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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Pesto-Stuffed Tomato Bites


(This recipe was originally posted in conjunction with the Meijer Ad week of 1/6/13 - 1/12/13)

These appetizers pack a lot of flavor into a single bite!  I'm not gonna lie, they take awhile to put together...but the recipe makes a lot of tomato bites, and their amazing taste makes them worth the effort.


Ingredients:
1 pint of grape tomatoes
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 C sour cream
1/2 C finely shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 C pesto

Directions:
Beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, mozzarella cheese, and pesto.  Put mixture in refrigerator while prepping the tomatoes.  Wash and dry the grape tomatoes.  Slice each one lengthwise, so that you have two oval-shaped halves.  Use a small spoon to scrape the seeds and flesh out of each tomato half.  Use a paper towel to blot more moisture out of the tomatoes (they don't have to be perfectly dry but they shouldn't be filled with juice either.)   Spoon part of the filling mixture into a ziploc sandwich bag, and return the rest of the filling mixture to the refrigerator.  Cut off the corner of the bag.  Fill tomato halves by squeezing the bag to force the filling through the hole.  Use a circular motion to make it prettier, if desired.  Immediately refrigerate filled tomatoes.  Makes 75-80 bite-sized appetizers, depending on how full you fill the tomato halves, and how many tomatoes were in the pint.

Options and Tips:
  • Keep the filling as cold as possible.  When you are piping it into the tomato halves, your hands will warm it up.  If it gets too warm, it will start "melting" down the sides of the tomatoes, and things will get messy.
  • The best price I've found on pesto is at Costco. 
  • Waste Not, Want Not:  This recipe only calls for 1/4 C of pesto, and if you bought the jar from Costco, you'll have a lot left.  Pesto keeps well in the refrigerator, and or you can freeze it.  It's also a delicious addition to any creamy pasta sauce, and you can use it as pizza sauce for a "white pizza" and as topping for chicken.
 
This is an original recipe.

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