Little smokies are always a crowd pleaser. Using just four ingredients, they are inexpensive and super easy to make. Just pop them into a crock pot the night before or early morning of the party and several hours later, you have a warm & tasty appetizer.

This recipe calls for using a crockpot; however, you can easily cook them on the stove in a large pot if you prefer.

Searching the internet, you may find varying opinions on how long to cook these little treats, but after making them for several years for our super bowl party, we’ve found the slower and longer you cook them, the better they are.

Also note, this recipe makes a large batch, however you can easily cut it in half if you’re serving a smaller group of people.

Ingredients

2 cans Coca-Cola (or other similar soda)

4 cups BBQ sauce (or chili sauce)

2 cups grape jelly

2 (3 lb) packages lil’ smokies or cocktail wieners

Note: If you plan to cook these quickly on a stove, you may want to use one can of coke (or eliminate them entirely) as it takes several hours of cooking for the liquid to reduce to a thick sauce.

Directions:

In your crock pot add the grape jelly and coke.

Next add the BBQ sauce.

Using a whisk, mix until the jelly breaks into small chunks.

Add cocktail wieners or little smokies.

Cover and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours or until wieners are hot and sauce has thickened. Stir well and serve immediately with toothpicks.

To keep them warm for serving, leave the crockpot on the lowest setting.

These tasty appetizers take only minutes to make.

Starting with shrimp and bacon, you can add any fruits and veggies you’d like. We’ve made some with bell peppers and some without.

If you prefer, you can add these to bamboo skewers for a better display.

We broiled our shrimp but you could easily deep fry or grill them.

Shrimp Ingredients

30 large or jumbo pre-cooked shrimp

1 lb. bacon, cut into 3 inch slices

1 bell pepper, cut into slices (optional)

Your favorite shrimp seasoning or you could use Old Bay or a Creole seasoning

Other items you could include:

• Jalapeno pepper slices

• Basil leaves

• Pineapple chunks

• Mandarin orange wedges

Prep Work

Turn on oven broiler and place rack in the center of the oven.

Rinse and remove black vein from shrimp (if it hasn’t already been removed).

Directions

Wrap each shrimp – and veggie if you use them – with a slice of bacon. Secure with a toothpick. Place on a cooking sheet.

Sprinkle with shrimp seasoning.

Broil for 4 minutes, turn and broil for another 4-5 minutes or until bacon is crispy.

We like to use a prepared shrimp dip rather than marinade them. However, if you like your shrimp marinated, you might try one of the following combinations. Simply brush shrimp with marinade and return to the oven for about 1 minute.

• Orange juice, honey & brown sugar

• Lemon juice, garlic powder, brown sugar and thyme

• Bottled teriyaki sauce • Your favorite oil-based salad dressing

• Bottled BBQ sauce

• Cayenne pepper, paprika, olive oil, cumin and sugar

• Lime and chipotle sauce

• Lemon pepper, red pepper, melted butter, garlic and onion powder

You simply cannot have a party without a platter of Buffalo wings.

Traditional Buffalo wings are fried then coated with a glaze seasoned with cayenne pepper and/or hot sauce. They range in heat levels from mild to hot. While fried wings are delicious, we like to lightly bread and bake our wings to give them a touch of crispness.

Buffalo wings are usually served with celery sticks and blue cheese or ranch dressing.

Ingredients

20 whole chicken wings

½ cup butter, melted

2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rinse wings. Cut off wing tips and discard. Using a knife or kitchen shears separate wings at the joint.

In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the butter.

Combine the flour, garlic salt, paprika and cayenne pepper in a separate small bowl.

Dip wings into butter.

Then roll into the flour mix & place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn them over and bake for another 25 minutes or until wings are crispy on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.

Serve with ranch dressing or your favorite dip.