These Asian flavored hoisin meatballs make a great appetizer and can also be great served as a main dish. Pork meatballs are baked and then dipped in a hoisin sauce glaze. If you would prefer the glaze to be warmed you can bring it to a boil in a saucepan before serving. The glaze uses ingredients such as hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic. The meatballs get a lot of their flavor from sesame oil, garlic, and ginger.  This recipe is very easy to prepare and can be made easily made into large batches if you are serving a big crowd. Enjoy. Adapted from GimmeSomeOven.

Ingredients:
Meatballs-
2 lbs ground pork (or ground beef)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2 eggs
3 teaspoons minced garlic
½ cup green onions (thinly sliced)
toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)
sliced green onions (for garnish)
Hoisin glaze-
2/3 cup hoisin sauce
¼ cup rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves (minced)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl combine ground pork, sesame oil, breadcrumbs, ground ginger, eggs, 3 teaspoons minced garlic, and ½ cup sliced green onions. Mix together until well combined.
Step 2: Shape into balls that are about 1-1.5 inches in size (you can make them bigger if you want). Place meatballs onto a greased baking sheet or in a 9×13” greased baking dish. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees).
Step 3: While meatballs are baking, in a medium bowl whisk together hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, 2 minced garlic cloves, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon ground ginger. If you want the sauce hot, you can heat it up in a medium saucepan. When the meatballs have finished cooking dip each meatball in the sauce individually using a toothpick or mix the sauce with the meatballs in a bowl until covered. Serve warm and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions.

Bacon wrapped tater tots are a delicious appetizer to prepare for a snack or to bring to parties. This is another great recipe for the upcoming Super Bowl. The process of making this appetizer is very easy—tater tots and a jalapeno slice are wrapped in bacon and then deep fried. They are then topped with cheese and served with ranch dressing. It does require a little bit of work because you have to wrap all of the tater tots individually but the end result is delicious. It is best to allow the tater tots to thaw a little out of the freezer so that you can easily slide a toothpick through them. You may not need the entire bag of tater tots, so I would recommend taking out a few at a time and setting them aside to prevent contamination. The same thing goes for the pickled jalapenos.  If you are looking for a great tasting appetizer for game day, give this one a try. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 (32 ounce) bag frozen tater tots
12 ounces bacon (each slice cut in ½)
16 ounces pickled jalapeno peppers (sliced)
1 cup Colby-jack cheese
½ cup ranch dressing
toothpicks

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Slightly defrost the tater tots to allow the toothpicks to go through. Hold a jalapeno slice around a tater tot and then wrap ½ slice of bacon around and secure it together with a toothpick. Repeat until all of the bacon is used up.
Step 2: Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees. Deep fry tater tots in batches for 3-4 minutes or until brown and crispy looking. Drain on paper towels. Repeat until all of the tater tots have been fried.
Step 3: Immediately sprinkle with cheddar cheese (you can microwave them a little so that the cheese melts better) and serve with ranch on the side.

If you love snickers candy bars you are sure to enjoy this delicious and rich cheesecake recipe. This cheesecake has such an amazing flavor it will be hard to stop eating. Snickers cheesecake is basically just what the name says—a cheesecake topped with chopped snickers bars, peanuts, and caramel syrup. I came across this recipe on My Baking Addiction and it looked so amazing I had to give it a try. The original recipe called for a water bath but I decided not to use it. Unfortunately the cheesecake ended up cracking in several different spots. I didn’t really mind because the snickers topping will cover it up anyways. If you do not want to cheesecake to crack I would suggest using the water bath. If you are confused about the water bath process, there is a great video on My Baking Addiction demonstrating it. This cheesecake makes an excellent dessert. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
Crust-
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick unsalted butter (melted)
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Cheesecake filling-
4 (8 ounce) sticks cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs (at room temperature)
¾ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Topping-
20 Mini Snickers bars (cut into fourths)
1/3 cup roasted peanuts (chopped)
¼ cup caramel syrup

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap a 9 inch spring form pan tightly in heavy duty aluminum foil to prevent leaks when using the water bath. If you want to take extra measures to prevent leaks you can place the foil wrapped spring form pan inside an oven bag while baking. Lightly spray the spring form pan with cooking spray.
Step 2: In a medium bowl mix together the crust ingredients until well combined. Press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the spring form pan. Place into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Step 3: Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath. In a large bowl combine cream cheese and sugar and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time (while mixing) until each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with spatula in between each egg. Add the heavy cream and vanilla and mix until smooth.
Step 4: pour the batter over the prepared crust in the spring form pan. Place the spring form pan into a larger pan and pour the boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.
Step 5: Place into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes, at this point the edges will appear to be set but the center will still have some jiggle to it. Close the oven door, turn off the heat, and let the cheesecake rest in the cooling oven for one hour. After one hour, carefully remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place it into a cooling rack to cool completely. Once it has cooled, place it into the refrigerator for at least 5 hours.
Step 6: Top with Snickers bars, peanuts, and caramel syrup.

