Really now, don’t you think you could squirt just about any flavored soft cheese on the endive and garnish it with a sprig of green stuff?

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb soft fresh goat cheese
• 2 Tab olive oil
• 2 Tab fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• 3 Tab finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 Tab finely chopped fresh chives
• 8 long slender heads of Belgian endive
• Very small fresh cilantro sprigs (for garnish)
• 6 grape tomatoes, cut crosswise into very thin slices, slices halved (for garnish)

Directions:

1. Using on/off turns, blend goat cheese, olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and lemon peel in food processor just until smooth and creamy.
2. Transfer mixture to medium bowl.
3. Stir in chopped cilantro and chives.
4. Season cheese mixture to taste with salt and pepper.
5. If desired, transfer cheese mixture to pastry bag fitted with small plain tip.
6. Cover and refrigerate until cold. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)
7. Cut off and discard root ends of endive.
8. Separate leaves.
9. Toss with remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice in large bowl to coat.
10. Arrange endive leaves in concentric circles on large platter.
11. Pipe or spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese mixture at wide end of each endive leaf.
12. Place 1 very small sprig cilantro and tomato slice atop each.
13. Cover and chill.
14. Can be made 4 hours ahead.

Serves:  Makes about 60 pieces

Source:  Bon Appetite

A cherry tomato is a lovely little vessel for many, many fillings.  

Cherry Tomatoes With Cream and Caviar
Ingredients:

• 36 firm but ripe cherry tomatoes about an inch in diameter
• ½ c sour cream or creme fraiche
• ½ oz sturgeon, salmon or whitefish caviar

Directions:

1. Remove any stems from the cherry tomatoes.
2. Turn them stem-side down on a cutting board or other work surface.
3. Carefully slice off the top third of each tomato, reserving these pieces for another use.
4. Scoop out and discard pulp
5. Invert tomatoes onto paper towels to drain.
6. Stir the sour cream or creme fraiche to make it smooth.
7. Using a small spoon, dab a scant teaspoon of the cream carefully and neatly on the top of each tomato. Or pipe in with  a small pastry tip.
8. Using the tip of a knife, place a tiny dab of the caviar on the cream.
9. Arrange the tomatoes on a platter and serve, or refrigerate for up to one-half hour before serving.

Tiny sprigs of herb, like dill, can be used instead of the caviar.

Serves:  36 hors d’oeuvres, 8 to 12 servings

Source: New York Times Cooking

Cucumber stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients:

• 24 cherry tomatoes
• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tab mayonnaise
• 1/4 c finely chopped peeled cucumber
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh dill

Directions:

1. Placed the diced cucumbers in a strainer and shake on some salt.
2. Let them sit and drain while you do the rest of the prep.
3. Cut a thin slice off the top of each tomato.
4. Scoop out and discard pulp.
5. Invert tomatoes onto paper towels to drain.
6. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth.
7. Rinse the cucumbers and dry on a paper towel.
8. Stir the cucumber, onion and dill into the cream cheese/mayonnaise.
9. Spoon into tomatoes.
10. Refrigerate until serving.

Source:  Oxmoor House

Bacon Cream Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes 
Ingredients:
20 large cherry tomatoes
1/2 c cream cheese, softened
2 Tab ranch dressing
4 (1/2-ounce) slices Canadian bacon, finely chopped (If you have some lean ham on hand, you can use it in place of the Canadian bacon.)
3 Tab minced green onions
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp hot sauce
Parsley sprigs (optional)

Directions:

By now, you get the drill.

Source:  Rants From My Crazy Kitchen

Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed With Avocado – Epicurious.com

Cherry Tomatoes Filled with Goat Cheese – Allrecipes.com

Cherry Tomatoes Filled with Steak Tartare – freshly ground beef tenderloin, garlic salt, finely dice onion, chopped capers, snip of chive on top

Dress up a super simple appetizer with a cookie cutter!  Go with the theme of the party – hearts, shamrocks, stars, animals, etc.

• 4 oz goat cheese,
• 1/4 c sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
• thin sliced bread (or roll out regular bread a little)

Directions: 

1. Place cheese and tomatoes in food processor or blender.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Toast bread on both sides (like in the toaster)
4. Cut shapes out of toast.
5. Spread cheese mixture on toast.
6. Garnish with whatever is on hand – parsley, a piece of tomato, chive, etc.

