am putting a twist on a classic recipe: Shrimp Cocktail. This elegant recipe concludes my #AppyHolidays series on my blog and it just so happens to be perfect for New Years Eve! Small (Shrimpy) Changes Make A Big Difference For the most part, the ingredients for classic shrimp cocktail and this Roasted Shrimp Cocktail are the same, however, the preparation method is slightly different. Typically, shrimp for a classic shrimp cocktail are often boiled in water until they are cooked, then are chilled and served on a platter with cocktail sauce. In this recipe, the shrimp are still served chilled, but they have tons more flavour as I roast the shrimp in the oven! This additional step (and a bit of garlic, salt and pepper) adds so much flavour and ensures that the shrimp say nice and succulent and juicy. Sustainable Seafood As with any recipe, the quality of the ingredients can really make or break the dish. In this Roasted Shrimp Cocktail recipe, I really wanted to focus …

Asian Pear & Radicchio Crostini

Published by

I’m back with another #AppyHolidays recipe for you all! And this one is perfect for when you have those pesky last minute guests that are coming to visit! We all know how that goes during the holidays… These Asian Pear & Radicchio Crostini are fast and use seasonal ingredients. Really, you can make Crostini with really anything you have, but you always need a good bread to host all the other toppings! I use a locally made French Baguette from Portofino Bakery to make these crostini. The bread has a great thin crust on the outside and a soft and spongy center. A quick toast under the broiler with a drizzle of olive oil and salt, and voila! You have a delicious crostini base to top with any ingredients you like! In this case, I used a generous smear of Herb Boursin Cheese, a few leaves of bitter radicchio and a few slices of very thinly sliced Asian pear. I really like the combination of the crunch and saltiness of the bread, mixed with the …

Maple Pork Belly Bites

Published by

These Maple Pork Belly Bites make the perfect appetizer for the holiday season. They are sweet, savoury, spicy and are packed with tons of flavour. Plus the bite-sized portions really help you control this rich cut of meat! Pork belly comes from– you guessed it– the belly of the pig. The cut of meat is what is also used to make bacon. It is heavily marbled with meat and fat, meaning that it will be juicy, tender and flavourful once cooked. I prefer to roast or braise the pork belly for a few hours in the oven so that the fat renders off slowly. Plus, this makes the meat super tender! This cut of meat typically comes with a thick cap of fat and pork skin. This gets nice and crispy when roasted under the broiler. It is important to lightly score the fat with a sharp knife so that the pork cooks evenly. I buy my Pork Belly from Fairway Market in Victoria. Fairway is an Asian grocery store that has just about any …

Fried Goat Cheese with Honey

Published by

There are many ways to make your friends and family feel special during the holidays. But serving up these Fried Goat Cheese Balls with Honey has got to be the best way! Plus, these Fried Goat Cheese Balls with Honey are breaded in gluten-free breadcrumbs so everyone can enjoy this appetizer this holiday season! This is my second recipe in my #AppyHolidays series. Follow along this month for delicious party-worthy appetizers that you can serve to your friends and family this season! A new #AppyHolidays recipe is posted every Tuesday of the month! Fried Cheese = Love Many of you have probably seen fried goat cheese before that is served on top of a fresh green salad. This is one of my favourite salad recipes and I really enjoy eating this in the spring. When served over salad, the goat cheese is typically in disc form, but in this recipe, I rolled the goat cheese into little balls before breading and frying them. On their own, these goat cheese balls are salty and savoury but …

