Oven Roasted Pecans

Pecans are another traditional Thanksgiving favorite for everyone. Since we like to make pecan pies, it’s no trouble to make these the same time the night before our big feast.

1 egg white
1 tablespoon of butter, melted
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups pecans (or more, if you happen to have lots, you just may need to make a little bit more of the mix)
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar firmly packed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions: Combine sugar, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a plastic zipper bag and set aside.

Melt the butter and then add in the vanilla and egg white and beat until all ingredients are blended together. Stir in the pecans, making sure each one is well coated with the liquid mixture. Then, transfer the pecans into the plastic bag with the dry ingredients and shake, shake, shake until they are all nicely coated with it.

Place on a lined baking pan (I use foil or parchment paper, both work just as well and help make it easier to clean up) and bake in a 350 degree oven for 4-5 minutes, then turn over and bake another 4-5 minutes until nice and roasted.

Other Thanksgiving Favorites:

Sausage Cheese Balls: A holiday favorite, made with sausage, cheese, and biscuit mix.

Stuffed Mushrooms: What’s Thanksgiving without the stuffing? You’ll love these stuffed mushrooms!

Simple Corn Fritters: Celebrate the first plant grown by the pilgrims with these easy corn fritters!

Appetizer Meatballs: These easy appetizer meatballs will be sure to disappear fast!

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving appetizer recipe to share? Tell us about it in the comments below. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Here are all of our best make ahead appetizers that you can make the night or day before and serve minutes before your guests arrive:

Marinated Shrimp: Marinated Shrimp is an elegant recipe. Since the dish is delicious served cold, you can easily cook and arrange it all on a platter and keep refrigerated until the time to serve it.

7 Layer Mexican Dip: This seven layer Mexican dip is very easy to make and can easily be made the night before. The most important thing is to make sure you allow the ground meat to cool completely so your lettuce doesn’t become soggy.

Antipasto Platter: Who doesn’t love a platter of olives, Italian meats, cheeses, and more? This is an easy way to put together some tasty snacks.

Tortilla Cream Cheese Pinwheels: Pinwheels are a great appetizer and are actually a lot easier to make than you would think! Since they require refrigeration time anyway, you can easily put them together before hand.

Buffalo Chicken Dip: Whether you choose our cold or hot version, both taste great and can easily be made ahead of time.

Fruit Tray: A fruit tray is delicious and sweet and you can make our Yogurt Fruit Dip as a great accompaniment. For best results, choose fruits which hold up well after being sliced, such as oranges, grapes, strawberries, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Fruits such as apples and bananas if they are a must have, should be sliced and added immediately before serving because they have a tendency to discolor.

Spinach & Artichoke Dip: This is a classic dip for any party and relatively easy to prepare. It tends to hold well for about a day before serving.

Cold Crab Dip: This cold crab dip recipe is always a huge hit that has everybody raving for the recipe and again can be refrigerated before serving.

Bruschetta: You can easily make Bruschetta ahead of time. If you’re worried about having time to make the toasted bread, you can always take a short cut and buy the pre-made toasted bread typically available around or near the deli counter or cracker aisle of your local grocery store.

These are just some of the great examples of things you can easily make the day before and not worry about having to put a lot of time or effort into them. Make ahead appetizers are the best type because it doesn’t matter how busy or crazy your schedule might be, you can always make a delicious dish in no time! You can make them the night or day before and serve them with little prep time – which means less time worrying about cooking before having company or guests over and more time enjoying the people with you.

Do you have a favorite make ahead appetizer you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments section below!

Fresh Fruit Kabobs
Fresh fruit kabobs are healthy and delicious and are easy to prepare. You can use any fruits that you like, slice into chunks and then slide onto 4 inch skewers. Just be careful when you are poking the skewers through the fruit – it is very easy to accidentally stab yourself! Never take your eyes off the skewer!

Here are some ideas for different fruits you can alternate on each skewer:
Cantelope
Pineapple
Strawberries
Apples
Kiwi
Grapes
Bananas

You can serve with your favorite flavored yogurt as a dip for this light and refreshing appetizer.

Red, White, and Blue Party Mix:
You will need:
3 cups Chex cereal
1 cup miniature marshmallows (white)
2 cups Blue and Red M&M’s (You can either look for specially marked packages that are red white and blue, or buy 1 big bag and enlist some kids into sorting them all out!)
1 1/2 cup mini pretzels
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl and serve.

Red, White, and Bleu Chicken Bites
This is an easy to make appetizer using pre-cooked chicken tenders. The red, white, and “Bleu” comes from the dipping sauce.

You Will Need:
1 Large Bag Pre-Cooked Frozen Chicken Tenders
Skewers or Toothpicks
Barbecue Sauce, Ranch Dressing, and Bleu cheese dressing

Directions: Bake chicken tenders according to package directions. For larger appetizers you can skew each tender directly onto a skewer, or for smaller bite sized appetizers you may want to cut each into about 1 inch sections and then stick a toothpick through the middle. Serve with the sauces each in their own dish for dipping.

American Flag Taco Dip
This is a creative appetizer idea that will be sure to have others smiling and thinking to themselves “Isn’t that clever?” It’s not too difficult to do either.

You Will Need:
1 Bag Blue Tortilla Chips, with 1 cup of crushed chips set aside
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 Can Refried Beans
1 cup Sour Cream
2 Cups Shredded Cheese
1 pound ground beef, cooked with taco seasoning added

Directions: Layer beans, then meat, then shredded cheese in a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Lightly spoon sour cream over entire pan. Use the crushed blue tortilla chips to form the blue part of the American flag in the top left hand corner. Then, carefully spoon tomatoes over to create 13 stripes going across.

Deviled Eggs
Fourth of July and deviled eggs seem to go hand in hand, so we’ve included this recipe. Some people have dyed the eggs blue or red colors with food coloring to go with the “red, white, and blue” theme, but that’s entirely optional.

You Will Need:
12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise in half
1/2 cup Mayonnaise or Salad Dressing (Miracle Whip)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Paprika

Directions: After slicing the eggs in half lengthwise, remove the yolks and smash in a bowl with a fork. Once the yolks are mashed up pretty good add mayonnaise or salad dressing, mustard, salt, and pepper and mix until blended and smooth. If needed, you may need to slowly add 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise at a time, depending on the size of the egg yolks and the consistency you want to have. Spoon the mixture back into the eggs and then sprinkle paprika to taste to add color. Keep refrigerated.

Red, White, Blue Cheese Spread

You will need:
1 package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1 red bell pepper, chopped finely
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix cream cheese, lemon juice, onion powder, and garlic powder together. Add dried blueberries and pepper and mix. Serve with your favorite crackers.

Do you have any other favorite Fourth of July Appetizer Recipes to share? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below!