Creamy Dill Cucumber Toasties

     For the second consecutive year, we watched the Superbowl by ourselves. We miss throwing the big party like in years past. But with everyone getting older, married, and having kids it makes it hard to get together. Since we weren't having anyone over, I wasn't about to make a ton of food but I thought it would be nice to make an afternoon snack/appetizer. At some point over the years, I saved a recipe to my recipe box on Allrecipes.com for Creamy Dill Cucumber Toasties. Instead of cutting up a whole baguette for the two of us, we opted to put the spread on sea salt flavored Melba snack crackers. The crackers look and taste like toasted bread. The recipe says to put slices of cucumber on top of the spread but I decided to use my vegetable peeler to make ribbons of cucumber for a nicer presentation.

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 French baguette, cut into 1/2 inch thick circles

1 cucumber, sliced

2 teaspoons dried dill weed

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, dressing mix and mayonnaise.
2. Spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture on a slice of bread, and top with a slice of cucumber. Sprinkle with dill. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

     The simple combination of cream cheese, mayo, and dry Italian dressing mix makes a really good spread that can be used in a variety of ways. You could use it on a sandwich or as a vegetable dip. The crackers added a great texture that wouldn't have been achieved by using baguette slices. However, with a few tweaks to the recipe, it would make great cucumber tea sandwiches. The spread combined with the crunchy crackers and the crisp cucumber with dill on top are a light and tasty treat that I kept coming back to for more. I like the way they look and think they would be great to bring to a party.

Rating: Delectable – Simple but wonderful