Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp

Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp are exactly what they sound like: Cherry tomatoes filled with seasoned feta and topped with shrimp make one of the prettiest, easiest appetizers you can serve.

I'd like to tell you that I made this with football games in mind but, truthfully, it was a great snack for taking on the sailboat.  I popped them in a small container and put it in the cooler with the cold beverages. Finger food and appetizers are great for picnics or celebrations of any kind!

Ingredients
14 oz or 400g shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 14 medium sized)
Olive oil
14 cherry tomatoes
3 1/2 oz or 100g goat milk feta cheese
1 tablespoon plain yogurt
Small bunch green onions
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Gently sauté the shrimp in a drizzle of olive oil until just cooked.  Set aside to cool.  I cooked them with the tails still on then took them off.  It doesn't make a difference so you can just as easily take the tails off first.

Cut the tops off of your cherry tomatoes and run the knife around the inside to loosen the flesh.

Scoop the insides out.  I used my quarter teaspoon measuring spoon, which worked beautifully.  Discard the seeds.

Cut just a tiny slice of skin off the bottoms of the tomatoes so that they will stand upright.  Lay the tomatoes, hollow side down, on some paper towels.

Mince all but two or three of your green onions.  You'll need a few kept long for garnish.

Crumble your feta cheese in a small bowl, add in the yogurt, the minced green onion and a few generous grinds of fresh black pepper.  Mix thoroughly.

Fill the tomatoes with the seasoned feta.

Cut your remaining green onions into short lengths.  Poke a piece of green onion into the feta.

Put one shrimp on top of each filled tomato.  Press gently to stick the shrimp down.

Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Visit all the other Appetizer Week Blogs for more Snack Time Deliciousness:

• Meatball Bites by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Gluten Free Onion Butter Pretzels by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Crawfish Dip by Call Me PMc
• Low-Carb Shrimp Guacamole by Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Bourbon Pulled Pork Sliders by Cooking in Stilettos
• Sun-dried Tomato Dip by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Sriracha Butternut Hummus by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Margherita Pizza Sticks by Makobi Scribe
• Chicken Parmesan Meatballs by Flavor Mosaic
• Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp by Food Lust People Love
• Ham and Sauerkraut Balls by From Gate to Plate
• Cheddar Cayenne Crackers by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Baked Pickle Chips by Lemons for Lulu
• Cheddar Cheese Olive Puffs by Life Off the Clock
• Manchego and Roasted Pepper Stuffed Mushrooms by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Restaurant-Style Chipotle Salsa by Home Cooking Memories
• Mango Jalapeno Sausage Rolls by Food Done Light
• Ham & Cheese Mini Cracker Sandwiches by Mom's Test Kitchen
• Spicy Cheese Rounds by Try Anything Once Culinary
• Low Sodium Chicken Stuffed jalapeno Poppersby Cookerati

Pin these Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp!

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Big Be Mine Heart Cookie #CreativeCookieExchange

Bake a Big Be Mine Heart Cookie for your sweetheart. A big M&M cookie cake baked in a heart pan and decorated with red sugar icing: Be Mine!

Giant M&M cookies make the best Valentines.  Who could say no to such a blatantly sweet and clearly heartfelt request? Be Mine!

I have an enormous amount of optimism about the creativity and potential of the human race.  Just when we think that every idea has been thought, every invention must have been created, someone comes up with something so brilliant and simple that the rest of us all slap our foreheads and wonder why WE didn’t think of it!  It’s so OBvious, right?  This is a silly example of that but take, for instance, those cookies that are as big as cakes.

When I was growing up, we had cakes and we had cookies. And then suddenly, there were cookies as big as cakes and they were being decorated for birthdays! Who had that idea first? I’ve done a little research and even Wikipedia doesn’t seem to have a clue. And those people make stuff up when they don't know. I'm certain of it. (In other news, I’m thinking I could write a Wikipedia article and take credit now.)

Anyway, to cut a long story short (I know – too late!) I’ve made a cookie cake for this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange Pink and Red challenge because I have a red silicon heart-shaped pan and there’s hardly anything prettier than a huge cookie Valentine. Plus, this falls right in the middle of Appetizer Week, which started with Cocktail Day and it's also my birthday week!  So I couldn't do a regular sized cookie, it had to be something big and fun!

Big Be Mine Heart Cookie

Ingredients
For the cookie:
2 cups or 250g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups, firmly packed, or 300g light brown sugar
1/2 cup or 115g butter, at room temperature plus a little more for buttering your baking pan
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 12 oz or 340g bag M&Ms (I used the red, white and pink Valentines edition milk chocolate ones.)

For the icing, to write your message of LOVE:
1 cup or 125g powdered sugar
2 teaspoons butter, at room temperature
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 teaspoons milk
Paste food coloring (I used Wilton No-Taste Red.)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and butter your baking pan really well.

In a small mixing bowl, combine your flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.

Cream your butter and sugar together until you have a nice smooth homogeneous mixture.

Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat again.

Now take a heaping 1/4 cup or about 55-60g of M&Ms and set them aside to decorate the top of the cookie before baking.   Mix the rest of the package into the dough.

Spoon the dough into the prepared pan and spread it around evenly to all corners.

Decorate the top with the reserved M&Ms.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.

