These quesadillas feature gluten-free corn tortillas instead of the usual wheat flour wrappers. A fresh corn and tomato salsa adds vibrant color and bright flavors. It’s an incredibly quick meal to put together.

This dip is a perennial and almost guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Serve it with plain crackers, slices of crusty bread, even tortilla chips – any of your favorite dippers. It’s also wonderful with sliced fresh vegetables such as cucumber, bell pepper, and fennel. When I have leftovers after a dinner party, I love to use it as a pasta sauce: just add a little more garlic, a splash of olive oil, and a few spoonfuls of ricotta. For any course, it’s absolutely divine!

These olives should be made a couple of days ahead so that the flavor of the marinade can penetrate the flesh. You’ll have more olives than you need to serve three, but they will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a couple of months. I love to eat them as a snack with wine and/or a nutty hard cheese with crackers.

Cheese is a loved, craved, sought after and cherished food that several countries have incorporated into their culinary cultures. However, the making of cheese is a mystery to many of its eaters, although some of the tastiest cheeses are rather simple to create in your own home kitchen. This homemade soft goat cheese recipe requires only a few ingredients and a couple hours of your time; and its delelctably smooth flavor makes it a worthwhile project. So try it out and discover a tasty appetizer spread, pasta sauce and salad dressing ingredient, cream cheese alternative for cheesecake and wonderful, DIY cheese!

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!