Artichoke & Asiago Turnovers

Published by

I am kicking off my #AppyHolidays series on my blog with this recipe for Artichoke & Asiago Turnovers. This festive appetizer is a play on Artichoke and Asiago Dip—and effectively removes the risk of double-dipping! My inspiration for this recipe came from seeing lots of pre-made Artichoke and Asiago Dips at my local grocery store. While these dips are tasty and convenient, they can be full of lots of additives and preservatives that we don’t need. For this reason, I decided to make my own homemade recipe for this classic dip and just for fun, I decided to put the filling inside of some puff pastry. Asiago is an Italian cow’s milk cheese that is pungent and flavourful and comes in multiple varieties. Asiago varies tremendously in flavour depending on the length of time it has been aged. For instance, the fresh variety is much less pungent than an asiago that has been aged for 2+ years. I admit that the flavour is strong and it may take some getting used to for some, but …

Homemade Sausage Rolls

Published by

It’s Wednesday and I am back again with another #AppyHolidays post! This week I am featuring the ultimate holiday appetizer on the blog: Sausage Rolls. Everyone loves these meaty appetizers, especially around the holidays. Not only do they taste delicious, they are super easy to make- even from scratch! Simply assemble some store bought puff pastry with ground chicken and turkey sausage and a few other festive ingredients and you’ll have a great holiday appetizer that will fly off the plate in seconds! Read on to see how I make them! For the sausage filling, I like to combine both sausage meat and ground meat in this recipe. After testing the recipe a few times, I’ve noticed that using plain sausage meat in the recipe yields really oily/soggy Sausage Rolls… which doesn’t let the puff pastry rise enough. By adding a bit of ground chicken, it absorbs some of the fat and makes the filling a bit lighter, but still super flavourful. In this recipe I like to use ground white meat chicken with spicy …

Citrus Marinated Olives

Published by

If you are looking to make a quick and simple holiday appetizer, look no further than this recipe for Citrus Marinated Olives. I like to serve these olives year-round, but I always bring them out for the holiday season. They are the perfect little salty and briny bite that works perfectly with antipasto platters, or just on their own! Plus, they’re super easy to make! I like to use two types of olives in this recipe: Cerignola and Kalamata. Cerignola olives are from Cerignola, Italy and are actually DOP/PDO protected, meaning that this type of olive is only from this specific area or region and nowhere else in the world. The Cerignola is my absolute favourite olive since they are not too briny and are full of rich, buttery meat. They are quite a large olive too, which make them perfect for eating. Also, not only do they come in green, they also come in red (with the help of food dye) and black which is perfect for fancy get-togethers and celebrations. You will see …

Mushroom Turnovers

Published by

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means… time for another #AppyHolidays post! This week I’m making a delicious Maltese appetizer that is guaranteed to fly off your table this holiday season: Mushroom Turnovers. This is a savoury take on the classic sweet turnover recipe, which is typically filled with fresh fruit or jam. Meaty cremini mushrooms are fried with onions and thyme and is mixed with creamy, rich sour cream. This delectable filling is then stuffed into a homemade turnover dough (that is if you can resist eating it straight from the pan!) that is made with flour, butter and ricotta cheese. The butter and ricotta cheese really make this dough light and airy yet very sturdy and able to hold the thick mushroom filling. While this recipe is quite a lot of work, the turnovers can be filled and frozen well in advance and can be cooked from frozen… which is super helpful around the holidays! Want to make this recipe yourself? See the full recipe here! Enjoy and #AppyHolidays!

Holiday Cheese Ball

Published by

It’s finally December and I am in full holiday mode! I have all of my Christmas decorations up (actually, they’ve been up since November 12th) and I have been listening to Christmas albums, baking cookies, planning a Christmas party (stay tuned for that!), and have been drinking many cups of hot chocolate 😛 I’m 100% in the Christmas spirit! If you were following me last December you will know all about #AppyHolidays and I’m so happy to announce that it is back again this year! For those of you who don’t know about #AppyHolidays, it’s essentially a fun series that I do on my blog during December. Every Wednesday of the month I will be posting a wonderful holiday appetizer that you can make for any parties you may be hosting or are attending this season. I’m also going to throw in a few surprise/bonus posts here and there so make sure you follow along! Of course, as with all my recipes, I use the most local and seasonal ingredients that are available to make …