Turn Farm Rich Meatballs into Lasagna Lollipops for an Easy Holiday Appetizer

This post brought to you by Farm Rich. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Hungry Happenings. When my family descends upon my house tonight for a holiday gathering, they will not be surprised to see festive looking appetizers including Meatball Lasagna Lollipops and Pizzeria Bites Pops on my table. It’s what they expect. But, they might be astonished when I actually sit down and enjoy their company instead of slaving away in the kitchen.

 

Even though I love to cook, that doesn’t mean I want to miss out on my own party. So, over the years I’ve started using some holiday hacks to make party preparations easier, the most important of which is including high quality pre-made food items, like Farm Rich Snacks, on my party menu. On occasion, I’ll simply heat and serve, but more often than not, I try to use the packaged products to make something festive and fun.

 

 

I almost always have meatballs at my parties. People love them. So do I. I often just whip up a sauce and throw the meatballs in my slow cooker. It’s so easy and by evening’s end they are always gone. But, tonight, instead, I’m serving my meatballs as lollipops. Food is always more fun on a stick.

 

Some of the meatballs, I simply put on a decorative toothpick, while others are covered in ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese then wrapped in crescent dough and baked. I’ll serve these hot lollipops to my guests with marinara sauce for dipping and I’ll share the recipe with you, below.

 

 

To go along with these fun pops, I baked up some of Farm Rich’s new Pizzeria Bites and added sticks to them too. They look so cute displayed in one of my lollipop stands. Re-purposing items to use as displays is a great alternative to buying something specifically for a party. If you don’t have a lollipop stand, you can put a piece of Styrofoam in a clay pot, a colored jar, or a holiday tin and poke the lollipops sticks into it.

 

Not only are lollipops fun, but they are easy to eat at a party too. People tend to stand around in the kitchen talking during my parties, and being able to grab a pop or a small snack that’s on it’s own individual serving plate is so convenient. No more trying to hold a big plate full of food while holding a conversation.

 

Meatball Lasagna Lollipops

Ingredients: (makes 33

1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2/3 cup shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 tubes crescent dough sheets (or pizza dough sheets)
33 frozen Farm Rich Original or Gluten Free Turkey Meatballs

marinara sauce for dipping

 

Supplies:

wooden caramel apple sticks or lollipop sticks

3 inch round metal cookie cutter

 

Instructions:

 

Unroll a crescent dough sheet onto a cutting board. 

 

Stir together the ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese. 

 

 

Use a 3 inch round metal cookie cutter to cut 11 circles from the dough. Discard the scraps or bake them and enjoy a snack.

 

Spoon a teaspoon of the cheese onto each circle. 

 

 

Place one frozen meatball on top of the cheese. Pull up opposite sides of the dough and pinch together. Continue to pull up the dough, pinching it to close all the seams then roll it around in the palm of your hand to smooth out the seams. Place dough wrapped meatballs seam side down on a non-stick tin foil lined baking sheet (or a non-stick pan) and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

 

 

Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 

Bake dough wrapped meatballs for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown. I rotated my pan midway through baking so they browned evenly. Remove from oven, immediately insert a lollipop stick into each, and serve with hot marinara dipping sauce. 

 

If like me, and are planning a holiday gathering and are looking for some quick and easy snacks to serve, give these ideas a try. During the holidays you can get $1.50 off 2 Farm Rich snacks. Saving money and saving time are two of my favorite things. 

 

Farm Rich has a nice assortment of snacks available in the freezer section of my grocery store. If you are looking to find where they carry these products near you, check out the Farm Rich Product Finder.