Guest Post: Raych of Marriage by Design

Surprise! Matt and I are moving this week (and I'm facing a million other projects...) so here's a fun post from Raych of Marriage by Design. Raych is super sweet and her blog is a bit like mine...it has a little bit of everything. I'll be back tomorrow/Friday with some scheduled goodness, and will hopefully be able to catch up on comments and whatnot next week :) Enjoy!

Hi there! I'm Raych from Marriage by Design and I'm filling in for the lovely Emma as she moves to her new place! Today I'm going to give you a little tutorial for some simple hors d'oeuvres. I usually blog about home décor and fashion but every now and again I'll throw in a cooking post.

Let me preface this post by saying I am not a cook. I don't even really enjoy cooking very much. I do enjoy eating and since Husband can't cook, the responsibility falls on me. There has been more than one occasion where Husband will call and say "oh by the way, so and so from work is coming over to watch any given sporting event tonight." This is when these hors d'oeuvres come in handy.

First up is a really quick raspberry chipotle dip.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can or 1 frozen bag of corn, rinsed
1 block cream cheese
1 bottle roasted raspberry chipotle sauce
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

This is as easy as it gets, folks. Just layer cream cheese, chipotle sauce, beans, corn and cilantro onto a tray or dish and serve. (This plate is shaped like a parrot; its the only one I could find in my mother-in-law's kitchen.)

Here is a close up of the finished product. I usually serve this dip with tortilla chips or crackers.

This next hors d'oeuvre is my absolute favorite: asparagus roll-ups.

Ingredients:
1 loaf of white bread
1 can or jar of asparagus spears, drained
1 tub of blue cheese crumbles
1 block of cream cheese, softened
1/4 stick of butter, melted (not pictured because I totally forgot)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Use a pizza cutter to cut the crusts off the slices of bread.

Mix the blue cheese with the cream cheese until smooth. I usually mix half the cheese at a time, it's a little easier than trying to do it all at once. Spread the cheese mixture on to the slices of bread. Place an asparagus spear on each slice and roll it up.

Once you have finished rolling up all the asparagus spears, melt the butter and brush it on top of each roll up.

Pop them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Basically, until they are golden brown on the edges, like this:

Serve them warm. Hope these hors d'oeuvres help save the day if/when your husband brings unexpected guests over!