Party Food: Drinks and Appetizers

Here is a whole collection of our favorite party drinks and appetizers. Page down for the best margarita recipe ever, my favorite bourbon concoction, cool green dipping sauce, simple bruschetta, tortilla pizzas on the grill, panela cheese with oregano and more. Make a batch of each, there is an entire party right on this page.

While you are at it, check out a whole page of great ceviche recipes. If you don't know what ceviche is, you are missing the best seafood appetizer on earth - and its easy! Hurry up and click right now. You will remember this day.

Four Can Margaritas (pictured)

· 1 can lime concentrate (the goo, straight out of the can, not mixed into juice)

· 1 can light beer (Corona or similar works great)

· 1 can Diet Squirt

· decent tequila

· lime slices or wedges

· ice

Thaw the lime goo and pour it into a decent size pitcher. Do not discard the can. Pour the beer and Diet Squirt into the pitcher, stir gently to remove foam. Fill the emptied can of lime goo with tequila and add to the mixture. 

Voila! or should I say Ay Carumba! You just made margaritas better than any restaurant and almost as simple as saying “Oh pool boy”. 

Pour over ice, add a lime wedge, put on the Los Lonely Boys CD, let’s party!

The best part – these are so simple you can remember the recipe to make a second batch.

Makes: two people silly, four people happy or six people really wish they had another one. A telling comment about Pete's Pals is that this is the single most requested recipe on the entire web site.

Breakfast of Champions - best use of bourbon

· 2-3 ounces of good bourbon - I like Maker's Mark

· 1 tsp pure maple syrup - use the real stuff, not that brown colored corn syrup goo with a picture of pancakes on the label

· 1 ounce orange juice

· dash of bitters

· 1 slice crisp bacon

Fill a highball glass with ice cubes. Slowly pour maple syrup over cubes. Add bourbon, then slowly add orange juice but try not to mix. Add bitters. Slide bacon down the side like a swizzle stick but do not stir.

This is an original creation by your old pal Pete who had to come up with something for a bacon-themed dinner party (hey, you party your way…). 

All the elements of a great breakfast are here - bacon, OJ and maple syrup. Drink this without mixing. you will start with orange juice and bitters, then taste the bourbon and end with a taste of maple syrup, all the while enjoying the essence of bacon.

Cool green dipping sauce

This is great for dipping vegetables, chips, crackers, etc. and was inspired by a recipe in one of our favorite cookbooks – The Southwestern Grill by Michael McLaughlin. When we first got the book I went through and put sticky notes by the recipes that sounded good and used about 60 sticky notes. Everything sounded great. 

We adapted the recipe slightly but kept his name on it and I’d recommend you find his book for more great stuff. 

This is in the neighborhood of whackamole sauce, which we love, also, but this is more creamy and versatile. 

· 3 cups chopped cilantro leaves (about two bunches)

· 1 chopped jalapeno

· 1 cup sliced green onions

· 1 tsp salt

· 2 avocados, skin and pits removed, cut into chunks

· 1 cup sour cream

Mix everything except sour cream into a food processor and blend until smooth. 

Transfer to a glass bowl and fold in sour cream. Enjoy!

Smoky Portabella Mushrooms

These are good, honest. They are not meat, but they are good. Don’t think of them as a meat substitute like some misguided vegetblarians do, but it is OK to eat them. You can even serve them to people you like.

· 5 or 6 portabella mushroom caps

· 2 T Worchesrchestershire sauce

· 2 T butter

· salt and pepper

Wipe off any visible dirt from the surface of the mushrooms. Remove the stems, then scrape out the gills with a spoon. Now, give the shrooms a quick rinse under cold water, and pat them dry with a paper towel. 

Combine Worst sauce with melted butter. Coat the portabella mushrooms with the mixture, then lightly season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Get your smoker up to 225-250 degrees Fahrenheit. Portabella mushrooms have a delicate flavor that can easily be overpowered by the flavor of smoke. Use a light flavored smoke wood, like apple and use a small amount, one or two thumb-sized chunks will do. 

Place the portabellas into the smoker, gill side down. Brush the tops again with the butter mixture and let the mushrooms smoke for an hour or hour and a half. 

They look slightly shriveled and have collapsed when done. Mushrooms are pretty forgiving so if you are a little long or short you will be OK. Give them one more brush of butter before you take them out of the smoker and serve them immediately. 

