blizlady, that would be Sherry (sheshebop), she makes the spinach "brownies" and I love 'em. How many people do you have to serve appetizers to, Dawn? Little pate choux puffs, tiny cream puffs, can be filled with various fillings including chicken salad, egg, tuna or seafood salad, a thick southwestern chicken kind of filling, whatever you like. I make rye puffs and fill with reuben fillings and they can be done ahead of time easily. Reuben Puffs 1 cup water 1/2 cup butter, cubed 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup rye flour 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 eggs Caraway seeds CORNED BEEF FILLING: 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 2 packages (2 ounces each) thinly sliced deli corned beef, chopped 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons minced chives 2 tablespoons diced onion 1 teaspoon spicy brown or horseradish mustard 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring water and butter to a boil. Add flours, parsley, garlic powder and salt all at once; stir until a smooth balls forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat until smooth. Drop batter by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets or make puffs with a pastry bag. Sprinkle with caraway. Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Remove to wire racks. Immediately cut a slit in each puff to allow steam to escape; cool. In a large bowl, combine the first eight filling ingredients. Split puffs; add filling. Refrigerate. Yield: 4-1/2 dozen. I make these cheese thumbprints filled with hot pepper jelly, they are pretty popular. I make my own habanero jelly to fill them with, but anything you like could be used, including salsa. I got the recipe from Carol (Readinglady) and she's never given me a bad recipe! Savory Cheddar And Jalapeno Jelly Cookies 8 oz (about 2 1/2 cups) finely grated (use smallest holes on grater box) extra-sharp cheddar cheese 6 tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup all purpose flour 1/3 cup jalapeno jelly, apple butter, or chopped chutney Place cheese ad butter in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add flour and process until mixture forms a soft dough. Gather up dough and divide into two flat disks. Wrap in wax paper and freeze until chilled, about 45 minutes. Position two racks in center and top third of oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone pads. Place the jelly in a small plastic bag and force it into one corner. Snip off the corner of the bag to make a small hole. Set bag aside. Using 1 tsp of dough for each, roll the dough into small balls. Place the balls 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Using the end of a wooden spoon or a 1/2-inch wide dowel, poke an indentation in each cookie. Pipe the jelly from bag into the indentation. Return to the oven and bake, switching the position of the sheets from top to bottom, halfway through baking, until the tops are lightly browned, about 10 minutes (the cookies will continue to crisp as they cool). Transfer to a wire cake racks and cool completely. Can be prepared 2 days in advance in stored in air tight containers at room temperature. OK, first I use a spoon, not a bag, for the jelly, I made a big mess with that ziplock bag thing. Second I bake them one pan at a time, I don't do the remove/switch thing, it's easier for me to do one pan at a time. Third, this dough is very similar to another one posted here by Weed, so you could wrap it around an olive or pecan, etc., and make a whole difrferent kind of appetizer. I doubt I'd take the time to wrap the dough, I'd probably plunk an olive in the middle of the "cookie" and call it good, LOL. If you don't do something like the puffed sandwiches, Ann T's Gougiere would be lovely, I think. An antipasta plate could be nice and could be entirely assembled ahead of time and I've had Caprese-on-a-stick, which was basically a cherry tomato, a chunk of marinated mozzarella, an olive and a leaf of basil, all skewered for serving. Meatballs would stay hot in a crockpot or small Nesco roaster without any last minute prep at all, as would chicken wings, although those could be messy unless they are boneless. Do you need something sweet, or just savory stuff? Annie

Here is one recipe to get you started! Elegant Artichoke Cups 24 square wonton wrappers 1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts in water, drained and coarsely chopped ½ cup diced red bell pepper 2 tablespoons finely snipped fresh parsley 1 lemon ½ cup (2 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 garlic clove, pressed ½ cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided Preheat oven to 350* Press one wonton wrapper into each cup of mini-muffin pan. Lightly spray wontons with vegetable oil. Bake 6 minutes or until edges of wontons are light golden brown. Remove from oven to cooling rack; set aside, leaving wontons in pan. Meanwhile, coarsely chop artichokes; place in a mixing bowl. Dice bell pepper. Finely snip parsley. Zest lemon to measure ½ teaspoon zest.. Add bell pepper, parsley, lemon zest, mozzarella cheese, mayonnaise and garlic to bowl; mix well. Grate Parmesan cheese. Add half of the Parmesan cheese to artichoke mixture; mix well. Fill each wonton cup with one rounded scoop of artichoke mixture; sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake 8 minutes or until edges of wontons are golden brown and cheese is melted. Remove from pan; serve immediately. Yield: 24 appetizers

I freeze applesauce in canning jars. We have several feral apple trees around our property. I have no idea what variety they are. We don't spray the trees so the fruit is ugly. The apples are small and the flavor of the apples from each tree is different but when mixed together they make a delicious applesauce. I don't add anything to it just apples. Though once in a while I will add a splash of maple syrup (DH likes it on the sweeter side), juice and zest from an organic lemon to keep the sauce from darkening or even a little fresh grated nutmeg. My family does not like cinnamon in applesauce. I wash/scrub the apples, remove bad spots, cut in to quarters and plop them in a pot with a tad bit of water. Cook until soft then run the mixture through a food mill.

I had bought ingredients to make a lemon/balsamic vinegar dressing which I never tried before. While at the market for last minute ingredients I opted for a bottle of Italian Balsamic Vinegar salad dressing! ha It was actually the first time I tasted balsamic vinegar in a dressing, it was ok. The others liked it.