Upscale Veggie Tray

I mentioned in a previous post that I recently had a Stella and Dot jewelry party to support a friend who recently started as a stylist for them. I made a few recipes from Pinterest for the appetizers and couldn’t be happier about the way they turned out.  I made this grown–up veggie tray and also these South of the Border Sandwiches.

What you need:

Fresh chives

Optional veggies:

Carrots

Cumcumber

Any variety of bell peppers

Yellow squash

Red cabbage

Directions:

Thinly slice the veggies and tie them in bunches with fresh chives. Simple right? Not so much. Since I am a horrible chef; I had no idea how to go about thinly slicing some veggies. I probably could have used a veggie slicer, if I had one but instead I resorted to a regular knife.  It was fairly easy to cut the peppers in thin slices but the cucumber and carrots were very difficult. 

If you know of a better way too slice these, I would love to know. Other than my own personal difficulties with slicing the veggies, they came out really well.

Turkey Sandwich Bites

I had a Stella and Dot jewelry party for a friend who just started as a stylist and decided to try a few recipes from Pinterest for appetizers.  I tried these South of the Border Sandwiches and a fancy veggie tray.  

What you need:

1 loaf French bread, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slices
1/2 cup black olives, chopped

1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup lite mayonnaise

1/3 cup nonfat sour cream

1/3 cup green onions, chopped

1 pound sliced turkey

2 medium tomato, thinly sliced

2 ripe avocados, sliced
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 cup pepper jack or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine olives, chili powder, cumin, salt, mayonnaise, sour cream, and green onions.

Place bread on an ungreased baking sheet and spread 1 tablespoon of the mayonnaise mixture on each slice.

Top with slices of turkey and tomatoes. Top with avocados and cheeses (I added the cheese before baking and put the avocado on after).

Bake @ 350 for 15 min.

Of course I made these and then get distracted by shiny jewelry and friends; and completely forgot to take photos of the end result. They were pretty much like the picture I pinned (below), and very delicious. I will definitely be making them again, and I will post those pictures. 

Picture from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Since everyone in the office knows I love baking, I usually get put in charge of bring treats for birthdays and other celebrations. I wanted to do something with pumpkin since its fall and I decided on this pumpkin coffee cake from my fall board.  The recipe looked great but also time consuming so I actually cheated by buying a box of crumb cake mix from Krusteaz and added canned pumpkin to it. For my first time trying to alter a box of mix, it turned out very well.

What you need:

1 box crumb cake (depending on the box of mix the ingredients may be different)

1 egg

2/3 cups water

2/3 cups canned pumpkin

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Follow the directions for the box of coffee cake mix. Adding in the canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice with the package of cake mix.