I have a friend who is getting married in a couple of weeks and asked me to make a fancy appetizer for her bridal shower.  She said she wanted something super tasty, simple, in season, and then she threw in the words “elegant and stylized.”  I pondered this idea for a while and wondered what I could come up with.  I never want to disappoint a bride, especially in her glorious moments of celebration.  My thinking cap was running on overdrive when the idea of grapes crossed my mind.  Grapes are in season and super tasty right now, that was all I needed to get the ball rolling.  I started looking around my local markets for grapes.  I’m the type of person that will pick a grape from the package before I purchase a bag, clean it on my clothes, and plop it in my mouth to measure how sweet they are.  I walked into Walmart and lo and behold was a huge display of grapes.  I ran over and scanned the wide variety they had…. seedless, organic, table, seeds, champagne, green, red, and black.  Hmmmm, choices.  I settled on black seedless grapes, not only would they add a pretty color to my appetizer, but they were the most flavorful.

I personally love grapes paired with nice cheese and must admit to eating that combo quite often while I work or watch television. But I wouldn’t be any kind of friend if I just plated the two and served them that way.  Once I was back in my kitchen I started to experiment with cheese and grapes…. here’s what I came up with.  I pinched a bit of goat cheese and patted it flat in my hand, then carefully rolled the grape in the center of the cheese till it was fully encased, then I encrusted it in chopped pistachios for a wonderful little nibble. That’s it, 3 ingredients and the brides wishes were met!

Ingredients for grape goat cheese pistachio nibbles:

• black seedless grapes
• goat cheese
• shelled pistachios (chopped)

Directions:

1. Rinse and dry grapes.
2. Remove each grape from stem/vine.
3. Take a teaspoon of goat cheese and pat it in the palm of your hand to create a flat surface.
4. Place a grape in the center.
5. Then carefully roll the cheese around the entire grape until fully covered.
6. Place covered cheese grapes on a plate and store in fridge while you work on all the other grapes. 
7. Chop pistachios.
8. Then roll each grape in chopped pistachios to coat. 
9. Enjoy! 

And if the recipe is not enough for you grape lovers…. here is a quick video on how to make grape jelly in 30 seconds:

Just in time for Halloween.  Check out my scary appetizers for your Halloween party.    Click here and go over to Babble to see the step by step instruction for these Ghostly Boo Sticks….

Super Bowl is less then two weeks away…. Let the party planning begin!  Is Tom Brady your man?  Or are you Eli Manning all the way?  To be honest with you, I’m not a big football fan, but I LOVE Super Bowl.  Guess why?  You got it….. Yummy snacks all day long.  Okay, the noshing isn’t the only part I enjoy,  I take pleasure in  watching the commercials and the halftime show too.

My family is no different then all the rest of the feverish fans celebrating the big GAME! I’m sure my Tia is in a frenzy right now coming up with a perfect menu to cheer her team on with.  She asked me to bring an appetizer to her party for Super Bowl Sunday and said she wanted something slightly on the fancy side but easy to make.  I called on the help of my beloved Maseca and came up with a little nibble for people to snack on come game time.  May the best team win and I hope the commercials are good too!

Ingredients for corn blinis:

1 – cup maseca corn flour

2 – tablespoons fine ground yellow cornmeal  

4 – tablespoons corn kernels

2 – eggs

2 – tablespoons butter (melted, and cooled)

1 – cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Topping:

sour cream

smoked salmon

grated cotija cheese

chopped chives

Add Maseca corn flour and cornmeal to bowl of a stand-up mixer. Then add in corn, eggs, butter, milk, salt and pepper. Mix to combine all ingredients.

Spray a large frying pan with a non-stick cooking spray and allow to get hot.  Then take a tablespoon of batter and pour into pan.  Batter will spread.

Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side.

Repeat until all corn blinis are made. Place on a platter and top with sour cream, smoked salmon, a pinch of grated cotija cheese, and a dash of chives.

A super yummy appetizer for game day….. Easy to make!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored campaign for Maseca and Latina Bloggers Connect.  All opinions and recipe are my own.

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

I belong to a group of Latina bloggers, and within the group there are a few of us obsessed with food.  One of my blogging hermanas decided to call a Latina Cook-Off challenge. The only criteria is we use pistachios and bacon in our recipe and post it on Saturday September 3rd. Here is my entry to the cook off…. a simple appetizer that will be gone faster then you can say WONDERFUL PISTACHIOS!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for pistachio cheese filled dates wrapped in bacon:

16 – medjool dates

1/4 – cup cream cheese

1/4 – cup goat cheese

17 – wonderful pistachios (shelled and chopped)

4 – stalks green onion (chopped)

1/4 – teaspoon Lawry’s seasoning salt

1/4 – teaspoon black pepper

8 – slices bacon

Take dates and slice down one side and remove pit.

In a small mixing bowl add cream cheese, goat cheese, chopped wonderful pistachios, chopped green onion, Lawry’s and black pepper. Mix well. Then fill a teaspoon with a heaping amount of cheese filling and fill date. Repeat till done.

Grab your bacon and slice in half.

Take a half piece of bacon wrap it around date and close with a toothpick. Repeat until done.

Place all bacon wrapped dates on a aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.

Place under the broiler on high  and cook on first side for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden crisp, then remove from broiler flip them over and cook on the other side for an additional 4 minutes.  PERFECT PISTACHIO CHEESE FILLED DATES WRAPPED IN BACON!!!!!!

No compensation was received for this post. I was provided with a sample of  Wonderful Pistachios to aid this recipe. The recipe and opinions are my own.