"Simple Fancy Appetizers" Two Keepers!

Last night I had a friendsgiving of sorts and challenged myself to go outside of my "crock pot of meatballs" comfort zone and take my contribution up a notch. 

I love to cook food, I just hate to fail at new recipes so that usually keeps me going back to my old standbys.

This time, I really stretched myself.  I hunted all over for "fancy" but "simple" and not expensive recipes and found TWO amazing winners that I plan to use over and over again.  The ingredients can be as cheap as you find them OR you can splurge on a higher quality of one or all of them. 

Here are the two versions I made:

Pear Crostini 

--2 ripe pears (you can tell a pears ripeness by feeling around the stem. If it feels as mushy as the pads of your fingers all the way around stem, it's ripe!)  I bought two varieties. 

--1 cup of ricotta cheese (I know, I didn't think I would like it either but trust me!)

--Crostini (slice a baguette into 1/2in slices, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper them.  Bake for ten minutes on each side at 350). 

--Walnut pieces (you can buy the smallest bag you can find)

--Honey for drizzling.  (This was one of my splurge items.  I bought a really good honey.)

Spread ricotta onto crosstini, top with pears and a couple pieces of walnuts, drizzle with honey and serve immediately.  

A scrumptious little bite of heaven. 

Here's the other variety I made.  I honestly don't know which I love more.

Prosciutto Crackers

You could serve this on the same kind of crosstini as above. 

I used a good quality cracker.  

.15lb of shaved prosciutto

1 cup of ricotta (add 1 1/2 tsp of fresh garlic.  I buy prepared garlic found in a tube in the refridgerated section.  Add salt and pepper to taste). 

Honey

Top crackers with a smear of prepared ricotta, top with a small piece of prosciutto, drizzle with honey. 

Simple but AMAZING.  I promise you that these are delightful.  AND you can eat a plateful and they won't hurt your stomach because they are good, simple foods!

Make them!

While you are here, hop on over to my last post and enter to win $100 from Meow Mix! Just a comment will do! :)