A dish that makes a great dinner for any night of the week is Chinese chicken with noodles. With this dish, there is no need to prepare rice as a side dish with your meal. Like most Chinese recipes, this dish is very easy to prepare and most of the work comes from prepping the sauce and chopping the ingredients. This recipe includes a marinated teriyaki flavored chicken with noodles that have a delicious sesame flavor. I like to serve the chicken on the side or on top of the noodles, instead of mixing it all together. The chicken itself is marinated in soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and other Asian flavored ingredients. The noodles are mixed with a soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil mixture. This recipe for Chinese chicken with noodles makes a great meal and serves about four people. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb thin spaghetti
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup sesame oil
1/3 cup sugar
3 green onions (thinly sliced)
¼ cup sesame seed
Chinese chicken-
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup teriyaki sauce
2 garlic cloves (minced)
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh ginger (chopped)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (sliced into 1inch chunks)
sesame oil (for sautéing)

Cooking instructions:

Step 1: In a large bowl mix together ¼ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup teriyaki sauce, garlic, ¼ cup brown sugar, and ginger.  Mix well and make sure the sugar has dissolved. Add the chicken and coat the chicken with the sauce. Cover and place into the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
Step 2: To prepare sesame noodles—bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse the noodles. In a jar or sealable container add ½ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup sesame oil, and 1/3 cup sugar. Shake until well blended and the sugar has dissolved. Pour sauce over the pasta and toss to combine. Cover and set aside while the chicken is cooking.

Step 3: Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade. Heat sesame oil in a large fry-pan or wok. Add the chicken and stir-fry in batches for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Add more sesame oil as needed.
Step 4: Remove the chicken from the pan and serve the chicken over the sesame noodles. Garnish with sesame seeds and sliced green onions.
(Makes 4 Servings)

I have never tried Applebee’s Chicken Quesadilla Grande but when I saw it on their website it looked too good to not try and make on my own. These quesadillas combine chicken and bacon with Colby-jack cheese, and Pico de Gallo. What is great about this recipe is that it is so easy to prepare. This is a great way to use up leftover chicken but you could also grill chicken breasts and cut them up. A great way to save time is to buy a package of pre-cooked grilled chicken strips and pre-cooked bacon, that is what I did and the results were great. This recipe makes two quesadillas so you would just double the amounts of everything to make 4 and so on. For the Pico de Gallo, you can buy it from the store or you can even make your own. I would recommend trying the recipe on this website for Pico de Gallo if you want to make your own. Each quesadilla only uses two tablespoons of Pico de Gallo, so you can make the full batch and then serve the rest with tortilla chips if you wish. These quesadillas make a great appetizer for game day and the upcoming Super Bowl. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 slices cooked crispy bacon (sliced into ½” inch pieces)
2 (8 inch) flour tortillas
softened butter (for lightly spreading on the tortillas)
2 tablespoons Pico de Gallo
1/2 cup shredded Colby-jack cheese
2 cooked  boneless skinless chicken breasts (heated and cut into strips)
Optional Condiments-
sour cream
guacamole
salsa

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Heat a large non-stick fry pan over medium heat. Spread butter lightly on one side of the flour tortilla shell. Place butter side down into the pan.
Step 2: Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over the entire tortilla. On half of the tortilla sprinkle half of the bacon, half of the chicken pieces, and 1 tablespoon of Pico de Gallo. Cook until the cheese has melted and the bottom has browned. Using a spatula fold the tortilla in half and press down the edges gently.
Step 3: Remove from the pan. Repeat with remaining tortilla. Slice each quesadilla into thee triangles. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa.
(Makes 2 Servings)

