Holiday Apps

We are heading into full Thanksgiving prep mode around here this weekend. We will be hosting six friends this year and of course we always use some Picnic Spreads. Here are four of our favorites, that are also super easy to put together. When your guests arrive and ask if they can help with anything, this is it.

Clockwise from top left:

Picnic Herbed Goat Cheese on Endive and / or Baguette Slices with Bacon Crumbles

You can slice the bacon into lardons and make the day before. Then a little schmear of PIcnic Herbed Goat Cheese Spread on either endive leaves or baguette slices, some bacon crumbles, and your done! Arrange on a platter with extra Herd Goat Cheese in the middle for additional crackers if you like.

picnic Chipotle sage Apples with Toasted Pepitas

Toast about a quarter cup of crushed pepitas in a dry pan, set aside. Put a bit of Chipotle Sage on each apple slice, then sprinkle with some pepitas. I put some greens tossed in olive oil & sea salt on the side for color on the plate, but it is actually quite good to take a piece or two and top the apple slices with it.

picnic parmesan chorizo bites

For these I always have the chorizo sliced as thin as possible, but to where it will not bend when people pick them up. I find the Olli Salumi’s are great for this, if you prefer a non-spicy salumi any of their flavors work really well for this bite. I usually take the package to the deli counter and ask them to slice it for me, just as a warning, they will probably be less than stoked when you ask. Whole Foods has been great about this, where Harris Teeter, not so much.

Top each slice with with Picnic Parmesan Spread and sprinkle with either thinly sliced scallions (shown) or Italian parsley. Make a lot of these, they will go the quickly!

Picnic tandoori garlic sweet potato chips with candied pecans

If you are going to make your own candied pecans you can do that up to a week ahead of time and store in an air tight container. If not, they are quite easy to find in most markets at this time of the year.

For this bite I use the Route 11 Crinkle Cut Sweet Potato Chips. Go ahead and get two bags, you do have to dig through and get all the larger chips out for this plated appetizer. You can save the small bits to top a casserole instead of the old Ritz Crackers.

Top all the large chips you pulled out with a dollop of Picnic Tandoori Garlic Spread then top each one with a candied pecan.

If all goes well in the kitchen this weekend I will be putting up a great roasted carrot recipe. If not, have a lovely Thanksgiving, and there will be many more recipes coming soon.