Dinner Party Extraordinaire: Appetizers

Finger foods are very dangerous. Aside from attracting lots of hand interaction, there is also the inevitable risk that people will eat all the delicious finger foods without any record of how much they ate then be too full to eat anything else. I think the risk is worth the reward.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

- one frozen bag of spinach, thawed

- one frozen bag of artichokes / or one big can / there should be a little more artichoke than spinach

- 8 oz Classico Alfredo sauce (about half the jar)

- 1/2 cup mayo

- 1 cup shredded cheese (various ones have worked, swiss and mozzarella are good)

1. Chop up the (thawed) artichokes. Mix with the spinach, mayo, alfredo sauce and cheese in a oven-proof container.

2. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

3. Serve up when the top is browned ... sourdough bread goes great with it.

Lil Smokies with Brown Sugar

- one package lil smokies (there's about 40 in each bag)

- one package bacon

- brown sugar

- skewers

1. Cut the strips of bacon into thirds.

2. Wrap each lil smokie with a sliced strip of bacon.

3. Place smokies on skewers.

4. With a cooking brush or by hand, coat each bacon-wrapped smokie in brown sugar.

5. Bake at 350 for 25 - 35 minutes on a foil lined cookie sheet. Make sure to turn over once during cooking so both sides of the bacon are perfect. You can broil towards the end if the other side of the bacon needs it.

**Because I did most of the prep work for this dinner the night before, I left these marinating in the brown sugar overnight. I then took the leftover brown sugar liquid at the bottom of the container and drizzled it on top of the smokies before they baked. I drizzled the final plate again with the leftover brown sugar from the oven. These were gone in about 2 minutes.

Cranberry Brie Bites

- Puff pastry cups

- cranberry sauce

- a healthy amount of brie (can you ever have too much?)

1. Bake the puff pastry cups according to directions on the box. (Mine were prebaked but about 4 mins in the oven got them extra crisp).

2. Spoon in bite-sizes of brie into each cup.

3. Top off with cranberry sauce.

4. Bake at 350 for about 5 minutes, or until the brie has melted.

Polenta Bites with Mozzarella and Proscuitto

- Polenta Rolls (TJ's)

- Marinara Sauce

- Shredded Mozzarella

- a few strips of Proscuitto

1. Cut the rolls of polenta into 1/2 inch circles. Each roll renders about 10 - 14 circles. Prepare by either baking or frying. I went with baking since I had time and it's healthier. Bake on a greased cookie sheet until the polenta is firm and crisp on one side (about 20 mins).

2. Flip over and cook the polenta on the other side until almost crisp.

3. Take it out and spoon on marinara sauce.

4. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella on each polenta circle.

5. Shred the strips of proscuitto and put one shredded piece on each polenta circle.

6. Put back in the oven to finish cooking -- cheese should be melted before these are served.