Sliders have become popular in the last few years. I love serving them to a big crowd since they are fun to eat and very economical. These meatballs are incredibly moist and flavorful and fit right into a small hamburger bun, Hawaiian bread bun, or small Parmesan roll. Any meatballs you don’t use can be frozen for future bashes. Think of these as the centerpiece of an afternoon of football watching, or offer them as a little bite with a glass of wine.  

Using fresh roasted pumpkin along with tasty pine nuts and leaves of basil, this savory pumpkin pesto bruschetta recipe is a smart choice for pre-dinner appetizers, an afternoon snack for the gang or as a harvest cocktail party hors-d’oeuvre. Bright orange pumpkin meat provides high levels of vitamins A and C, along with plenty of fiber and potassium as well.

Imagine your next dinner party... what does it look like? Are you slaving in the kitchen while your guests mingle? Does one of them come in every once in awhile to awkwardly offer help? Do you spend most of the evening trying to follow directions for a recipe you printed off the Internet instead of having fun with your friends? Don't let this be you: this summer, make things easy on yourself by making homemade marinated goat cheese ahead of time. Plop them on a bed of fresh farmers market greens with a sliced tomato, and your appetizer is ready in mere seconds.

Hummus has been a staple throughout Mediterranean cultures for millennia. Light, creamy and full of flavor, this raw hummus recipe omits the chickpeas and focuses instead on the nutty and super rich flavor of the sesame seed tahini. It is perfect as a dip or spread, or as a dressing for making tangy, ranchy-flavored dehydrated kale chips.

The Super Bowl may have come and gone, but that’s no reason to stop working on your arsenal of dip recipes. This vegetable-laden dip is one of my favorites for cocktail parties or hors d’œuvres before dinner. It’s easy to make ahead of time and simply slip under the broiler when your first guests arrive to a perfectly melted cheesy topping. And the use of organic spinach and artichokes makes it a recipe you can feel good about serving to your loved ones.

Once you try these from-scratch crackers, you’ll never spend 10 dollars on a bag of the fancy stuff again. These whole grain noshers are loaded with nuts, figs and aromatic Herb de Provence with just a touch of honey. They are seriously sophisticated crackers that deserve your finest cheeses, jams and spreads. Bon appetit!

There's something inherently awesome about stuffing food into other food. Maybe we started doing it back in our hunter-gatherer days when the pickings were slim, or perhaps it just developed as a tool in doubling our yumm. But whatever the reason, it certainly works. The mushroom certainly was born to be stuffed. It takes entertaining up an ooh-aah notch even though - just between us - it's a whole lot easier than it looks. This recipe is vegan but loved by many meat-eaters, making it an excellent choice for a potluck full of doubtful but ravenous carnivores.

This fig recipe is simple and delicious! It doesn't require any cooking. All you need are four ingredients for this easy recipe. Get your figs at your local farmers market or natural food store. When figs are perfectly ripe, they are jammy, delicious and healthy!

Serves 4

The pairing of these classic Italian ingredients, arugula, fava beans, and Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese makes this delicious bruschetta recipe a springtime treat! To make this an easy recipe, look for shelled fava beans at your local farmers market (if you can't find fava-beans or they are out of season, you can substitute edamame). This delicious, healthy recipe with tender, sweet fava-beans and spicy arugula, can boost libido, improve blood circulation and is rich with antioxidants, Vitamin A and C. Get healthy and get cooking!

This is one of my favorite recipes. The flavors of the cooked sake, garlic, soy sauce, and ginger blend together perfectly. It is important to have some crusty country bread to soak up all the juices-your guests will fight each other for the last heel of bread in order to do this.

Shrimp are generally not overfished because they grow quickly and have a short lifespan. The problem with shrimp fishing is that there is a tendency to trawl up other marine wildlife in shrimp nets. So your most sustainable choice will almost always be U.S. farmed shrimp, with the exception of wild-caught Key West and Oregon pink shrimp. Imported shrimp rank very poorly in terms of sustainability.