If you love using healthy and fresh ingredients in your salsa, this recipe for green pepper salsa is perfect for you. This green pepper salsa is so easy to prepare and makes a great appetizer for parties. The most work involved in preparing the salsa is chopping the ingredients. The fresh ingredients in this recipe include green peppers, tomatoes, green onion, jalapeno pepper and garlic. The process to preparing this green pepper salsa is very simple; all of the ingredients are combined in a bowl then refrigerated for an hour to allow the flavors to blend. You can adjust the amount of spice by adding more or less cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes. For even more spice, you could leave the jalapeno pepper seeds in the pepper instead of removing them. If you are looking for a great tasting fresh salsa recipe, give this one a try. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
4 green peppers (seeded and chopped)
2 medium tomatoes (seeded and chopped)
2 green onion stalks (chopped)
1 jalapeno pepper (seeded and chopped)
1 garlic clove (minced)
¼ cup freshly squeezed  lime juice
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a medium bowl combine green pepper, tomatoes, green onion, jalapeno pepper, and garlic. Stir in lime juice. Season with salt, chili powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes.
Step 2: Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend. Serve with tortilla chips.

This is a copycat recipe for Chili’s salsa. I have never been to Chili’s so I have no idea what their salsa tastes like. I have also never been a huge fan of copycat recipes, but honestly, this salsa turned out amazing. I made a few important adjustments to the original recipe to give it even more flavor. I decided to add cilantro, fresh garlic, and lime juice. This salsa is very easy to make and the only work involved is doing a little chopping and blending of the ingredients. This salsa is mostly canned tomato based- it uses both canned tomatoes and green chilies and whole canned tomatoes. The salsa gets most of its flavor from garlic, cilantro, and lime juice. This salsa makes a great appetizer for football season and the upcoming Super Bowl. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 (14 1/2) ounce can tomatoes and green chilies
1 (14 1/2) ounce can whole canned tomatoes (with the juice)
4 teaspoons canned diced jalapenos (canned, not pickled)
¼ cup diced yellow onion
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Place the jalapenos and the onion into a food processor. Process for just a few seconds. Add the canned tomatoes and green chilies and the whole canned tomatoes. Add garlic salt, sugar, cumin, minced fresh garlic, lime juice, and cilantro. Process all of the ingredients until well blended but do not puree.
Step 2: Pour salsa into a container, cover and place into the refrigerator. Chill for at least 2 hours. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.
(Makes 4 Cups)

Hot dip recipes make an amazing appetizer for playoff and Super Bowl parties. This hot taco dip is perfect for game day and is something that fans of taco ingredients are sure to enjoy.  This recipe is not very hard to prepare and will serve 8 people. If you are looking to feed a large crowd you could easily double the recipe and prepare it in two baking dishes. This delicious taco dip consists of layers of a taco meat and refried bean mixture, sour cream, vegetables, and Colby-jack cheese. You could pretty much add any of your favorite taco ingredients to this recipe and it would be delicious. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
½ cup hot taco sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup  sour cream
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped tomatoes
¼ cup black olives (sliced)
¼ cup jalapeno pepper rings
1 ½ cups shredded Colby-jack cheese

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and drain off an excess liquid. Stir in refried beans, taco sauce, chili powder, and cumin. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish. Spread the ground beef/refried beans mixture into an even layer on the bottom of the baking dish. Spread the sour cream in an even layer over the beef and bean mixture. Layer onions, tomatoes, olives, and jalapeno pepper rings over the sour cream. Top with Colby-jack cheese.
Step 2: Place into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
(Makes 8 Servings)

This Szechuan noodles recipe is yet another delicious Asian noodle dish. Whenever I am looking for something quick and easy to prepare, I usually turn to Asian recipes. This pasta dish consists of noodles are tossed with stir-fried steak and a spicy sauce. If you do not want to use steak you could replace it with chicken, pork or shrimp. You could also just leave the meat out completely if you would prefer. Most of the flavor in this recipe comes from ingredients such as garlic, ginger, sesame oil and hoisin sauce. The spice comes from crushed red pepper flakes; you will want to add more or less of them depending on how spicy you like your food to be. For the noodles you can use pretty much whatever type you prefer such as vermicelli, spaghetti or linguini. If you are looking for a delicious Asian noodle dish, give this one a try. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb flank steak
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh ginger
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more, to taste)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¾ cup beef broth
½ cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
8 ounces vermicelli (cooked)
½ cup sliced green onions

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add vermicelli and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside. While the noodles are cooking, slice steak against the grain thinly into strips.  In a large wok or skillet heat sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add red pepper flakes, garlic and ginger and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add the sliced steak and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
Step 2: Combine cornstarch and beef broth and whisk until smooth. Stir the beef broth mixture, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce into the pan with the steak. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly for about 1 minute or until the mixture is thick and bubbly.
Step 3: Toss the steak and sauce mixture with the cooked hot noodles. Sprinkle with sliced green onions.
(Makes 4 Servings)