Allow to cool for few minutes before inverting and removing from the pan.  Turn pretty side up once more and allow to cool completely before adding any icing.

To make the icing, combine the sugar, butter, salt and vanilla together with two of the teaspoons of milk and mix thoroughly.

 Depending on your powdered sugar you could need the last teaspoon of milk to get a writing consistency.  Add it in, if necessary.  Then add in some food coloring paste.

This stuff is very hard to quantify.  I usually dip the tip of my everyday knife in the little pot and scoop out perhaps a quarter teaspoonful.  If you use an actual quarter teaspoon, it is very hard to get all the coloring out of the well of the spoon and you end up washing it out.  Which is a waste.  Using a knife allows you to scrape it completely clean.

Mix the coloring in thoroughly.  If you want to add more, always use a clean knife to dip into your color pot.  Keep in mind that the icing will darken somewhat as it rests and even once it's on the cookie.

When the cookie cake is completely cooled, decorate it with the icing in a piping bag and a small round tip.  Have fun with it!  (You'll probably have icing left over for another project.  It can be kept in the refrigerator or even frozen.)

Cut in small squares to serve.

Enjoy!

If you are looking for inspiration for Valentines Day, I’ve got some great cookies for you today, all following the theme of Red and Pink:

• Big Be Mine Cookie from Food Lust People Love
• Glazed Doughnut Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Iced Vovos from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Jam Sandwich Cookies from A Baker's House
• Pomegranate Cheesecake Cookies from It's Yummi!
• Strawberry Rhubarb Meringues from The Spiced Life 
• Valentine Fairy Cookies from NinjaBaking.com
• Valentine Heart Cookies from Noshing With The Nolands

You can also just use the Creative Cookie Exchange as a great resource for cookie recipes - Be sure to check out our Facebook page,  our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts.  You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Big shout out to our host and organizer, Laura at The Spiced Life!  The Creative Cookie Exchange is her baby.

If you are a food blogger who would like to join the Creative Cookie Exchange, send an email with your URL to Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.

Caesar Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Savory muffins make perfect nibbles for any party. These Caesar mini muffins have all the things that make us love Caesar salad, except the romaine! Garlic, anchovies, lemon juice and Parmesan!

I was awake in the middle of the night last week, thinking up muffin flavors and pondering what goes good together. And suddenly inspiration hit. What goes better than all the ingredients that make up my favorite Caesar salad dressing? And even better, it occurred to me that a little savory muffin is perfect for my birthday week and the party continues!

Ingredients - 36 cocktail muffins
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
1 cup, grated, or 90g Parmesan cheese (plus a little extra for after baking, optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup or 60ml fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil (For added flavor, I like to use the oil from the anchovy can then top up with more olive oil to make the required amount.)
2 eggs
1 small can (46g net weight, 25g drained) anchovies in olive oil
1 large clove garlic

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and liberally grease some 36-cup combination of mini muffin pans.  I have three pans that make 12 mini muffins each.

Grate your Parmesan, if not already grated, and mince your anchovies and garlic.

Grind your half teaspoon of black pepper.

Set your measuring spoon on a plain piece or paper and start grinding.  When you think you have just about enough, fold the paper in half and finish filling the spoon.  Voila!  Mess-free, measured, fresh ground pepper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, black pepper and Parmesan.

In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk your eggs, milk, oil, lemon juice, garlic and anchovies.

Pour your liquids into the dry ingredients and fold until just mixed.

Divide the batter between the prepared cups in the muffin pan.

Just for fun, I made the last batch in my (well-greased) little madeleine pans.  They came out so cute!

Bake in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are lovely and golden.  Sprinkle on a little more Parmesan, if desired.  More cheese always equals better in my book.

The heat of the muffins should melt the cheese sufficiently for it to stick to the tops but if you need to put the pans back in the oven for just a couple of minutes, that works too.  After all, it’s probably still hot enough without turning the oven back on.

Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes then remove to a wire rack to continue cooling.  If the cheese sticks to your pan, just run a knife around the muffins to loosen them.

These are fabulous warm and go great with a glass of wine or whatever cocktail you are serving.

Enjoy!

Here are a few more appetizer recipes you might enjoy!

• Buffalo Butternut Hummus by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Buffalo Ranch Cheese Ball by What's Cooking, Love?
• Butternut Squash, Pomegranate & Goat Cheese Crostini by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Caesar Mini Muffins by Food Lust People Love
• Cheddar Bacon Dip by Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Cheese Bean Dip by Wonky Wonderful
• Chicken Wing Dip by Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
• Chipotle Cheese Dip by Dizzy Busy and Hungry
• Chocolate Malta Wings by Food Done Light
• Crab Layer Dip by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Four Cheese Garlic Flat Bread by Try Anything Once Culinary
• Grilled Guacamole by Kiss My Smoke
• Mini Maryland Crabcakes by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Mom's Famous Chicken Ball by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Piña Colada Cheese Ball by Home Cooking Memories
• Pizza Pull Apart Bread by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Pulled Pork Sliders by The NY Melrose Family
• Roasted Vegetables and Romesco Crostini by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Sesame Pecan Chicken Wings by Makobi Scribe
• Sweetly Spicy Southern Meatballs by Cooking In Stilettos
• Tamari Roasted Chickpeas by Je suis alimentageuse
• Tex-Mex Chicken Salad Bites by Mom's Test Kitchen