Ingredients in this goat cheese appetizer

Guests are coming? Quick, grab these four ingredients for a crowd-pleaser that will have everyone parked around the dish. The simplicity here is magic: the creaminess of the cheese with the sweet tart marmalade is the perfect combination. Here are the only ingredients you’ll need for this goat cheese appetizer:

• Goat cheese log (aka chevre)
• Marmalade or jam or any kind
• Pistachios
• Fresh thyme

Throw the goat cheese into the oven with the marmalade and bake 10 minutes, then top with chopped nuts and fresh thyme sprigs. The oven warms it so it’s spreadable on crackers or crostini. It’s so simple and perfect for any occasion: dinner parties, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and everything in between.

Ways to serve this goat cheese appetizer

Pull this goat cheese appetizer out of the oven, and you can serve it immediately! Baking the cheese is key, because it makes it warm enough to be spreadable. Here are a few ideas to use for dipping in:

• Crusty bread like no knead bread, baguette, or other
• Crostini (here’s how to make your own)
• Crackers
• Pita chips (here’s how to make them)
• Flatbread or naan bread

Tip for taking to a party

Taking this goat cheese appetizer to a party? Here’s what to do:

• Bake first. Bake it your house, then cover the dish in foil and warp it a towel to keep it warm. It should stay warm for about 20 minutes this way.
• Bake at the party. Or, have the host preheat the oven for you in advance! Pop it in right when you get to the party.

More goat cheese recipes

This goat cheese appetizer is one in a long list of favorite recipes starring this ingredient! (We’re goat cheese fanatics, in case you couldn’t tell.) Here are some great goat cheese recipes to try:

• Go for fan favorite Baked Goat Cheese Dip or Whipped Goat Cheese
• Go for Cranberry Goat Cheese or Blueberry Goat Cheese
• Try crispy and delicious Goat Cheese Pizza
• Start the day with a Goat Cheese Omelette
• Make a fresh Goat Cheese Salad with Arugula & Apple
• Mix up Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta or Mushroom Pasta with Goat Cheese

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Baked Goat Cheese Dip

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Goat Cheese Pizza

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Goat Cheese Omelette

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Cranberry Goat Cheese

More easy appetizer recipes

These smoked salmon bites are the perfect easy appetizer for parties! Here are a few more of our party food favorites:

• More fun smoked salmon recipes: smoked salmon toast, smoked salmon bagel, smoked salmon dip or smoked salmon spread.
• Go for veggie cream cheese, cottage cheese dip, or ranch dip with veggies.
• Grab black bean hummus or spicy hummus.
• Try our top cold appetizers for a party.

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Veggie Cream Cheese

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Easy Black Bean Hummus

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Top 15 Easy Cold Appetizers

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Smoked Salmon Toast

Energy ball flavor variations

There are so many ways to mix up this energy balls recipe! As we’ve mentioned above, no need to make them peanut butter oatmeal balls, though that’s our favorite way. Here are a few ideas on how to vary the flavors:

• Chocolate peanut butter: Go to No Bake Energy Bites.
• Almond joy: Use almond butter instead of peanut butter and add ¼ cup shredded coconut (so delicious!). Remember if your almond butter has a dry texture, add a little more honey or a few tablespoons milk until the dough comes together.
• Birthday cake: Add ¼ teaspoon almond extract and 3 tablespoons all natural sprinkles.
• Cherry vanilla: Substitute dried cherries for the chocolate chips (roughly chopped) and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
• Blueberry lemon: Substitute dried blueberries for the chocolate chips and add ½ teaspoon lemon zest.

Ways to serve stuffed dates

There are so many occasions when you could serve these goat cheese stuffed dates! Here are some ideas:

• Healthy snack or gluten free snack idea
• Healthy lunch idea (pair with chickpea salad or a sandwich)
• Finger food idea for parties
• Gluten free appetizer
• Game day spread (Superbowl or others)
• Starter for a Mediterranean style meal
• Kid friendly food (our kid loves them!)

More recipes with Medjool dates

Outside of these stuffed dates, what else can you make with Medjool dates? So many things! Here are some of our favorite Medjool dates recipes:

• These raw brownies are impossibly fudgy and chocolatey.
• Try pecan energy bars or cashew no bake energy bars: they’re like homemade Larabars, and are the perfect wholesome snack.
• You can also use dates in smoothies, like this apple smoothie or date smoothie. Or, make the Palm Springs classic, the date shake!