Serves:  Depends on the size of the bread and cookie cutter.

Source:  What was on hand.

Lox was traditionally only made from the belly of salmon, although other parts of the fish are now also used. The salmon is salt-cured or brined but never cooked or smoked, so it has a very silky, rich texture and translucency. Lox is the traditional topping of bagels with cream cheese and is most often served thinly sliced.

There are two other versions of lox where the preparation methods do vary a bit:
Nova Lox: This lox, which comes from Nova Scotia, is actually cold-smoked after the curing or brining process.
Gravlax: Gravlax is the Scandinavian preparation of lox, where lots of fresh dill and spices such as juniper berries and pepper, as well as some liquor such as aquavit or brandy, are additional ingredients used during the curing process.

Smoked salmon is a much more generic term than lox. Smoked salmon can be made from any part of the fish, and it starts with salt curing or brining, just as in lox.  The next step is where smoked salmon is different from lox. The salmon can be covered in spices or a dry rub after curing, then smoked in one of two ways:
Cold-Smoked Salmon: The salmon is slowly exposed to smoke in about an 80°F environment for a few days. The salmon doesn’t get cooked, so the flesh of cold-smoked salmon stays very moist and silky and has a beautiful translucent pink color. Cold-smoked salmon has a similar texture to lox, but has an additional layer of smoky flavor. It is also a common topping for bagels and cream cheese and is usually sold thinly sliced.
Hot-Smoked Salmon: The salmon is smoked with heat in the same way meat gets smoked. The fish gets cooked all the way through and ends up with a firm, flaky, and drier texture, but it also has a distinct smoky flavor. When shopping for hot-smoked salmon, it looks very similar to a piece of cooked or grilled salmon.

Source:   Kitchn

All lox is smoked salmon, but all smoked salmon is not lox.

Smoked salmon is a blanket term for any salmon: wild, farmed, fillet, steak, cured with hot or cold smoke.

Lox refers to salmon cured in a salt-sugar rub or brine (like gravlax). Nova is cured and then cold-smoked (unlike lox or gravlax). There’s also hot-smoked salmon, which is cured, then fully cooked with heated wood smoke.

Now, to acknowledge the purists. Real, authentic lox is made from only the belly portion of the salmon. Yup, like pork, the belly of the fish is typically the richest, fattiest and most succulent portion. Cured and smoked, it’s saltier and more…uh…”aromatic” than its milder non-belly counterpart, and if you’re lucky enough to try it on a bagel with cream cheese, it’s hard to go back. When you buy lox anywhere other than an old-school appetizing counter, even if it’s clearly labeled “lox,” what you’re almost certainly getting is simply smoked salmon. And frankly, that’s fine by us.

Source:  Food Republic:

Therefor, in the interest of convenience and expense, we just use plane old Costo smoked salmon.  Accompany it with pumpernickel bread, cream cheese, diced red onion, mustard, and capers.  Good to go!

A different kind of snack.  It would probably work with a variety of nuts.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb whole walnuts
• 3 Tab butter
• 1 Tab light brown sugar
• Kosher salt
• 2 tsp curry powder, or to taste
• 1 tsp  cinnamon
• Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° .
2. Spread walnuts in a single layer on a small baking sheet.
3. Bake until hot, lightly browned and fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Remove walnuts from the oven.
5. While still hot, toss on the baking sheet with butter, sugar, salt, curry powder, cinnamon and cayenne.
6. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
7. Serve warm.

Serves:  about 2 cups

Source:By Olaiya Land, Former PCC Cooks Instructor (Puget Consumers Co-op)

Not too authentic but delicious! 

Ingredients:

• 1 package wonton skins
• 1/2 lb jack cheese, grated
• 4 oz can gr chilies, drained, chopped
• oil

Directions:

1. Mix cheese and green chilies.
2. Place 1 scant teaspoon of the mixture on a won ton skin.
3. Fold like an envelope.
4. Fry in 2 inches of hot oil until brown, turning so that both sides will be brown.
5. Drain. Serve hot with Tomato Cilantro Sauce or Guacamole Dip.

Serves:   Makes 40 – 50

Source:  Arizona Farm Bureau’s Fill Your Plate,  Provided by:Dawn E. Urton, Case Grande Valley Cotton Wives

Note:  See Wonton Primer for more information and folding directions.