Making Great Food with Three Ingredients!

Have I mentioned I am not really into cooking? Please do not get me wrong, I love Giada and Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, etc., but I do not want to shop, dice, or prep. My family needs to eat, so I will cook if I have to, and I clean, but I do not want the rest of it. I am weird. I prefer to do laundry.

One day, a friend asked me for a recipe, believe it or not. I do make some great appetizers. They call me Appetizer Queen, and I am not Cher from the movie Mermaids; I don’t make appetizers for my kids’ dinners. I make appetizers because it is usually for a party I am hosting. I typically serve heavy appetizers. If you are interested in my Christmas Party Menu, you can find it here. I like to cook when hosting parties because there are no kids to please, and your friends typically tell you everything is fabulous.

The Discovery of Three Ingredient Chef ~ Liddie

I shared the recipe with my friend and immediately cited it to her from memory. She wanted to be impressed because I knew it by heart, but she gave me her look.

This friend of mine has this alluring, inquisitive, smirky, twinkling, eyebrow-raising expression that says more than anything she could verbalize, and in this case, she had an epiphany. I could see her wheels turning, and she coined it immediately. She said everything you make has three ingredients. I thought of all my appetizers that get rave reviews and cracked up. She was right. Most of my favorite recipes have three ingredients. Boom!

Three Ingredient ~ Appetizers

For the record, I have Foodie friends who are probably going, yup, this makes sense, three-ingredient chef Liddie.

Oh, and I am all about the spontaneous happy hour, so you must always have some items with shelf life. These are what I consider staples on hand to whip up a good appetizer at a moment’s notice. Cream Cheese. Shredded Cheese. Jalapenos. Chips. Crackers. Jellies. Sidebar: I have an expat friend who once said while in London, she sure missed a good cream cheese appetizer.😜

Also, ease of input! You want your guests to eat the appetizer like Elf does with the cotton ball. This feature is important while holding a drink at a party! Make sure everyone can grab a munchie with a cocktail in hand. Make it easy to pick up and put in your mouth. If a fork or spoon is involved, it takes a plate and a bit more work. You want your guests happy and mingling.

See my Appetizer favorites below. For the record, I am sharing these from memory*.

Recipes ~ Three Ingredients, or Less!

*Bacon Chutney Dip ~ Men Love This!

Simple Ingredients: 1. Cream Cheese. 2. Mango Chutney. 3. Cooked Bacon.

Layer cream cheese on the bottom of the dish. Next, layer Mango Chutney (I use Major Grays). The top layer is bacon, cooked and crumbled bacon. The best way is if you cook and crumble the bacon. If you’re in a hurry, use Hormel, but don’t use a lot because it can be salty.

*Meatballs Crockpot ~ Easy & Delicious

Easy to find Ingredients: 1. Precooked frozen meatballs. 2. 1 – 10 oz jar grape jelly. 3. 1 – 12 oz jar of chili sauce.

Combine all of the above in a crock pot and cook. This recipe makes about five dozen meatballs. I had an Italian friend fall in love with these. When I told him the recipe, I think he was disappointed. It happens.

*Sausage Muffins ~ Crowd Favorite ~ Video Here!

Ingredients: 1. English Muffins. 2. Hot tube of sausage. 3. Old English Cheese

Cook hot sausage in a skillet and drain. Add 1-2 jars of Old English Cheese and stir until creamy. Spoon mixture onto English Muffins evenly. Place in the freezer for a hard freeze. Remove from freezer, and stack back in muffin sleeve or plastic baggies.

Keep the packaged muffins in the freezer. Remove and cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Impatient family? Your loved ones can’t wait that long? Microwave for about a minute.

Additional Appetizers ~ Great for Parties

*Velveeta Cheese Dip ~ 4 ingredients if you add the spinach 🤔

Ingredients: 1. Large block Velveeta Cheese (I melt in the microwave first because this goes in a crock pot and is much easier than waiting for the crock to melt it). 2. Cream Cheese – 8oz block. 3. 1 can Rotel 4. 1 Box of Frozen Spinach (Cook in microwave, cool, squeeze out water & you don’t have to use the entire box.

Melt Velveeta. Put in the crockpot. Cut up cream cheese & add to crock pot. After spinach is cooked and drained, add to the crock pot. Open a can of Rotel and add to the crock pot. Heat in the crockpot and set on the table. Serve using a ladle. Serve with Tostitos or Fritos scoops.

You can add protein of cooked meat or chicken with taco season mix.

*Bacon Wrapped Dates ~ Again, bacon!

Ingredients: 1. Bacon. 2. Large Pitted Dates. 3 Cream Cheese.

Stuff the pitted dates with cream cheese, wrap bacon around each one and cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until bacon cooks to your liking.

For a fourth ingredient, you can add an almond inside the date.

*Sausage Pinwheels ~ My version of a sausage ball

Ingredients: 1. HOT Sausage Tube (preferably Jimmy Dean or Tennessee Pride) 2. Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.

Open crescent rolls and unroll them so the dough is flat. Spread hot sausage evenly all over the dough. Roll lengthwise into one long roll. Cover with wax paper and put in the freezer for easier slicing. Remove from the freezer and cut into slices. Place slices on a cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Awesome & easy to pick up!

No Time? ~ Try These!

*Shrimp On The Ready ~ I use it for rice bowls and shrimp tacos. I kinda made this up, Ha!

Ingredients: 1. Uncooked shrimp. 2. Olive Oil. 3. Redfish Magic.

Place peeled raw shrimp in an oven-safe dish, add olive oil and redfish magic to taste. Bake at 400 degrees until the shrimp is pink. Depending on how much shrimp you are cooking, you may need to remove it from the oven and stir. I stole this idea from my shrimp bisque recipe, see below.

*White Queso Dip ~ Cheat

Buy Gordos, melt in the microwave, transfer to a mini crock pot & serve with chips. Easy? HA!

*Beef Tenderloin ~ I call it Beach Towel Tenderloin

See my Post for the Beef Tenderloin Recipe. The Tenderloin has more ingredients, but since you make it a day ahead, there is less prep on the day you are entertaining.

Below is the recipe for Shrimp Bisque, given to me by a dear friend. My friend is a fabulous cook, and she created a recipe book for me with her favorite easy recipes. It is amazing! Here is one of my favorites!

Minimal Ingredient Recipes ~ Additional Ideas!

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*Herbed Goat Cheese

Ingredients: 1. Goat cheese. 2. Olive Oil 3. Basil 4. Kosher Salt & Pepper.

Cut 2(3oz) discs of creamy goat cheese in half horizontally. In a small 3 ½  by 4 inch jar layer goat cheese, Kosher Salt, black pepper, basil (optional: dill & red pepper flakes), drizzle with Olive Oil & repeat until dish is full ending with olive oil. Serve with crackers or baguette.

I bought these glasses for this appetizer. With more than one glass, I can share in several places where guests are seated.

*Ice Cream Dessert ~ Kahlúa

Ingredients: 1. Kahlúa 2. Coffee Ice Cream. 3. Heath Bars (crumbled).

Pour the desired amount of Kahlúa into the bottom of the dessert dish. Top with Coffee Ice Cream. Top with Heath Bar Crumbles. Freeze. Serve.

I love these cups for this dessert, especially at Christmastime!

I have many more simple recipes to share, so stay tuned! And, of course, there are stories to go with the recipes.