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Date Shake

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Date Snickers

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Vanilla Date Smoothie

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15 Easy Medjool Dates Recipes

What are quick pickles?

These pickled green tomatoes are quick pickles, any blend of vegetables that have been pickled in a mixture of vinegar, salt, sugar, and water, and are stored in the refrigerator. The great part about them? There’s no canning required! No special canning equipment is needed, which makes the entire process quick and simple.

These pickled green tomatoes last for 1 month in the refrigerator. Keep in mind, they’re not shelf stable like traditional canned pickles. This isn’t a problem for us, since we eat them so quickly!

More green tomato recipes

Got more green tomatoes you’re not sure what to do with? We love green tomato toast as a quick and easy way to eat them. You can also make green tomato salsa, which tastes just like salsa verde. Or, browse all our green tomato recipes!

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Green Tomato Toast Recipe

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Fresh Green Tomato Salsa

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10 Tasty Green Tomato Recipes

Baked brie toppings

Yes, baked brie is that easy. We love it for parties and entertaining, especially when we’re making multiple recipes at once and need something simple yet stunning. The toppings are the fun part: you can customize this recipe according to your tastes. One key to topping this melty cheese: sweet flavors are an ideal pair with gooey, savory cheese. Here are some ideas for baked brie toppings:

• Honey
• Jams like apricot jam, cherry jam, cranberry jam, strawberry jam, raspberry jam or blackberry jam
• Cranberry sauce
• Diced apple
• Pomegranate seeds
• Nuts like chopped pistachios, toasted pecans, toasted almonds, or toasted walnuts
• Caramelized onions

Variation: cover it in puff pastry

One popular variation on baked brie is to cover it in puff pastry. If you make it this way, you don’t need any toppings. Our personal opinion? We think puff pastry adds extra effort and makes it a little harder to eat. But you can absolutely add it if you love this 1970’s style appetizer idea! Here’s the basic idea:

• Cut the top skin off the brie wheel.
• Get a large sheet of puff pastry. Lay it out in a single layer and place the brie on top.
• Add a few tablespoons of jam on top of the brie.
• Fold the pastry up and over the brie and cut off any excess dough.
• Bake about 25 to 30 minutes at 375°F until the pastry is golden brown. Cool a few minutes before serving.

How to serve baked brie

How to serve baked brie? Well, the sky’s the limit! There are so many things you can add to this luscious cheese wheel to make a beautiful spread of appetizer recipes. It’s great for entertaining at any type of gathering: Christmas, Thanksgiving, or just any type of party! Here are some ideas:

• Crackers, like homemade crackers or gluten-free crackers
• Crostini, like easy crostini
• Baguette slices
• Fruit like apple slices, pear slices, or grapes
• Jams like apricot or cranberry jam, if not using as a topping
• Herbs like rosemary or thyme sprigs, for decoration

How to make pumpkin hummus

This easy pumpkin hummus recipe takes just minutes to whip up. The basic steps for making this hummus recipe are as follows (or scroll down to the recipe):

• Process: In the bowl of a food processor, pureed a peeled garlic clove until finely chopped. Add chickpeas, lemon juice, pumpkin puree, salt and aquafaba (liquid from the chickpea can!). Puree until creamy.
• Garnish: Top the hummus with cilantro leaves, a sprinkle of paprika, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with veggies, pita bread, or crackers (like these homemade crackers!).

A baked falafel recipe—with canned chickpeas

Falafel is a Middle Eastern ball of chickpeas, herbs and spices that’s deep fried. Classic falafel is always made with soaked dried chickpeas, which gives them the ideal crispy texture. The only problem is—you have to remember to soak the chickpeas overnight. If you have time and can think ahead, try the classic version! It’s worth it for the flavor, and you can make it baked: go to classic falafel.

This baked falafel recipe is a shortcut for when you didn’t think ahead and don’t want to mess with frying. So, it’s not a traditional authentic recipe—it’s a variation for weeknights so you can enjoy similar flavors! It’s made with canned chickpeas, which you bake in the oven instead of frying them.

