Party Foods!

For a friend's Christmas party this year, I  revisited a couple of recipes that are incredibly easy, and completely yummy.

I'm not entirely sure when I started experimenting with quesadillas. I'm sure it was after reading a recipe on the back of a pack of cheese. In any case, I've experimented with turning quesadillas into all kinds of foods - salads, sandwiches, even pasta.

I also watch a lot of Food Network. I've learned a lot about cooking from Food Network. Techniques, shortcuts, spices... The other day, I saw some show where they made crab rolls and other mini foods for a party. In a way, it inspired the quesadillas.

Shortcut #1: Store bought rotisserie chicken.

Cuts the mess. Cuts the fuss. Costs just a couple of dollars more, but saves a whole lot of time. If you happen to have a rotisserie, you could always cook extra and use the leftovers instead.

I used the breast meat, cut it up very fine, added a 16 oz jar of salsa, mixed it well, then let it sit (covered, of course) over night in the fridge. I only let it marinate because I got a little excited about the recipe idea and was a day early in prepping my food for the party. You can easily skip that and go ahead and make your food.

Heat up flour tortillas in whatever manor you usually would use. I buttered them and heated them in a pan on the stove, but it would work the same in any manor. Spread the chicken/salsa mixture on half of the tortilla, sprinkle shredded cheese over the whole thing, and place on a cookie sheet. Melt the cheese in the oven. Roll the tortilla in a log, beginning on the side with the chicken, then set it to the side and let it cool.  Slice it into a bite size pieces, and you have quesadilla rolls.

Shortcut #2: Crescent Rolls

For the mini pies, I used mini cupcake tins.  Roll out the crescent dough from the can on a flat service. I used a plastic cutting board, because you'll need to be able to put it in the fridge/freezer to keep it cool The crescent rolls get sticky as you cut out the. I used a plastic cup to cut circles, pressed it into greased mini-tins.

Shortcut #3: Jarred Preserves

Our Commissary carries several flavors of jarred fruit preserves. They are much cheaper than canned pie filling, and you're very likely to use the leftovers for another purpose later on. However, you cannot always substitute preserves for pie filling. This only works with mini-tins. Anything larger, and the fruit-to-gelatin ratio is not big enough.

After you pinch the crescent roll dough into the mini-tins, add a tablespoon of preserves to the tins. Bake according to the roll directions and cool completely before removing the pies from the tins.