Canape' knife tutorial...

This week's challenge was to reuse something you would usually throw away....which gave me the perfect excuse to use some old wine corks I'd been saving.

I had several old canapé knives that had torn up and faded handles. I was planning on ditching them too.

Instead, I took a mallet to one of them and cracked the rest of the handle off. ( I didn't want to bust them all until I knew this would work.)


Next, I pried the little bits from the edge using some pliers.

Once I got it clean, this little round part just slipped off...and conveniently left a little half inch tip.


I made a slit in the end of the cork and then simply shoved the little tip end into it. The beauty of cork is that it closes back on itself.
The fit was super tight so I decided not to use anything to hold it in place. I can always add it later if I need it.


The first one turned out so well, that I went ahead and made the rest of them...all 6!






Now all you need is my cheese ball recipe to go with them:

This stuff is awesome....people always ask me to bring it to parties.

Ingredients:

1 dry package Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix
2 packages softened cream cheese
Spice Islands Herbed Pepper Blend*

Directions:

Mix the first 2 ingredients together and form into a ball. Place in the refrigerator to harden up a bit....about an hour.
Pour a few tablespoons of pepper blend into a small dish. Then roll your cheese ball into the spice blend until it is totally covered.
Refrigerate until serving. I serve this with crackers and/or veggies....

You can also halve this recipe. It is WONDERFUL in place of mayo on sandwiches.

* if you can't find this particular blend, you can make your own using cracked black pepper, garlic, italian seasonings and salt. Just be sure to TASTE the seasoning to get a good balance.