What Mediterranean diet snacks look like

American-style snacks often center around packaged granola bars, crackers, and chips: processed foods with refined sugars and flours. Instead, Mediterranean diet snacks prioritize whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds. Per the Cleveland Clinic, here is what snack foods for the Mediterranean diet should look like:

• Whole grains like oats, quinoa, barley, and so forth. Prioritize whole wheat or whole grain bread.
• Fruits and vegetables
• Nuts and seeds
• Yogurt in moderation
• Milk and natural or light cheeses in moderation, like cottage cheese, ricotta and goat cheese (per the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic)
• Eggs in moderation (1 egg per day)
• Olive oil (instead of butter)

Per the New York Times, dark chocolate eaten in moderation works on the Mediterranean diet! Notice that eggs and dairy should be eaten at a minimum, as well as added sugars. Make sure to balance them with what you eat in the rest of the day.

Ingredients in cottage cheese dip

This cottage cheese dip is ready in 5 minutes with 5 ingredients: all you need is a large food processor! You can also make this in a blender if you like (see below), though the food processor is the best tool for the job. All you have to do is blend the following ingredients until fluffy and smooth. You’ll be amazed at the amount of flavor that come out of these simple ingredients:

• Cottage cheese
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Dried dill
• Salt

What to dip in cottage cheese dip

You can use cottage cheese dip like a typical ranch dip! It tastes good with a variety of vegetables and crackers. Here are our favorites for using with this dip:

• Carrot sticks and celery
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Snap peas
• Kohlrabi sticks
• Crackers of any kind, including nut-based or gluten-free
• Crostini
• Bread
• Pita bread or pita crisps

Cottage cheese nutrition

Is cottage cheese that much better than a sour cream in a dip? What makes cottage cheese a healthy cheese? According to Healthline, here are some of the benefits of cottage cheese:

• It’s a low calorie cheese. A 1-cup serving has just 163 calories.
• It’s high in protein. 1 cup has a whopping 28 grams protein, over half your daily need. Protein accounts for over 70% of the calories.
• It’s packed with nutrients like B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, and selenium.

While you’re only eating small quantities as a dip, the amount of protein you get with lower calories does make a difference. It also makes it a nice idea for healthy lunches!

Hot sauce ideas

This recipe is a spin on our classic hummus recipe, made with chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, cumin and salt. All you have to do is add hot sauce to taste! Each hot sauce adds a different flavor and heat level, since not all hot sauces are created equal. We like using Cholula, but here are a few other choices:

• Mexican-style hot sauce: Cholula is our favorite; it has a medium heat and tangy flavor. Or try Valentina, which has smoky notes.
• Tabasco: This popular sauce has a sharp, vinegary flavor.
• Frank’s hot sauce: This American style hot sauce is known for its use in Buffalo wings, so you could call this Buffalo Hummus if you use Frank’s.
• Sriracha: This iconic Thai sauce with a rooster logo has a garlicky, slightly sweet flavor.
• Chili garlic sauce: It’s similar to Sriracha but tastes brighter, with a thicker and chunkier texture, made with chilies and lots of garlic.
• Sambal oelek: This Indonesian chili sauce is made of chili peppers, garlic, ginger and lime. It has a chunkier texture than Sriracha and little to no sugar.
• Gochujang: This Korean fermented chili paste makes a nuanced, funky spicy hummus.

Ingredients in pumpkin pie dip

This pumpkin pie dip tastes like pumpkin pie filling: in fact, we almost like it even better! It’s pure and full-flavored, with just the right balance of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spices. We’ve made it often for friends and family, and everyone goes crazy for it. It’s ideal for a fall dinner post-apple picking or pumpkin patch visit, Halloween parties, and Thanksgiving gatherings. All you need are these six ingredients:

• Cream cheese
• Pumpkin puree
• Powdered sugar
• Cinnamon
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Vanilla extract

Tips for making pumpkin dip

This pumpkin dip recipe takes just a few minutes to whip up! All you need is a food processor, though you can also use other tools to get the job done. Here are a few tips for making this simple dip recipe:

• Use a food processor or stand mixer. The best tool for the job is a large food processor. You can also try it in a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer.
• Soften the cream cheese first. You can let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to soften, but we often don’t have the time for this. Here’s a trick: simply microwave it for 5 seconds. Just don’t do it any longer because you don’t want the cream cheese to melt!
• Blend and serve immediately. Some pumpkin dip recipes require refrigeration but why wait? Take one bite of this creamy, fluffy dip and you’ll want to devour it immediately.

