Little Holiday Bites

Our family friend Dianne is great at entertaining.  After years of having a houseful full of boys, she has recently had the opportunities to host events for ladies.  I picked up this cute little idea from her that I think men would like as well.  She serves appetizers in small glassware such as vodka shot glasses and mini martini stemware.  I extended this concept to serving a couple of minature meatballs in some small juice glasses that I have. Great places to find interesting glass pieces are Goodwill or Walmart.  I initially got a dozen of the vodka shot glasses at a garage sale but just found some more at Target's dollar bin. 

Ranch dressing would work well with any vegetables you stick in to the shot glass.  However, I found that 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons country Dijon mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder all whisked together tastes great if you choose to use thin, young, tender asparagus as one of the veggies.

 

I added a bit of jazz to the shrimp cocktail by putting a white lemon dill sauce next to the traditional red.  Mix 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon dried dill together.  Pour or spoon about a tablespoon of the red sauce to one side of the glass, then spoon in the white.

Since the meat balls are resting on a "bed" of sauce, I figured it needed to be nice and thick to support them.  I combined 1 (15 oz). can of tomato sauce 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 tablespoon red wine (optional), 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a microwave safe bowl.  I microwave the sauce for 5 minutes and spooned it in the bottom of the small juice glass. I made the meat balls a little smaller than I usually do so I could fit two in the small juice glass. Then I sprinkled the top with a bit of chopped flat leaf parsley, but I think fresh basil would work even better.  There are three different types of meatballs in this post:  "Meatballs and Moving" (2011) or, they can be found  in the freezer section of the grocery.  When I made these, I assembled them ahead of time, and then just before serving I microwaved several of them for 20 seconds.  However, even at room temperature, they are yummy!