Olive Penguins
You need:
– Pitted Black Olives; Jumbo for the bodies and medium size for the heads.
– 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and sliced as directed below.
– Toothpicks or cocktail picks long enough to skewer through entire penguin (head, body, and carrot “feet”.
– Cream cheese, room temperature, plain or flavored as desired (see below).
– A small sharp knife
– A small butter or canape knife (blunt, rounded blade.)
– Damp paper towels or kitchen towel for wiping fingers and tidying cream cheese from olive “bodies” after filling and assembling.
– Platter, tray, mirror or plate for serving
Directions:
Slit jumbo olive lengthwise and fill with cream cheese (this is the body, the cream cheese is the “tuxedo shirt”.
I used plain (room temperature) cream cheese and filled the ‘tummy’ using a small butter or canape knife (cheese spreader knife.)
You can use flavored cheese (or cream cheese mixed with a little dry-ranch dressing mix, etc.) Gently wipe “body” with damp cloth or paper towel to tidy any cream cheese smears. Use the medium size olive for the head (point the hole where the pit was removed to the back of the penguin body.)
Peel and slice a carrot into thin rounds for the “feet”, cut a small pie-shaped wedge from each carrot slice (reserving the “pie” shaped triangular piece for the penguins “beak”.)
Insert a toothpick through head, the body and into the carrot “feet” base.
Insert reserved triangular piece of carrot into the small “x” shaped hole at end of medium-size olive for “beak”.
Arrange on serving platter; if not serving immediately, cover gently with cling-film and refrigerate until serving time.
Ladybug Bruschettas
Ingredients:
15 thin slices of a baguette
Cream Cheese (of your taste)
a couple romaine lettuce leaves
8 cherry tomatoes
8 large pitted black olives
Description:
In the oven, broil the baguette slices for a couple minutes – optional. Arrange on a large plate or platter.
Take about 1/2 tablespoon cream cheese at a time and spread on each slice of bread.
Tear or cut the romaine lettuce leaves into pieces about the size of the baguette slices.
Place the lettuce pieces on top of the slices covered with the spread.
Cut the olives and tomatoes in half, lengthwise.
Cut the tomatoes from the bottom end to the middle, as pictured below.
Cut about a third of each olive, as pictured below. Set aside. They will be used to make the ladybugs heads.
Using a knife with a sharp pointy tip, make about 4 tiny holes into the tomatoes, 2 on each side. Cut small pieces from the remaining pieces of olives, and place them into the little tomato holes, as pictured below.
Using the same principle, make 2 tiny holes into the olives we will be using for the ladybugs’ heads. These will be the eyes. Fill them with small pieces of feta cheese. For the eyes you can also try to use tiny pieces of cream cheese. Just take a pointed knife and place the pieces on the ladybug’s “heads”.
Arrange the tomatoes on top of the lettuce leaves, then add the olive pieces in front, right next to them, as pictured below.
The original recipe to be found at papabuna.com
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