Fresh Fruit Kebabs: Make ahead or let guests DIY. Set out a fruit tray with kebab spears, toothpicks or
plastic restaurant cocktail swords. Use a variety of color: green grapes, yellow pineapple chunks,
strawberries, blueberries, canned mandarin orange segments. Guest DIY fruit kebabs mean less
waste of fruit and saves you work.
Holiday Hedgehogs. These were a Christmas appetizer staple in the UK and I think they're adorable. You cover a potato in foil and poke appetizers on toothpicks to make the quills. YouTube channel "Dear Old Blighty" shows lots of creativity in making the eyes, nose and mouths. Personal favorite is a pear for the body with a cranberry stick on the stem for the nose. I'd probably use raisins or sliced olives for eyes. Put anything you like on toothpick appetizers. A suggestion would be to go with school colors or a rainbow, with pineapple cubes, mandarin orange slices or cheese, watermelon cubes, green grapes and blueberries. I guess cocktail wieners and cheese were popular too. I would give the hedgehog a tiny scarf with school colors too!
Savory hors d'oeuvres: Make a variety of colorful appetizers; here are several popular kinds.
--Spread cream cheese on both sweet and dill pickles. Wrap each pickle in a slice of lunch meat (ham
or turkey breast). Slice width-wise.
--Place potato salad in a line along the middle of a slice of luncheon meat. Form meat into a roll.
Secure with toothpick.
--Checkerboard finger sandwiches: Make triple-layer sandwiches of white, wheat and dark
pumpernickel bread. Spread filling of choice (see suggestions below) on two slices of bread. (none on outside). Slice sandwich into 1/2
inch sandwich strips. Arrange on platter with alternating colors. Garnish with olives and grape
tomato.
Finger sandwich fillings:
--cream cheese and jelly
--egg salad and green pepper
--cream cheese and cucumber
--cream cheese and ham
--cream cheese and tomato
--roast beef, Swiss cheese and spicy brown mustard
--turkey, avocado
--ham and cranberry sauce
--PBJ
Very veggie tray: set out an assortment of sliced and chopped cucumbers, colored peppers,
mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, raw green beans, zucchini, summer squash, green onions, carrots
and celery. Place salad dressings out for dip.
"Sushi" sandwiches: Take one slice of deli cheese and one slice of deli meat. Roll them together
around a green scallion and cucumber spear and cover with cream cheese. Roll in crushed walnuts
and parsley. Slice in rolls.
Pretzel dogs: Spread cream cheese on half of long pretzel rod. Dip in honey mustard. Wrap some
with meat and some with cheese. Place in a bowl and guests can grab and munch.
Pinwheels rollups: Spread spinach or red pepper tortilla with cream cheese, spicy brown mustard or wasabi. Layer two
large romaine lettuce leaves, several slices of deli cheese and tomato. Roll tortilla into tight log. Seal
opening with cream cheese. Place seam side down and slice into pinwheels.
Frosted sandwiches: Layer six slices of bread with alternating fillings. Frost with cream
cheese colored in school colore, over outside of sandwich stack. Slice vertically through layers and then cut each piece into
finger sized pieces. Filing suggestions: egg salad and tuna salad. Ham sandwich spread and chicken
salad. Deli ham and deli cheese.
Serve with iced sun tea and lemonade garnished with raspberries. Just a bit of trivia: I found some of
these recipes in my mother's Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, circa 1971. I will spare you the recipes for tomato aspic and molded salads, though.