Ingredients in quinoa tabbouleh

This quinoa tabbouleh recipe is a spin on a traditional tabbouleh using quinoa instead of bulgur wheat! Using quinoa makes this into a gluten-free salad: and you also get all the nutritional benefits of quinoa. The advantage of bulgur wheat is that all you need to do is let it stand in boiling water for 10 minutes. The quinoa cooking process takes a little longer, but it’s 100% worth the time. Combine the quinoa with these traditional tabbouleh ingredients to make a standout salad:

• Curly parsley and fresh mint: Some tabbouleh recipes are almost 2/3 parsley with only a bit of the grain. Others are all whole grain and only a little bit of the herb. This quinoa tabbouleh recipe falls in the middle. We love parsley-forward tabbouleh recipes, but also wanted to have a good amount of quinoa.
• Quinoa
• Green onion, tomato, and English cucumber: We like using an English cucumber because the long, thin variety has a mild flavor and doesn’t need to be peeled.
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil

Ways to serve quinoa tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a fantastic healthy and easy side dish or appetizer for all sorts of meals. Some of our grain salad recipes can double as a main dish, but here we’d recommend keeping it as a side dish. It almost feels like a condiment like an Indian raita: it’s lovely to mix into the flavors already on your plate to bring a fresh brightness. Here are some ways we’d serve it!

• Appetizer spread: Pair it with hummus, pita bread, marinated olives, and baked feta cheese.
• With seafood: Serve with seared salmon, broiled salmon, garlic butter shrimp, grilled red snapper, or grilled tilapia.
• With falafel: Bring in the Greek and Lebanese vibe with this falafel burger or even better, falafel or a falafel sandwich.

Ingredient notes for this pumpkin bread recipe

There are many ways to make a great pumpkin bread. Alex and I created this one to be ultra moist, with the perfect sweet, cozy spiced flavor and soft, tender crumb. Why is it easy? There’s no need for a mixer or waiting for butter to come to room temperature: you can mix it all up in one bowl! Here are a few ingredient notes for this recipe:

• Pumpkin puree: Use canned or homemade; the most consistent brand we’ve found is Libby’s (we’re not affiliated).
• Eggs: These bind the bread together. For egg-free, go to our Vegan Pumpkin Bread.
• Granulated sugar: You can substitute the solid sweetener of your choice; we don’t recommend using maple syrup here.
• Neutral oil: Oil makes a moister quick bread than butter; it also allows the recipe to be made in a bowl with no stand mixer.
• Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice (or ginger, allspice, and nutmeg): Individual spices make the boldest flavor, but you can also use pumpkin pie spice.
• All purpose flour: You can substitute up to ¼ of the flour with whole wheat flour. For a gluten-free option, go to our Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread.

Try it with a maple glaze

This easy pumpkin bread is delicious plain, but we like it best with a glaze! This maple glaze is simple to whip up and has a sweet, maple-forward flavor.

• Using maple glaze adds a pop of maple-forward flavor. It’s easy to find at the grocery store and it’s worth buying. However, the glaze tastes delicious without it!
• Butter is helpful for storage. One advantage of the maple glaze is that the butter helps to make for a more solidified glaze that holds up better over time.
• Use our even simpler variations. You can also use this 1-Minute Powdered Sugar Icing or Vanilla Glaze for topping.

More pumpkin recipes

When it’s pumpkin season, you’ve got to taste test them all! Here are a few tasty pumpkin recipes you might enjoy:

• Try classics like pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, or pumpkin cake.
• Mix up pumpkin bread pudding, pumpkin pudding, or pumpkin ice cream.
• Start the day with pumpkin French toast, pumpkin baked oatmeal, or pumpkin pancakes.
• Go savory with pumpkin chili or pumpkin risotto.

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Pumpkin Cookies

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Pumpkin Bread Pudding

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Perfect Pumpkin Cake

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Easy Pumpkin Bread