Slice them into bite-size chunks and serve as an appetizer or bigger chunks for a side dish. For a real nice appetizer, make mini open-face sandwiches by placing mushroom chunks on small pieces of grilled sourdough bread, then top with Swiss cheese and broil for a minute or so to melt the cheese. I know that cheese takes away the vegetblarian bona fides. Oh well!

Simple Hummus, better than you can buy!

· One 15-ounce can chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans

· 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, about 1 large lemon

· 1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste), sounds exotic but is easier to find than you think

· Half of a large garlic clove, minced

· 2 T olive oil, plus more for serving

· 1/2 to 1 t kosher salt, depending on taste

· 1/2 t ground cumin

· 2 to 3 T water

· Dash of ground paprika for serving

In the bowl of a food processor, combine tahini and lemon juice. Process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl then turn on and process for 30 seconds until smooth and creamy. Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin and the salt to whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 30 seconds, scrape sides and bottom of bowl then process another 30 seconds.

Drain chickpeas and rinse well with water. Add half of the chickpeas to the food processor then process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, add remaining chickpeas and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until thick and quite smooth.

If hummus is too thick or still has tiny bits of chickpea, with the food processor turned on, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water until the consistency is perfect. 

Scrape the hummus into a bowl then drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the top and sprinkle with paprika.

Serve with crackers and sliced fresh veggies. 

Your old pal Pete is about 6 BMI points below a typical 'cue genius. This is one reason why. It is really great food, plus a very healthy snack or appetizer. Try some! Then make some ribs.

Simple Bruschetta 

· Loaf of French baguette bread

· 3 or 4 medium ripe tomatoes (Roma work best), chopped and drained

· Fresh mozzarella

· Olive oil

· Fresh basil, chopped

Slice baguette diagonally into ½” thick pieces. Lightly brush olive oil on both cut surfaces of bread pieces and toast them on gas or charcoal grill. Rub cut surface of garlic over one side of toasted bread pieces. Slice mozzarella thinly (1/8”) and place a slice on the garlic rubbed side of each piece of toast. Spoon chopped tomatoes on cheese, garnish with basil and serve immediately.

Tortilla Pizzas on the grill

· Flour tortillas (8 inch)

· Olive oil

· Grated cheese

· Other toppings like vegetables or chunks of meat

· Sauces like tomato sauce (must be very thick) or pesto

Brush olive oil on one side of a tortilla and place it, oil side down on a hot grill. 

Close the grill cover for a couple of minutes until tortilla starts to arch up and turn golden. Then brush oil on the top side of the tortilla and turn it over. Add toppings, close the cover and cook for another couple of minutes or until cheese is melted.

Notes: Use tomato sauce sparingly or not at all. It is critical to avoid making the tortilla soggy and tomato sauce can do that easily so tomato chunks work a lot better. If you do use sauce, make sure it is thick and brush it on thinly, just for flavor. Pesto, with fresh mozzarella and basil will make something you would never expect to find in a barbecue cookbook. These can be made on a gas grill or a charcoal grill, the temperature is easier to control on a gas grill.

Panela cheese with oregano

· 1 lb queso fresco (fresh mozzarella cheese) usually in the Mexican section of a grocery store

· Six cloves of garlic, crushed

· 1/3 cup olive oil

· ½ cup corn oil

· 2 T ground oregano

Place the cheese in an oven proof dish. Pierce the outside of the cheese with a fork. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, oils and oregano, blend thoroughly. Pour over cheese and refrigerate for at least four hours, preferably overnight. Baste the cheese with the oil mixture 3 or 4 times.

Prior to serving, place the cheese in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly soft. Serve warm with hard crackers or rolls.

Dilly Pretzels

· 16 ounces of pretzels

· 1/2 C vegetable oil

· 1 ounce Hidden Valley Dry Ranch Dressing mix

· 1 heaping tablespoon dried dill

· 1 teaspoon garlic powder

· 1 teaspoon celery salt

Put the pretzels in large sealable freezer bag. In bowl mix the oil, ranch dressing mix, dill, garlic and celery salt. Pour this mixture over the pretzels, cover and invert to coat the pretzels. Refrigerate at least 24 hours, turning container several times so the pretzels get coated. Let mixture come to room temperature before serving. Store in covered container.

This is an easy one from Grandma Kay, MOP (Mother of Pete). I replace the garlic powder with garlic salt and leave out the celery salt because I hate that evil weed but this is Mom's recipe so I included it her way. Your call. 

Have your kids make these guys, they will have fun and like the end product.