Martha Stewart's Appetizers: A Cookbook Review

Martha Stewart is a household name for her skills at entertaining, and when I saw her newest cookbook would focus on appetizers, I was expecting some very fancy fare that might be too complicated for me to make, but I was pleasantly surprised by the recipes in Martha Stewart's Appetizers.  There were some traditional favorites, modern takes on classic canapes, pass-around bites for parties and quite a few new and interesting flavors to keep your guests happy.

I had checked a copy of Martha's Hors d'Oeuvres out of the library several years ago when I was looking for something to serve at a party we were holding for the closing night of a theatre production.  I remember thinking the food was a little too sophisticated to try and serve to the company we were expecting which included many children, and I wound up going a different route and making an herbed cream cheese pinwheel and having a fruit and vegetable tray because I was intimidated by the amount of preparation and unfamiliar ingredients in the book.  This book is what I was looking for then, and I'm happy they have published it now.

 Appetizers has many recipes I would never expect to find in a Martha Stewart cookbook.  There are cheese balls, deviled eggs, popcorn, and fried macaroni and cheese bites just to name a few - definitely not the high brow fare I had expected but I was very pleasantly surprised.  The recipes for the most part seem like I would be able to accomplish them, make them ahead and there are only a few that use ingredients I would consider out of my price range for a get together.  There is even a Chex mix recipe!

Many of the recipes will be able to be adapted to fit the new diet that my husband and I have begun which is also a very happy discovery.  I can cut the salt and swap lower fat dairy products in for many of the recipes without sacrificing flavor since they have lots of seasoning and are made with fresh ingredients.  There are vegetable dips and a spring rolls recipe that I can't wait to try.

Martha Stewart has proven her food to be approachable, fun and delicious with this latest book.  I'd like to thank the kind folks at Blogging For Books for providing me with this copy for review - it is the beginning of something delicious!