Help me think of an appetizer to make

[BetsyS]

I am going to a party tomorrow night, and I need an appetizer to take. Payday isn't until Friday, and I've used all my grocery money. So, I need ideas from what I have.

sausage
pizza crust mix
ground beef
chicken
1/2 lb andouille
canned tomatoes
8 oz monterey jack
8 oz jalapeno havarti
8 oz cream cheese
pepper jelly
any and all condiments, really
salsa
spaghetti sauce
very few veggies--onions, some half dead celery, canned mushrooms, jalapenos, cilantro, limes. Frozen corn, peas, pearl onions, spinach, okra.
2 grapefruit
1 sleeve saltines (no other crackers)
1/2 bag tortilla chips (no other chips)
most pantry staples (flour, cornmeal, butter, sugar, lots of spices, etc)

I have more than this in my pantry, as well. This is just off the top of my head. If you have a recipe that uses something fairly basic, I probably have it or can make do.

Any ideas for me????

[caiesmommy]

No ideas but check out this site

http://www.supercook.com/

Just click/type what you have and away you go

[lynsage]

Mini pizzas using the pizza crust, whatever meats you want, and the cheese. How many people is this for?

[lynsage]

you could do some with no sauce using the cream cheese with some seasonings in it and some caramelized onions on top, too.

[luv-my-boys]

Here are a couple of ideas:


Use the pizza crust mix. Mix up and roll out and cut up into pretty mini triangles. Top with spaghetti sauce and variety of cheeses/maybe sausage or ground beef.

Slightly blackend (fire roast) the canned tomatos on the stove and sprinkle with italian herbs you like. Top on the cut up pizza triangles and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Brown in oven

You can always make up a dish of nachos and brown in the oven when you get there. You can take the chips place in a oven dish top with cooked ground beef and assorted cheeses and salsa. When at the party toss in the oven until cheeses melt.

If you have enough gound beef you can find a basic recipe online for meatballs cook them up in the oven (i've seen pretty basic meatball recipes using meat,saltines for bread crumbs, and assort spices that you may have on hand) when cooked transfer them to a crock pot and dump in the jalapeno jelly (you might thin out a little if you dont have a lot) let simmer! I have also done this using bar be cue sauce or apricot or pineapple jelly.

I think presentation has a lot to do with making something seem nice. I have taken the most easiest things and made them seem really special just by playing them up in nice dishware or adding special touches.

[cristeen]

I'd probably serve the pepper jelly over the cream cheese with crackers. Since you only have saltines, you'll probably have to make crackers, but they're actually pretty easy to make.

[BetsyS]

Thanks for the ideas!

Time got away from me, so I ended up with meatballs. I made the meatballs, browned them, then put them in a sauce in the crockpot. They were a hit! The sauce I made out of a thin barbecue sauce I had, plus grape jelly and a good bit of red wine/garlic/rosemary jelly (see? I told you I had a lot of stuff in the pantry. )

I might make a treat out of the pizza crust this weekend just for the family, though. Sounds good!