November Girls Club Dinner

A few of the awesome nurses I work with, use our healthy recipes as an excuse to get together once a month for a dinner party. Sometimes there is a theme, sometimes not, but always for weeks leading up to the party, lots of chatter about what looks good, what we are excited to try, and what we are bringing.

Tonight we gathered at Liena's for a pre-holiday meal. I went the healthified appetizer route with Mini Corn Bread Crab Cakes with Lemon Caper Sauce, and stuffed mushrooms, both recipes taken from Cooking Light, which is one of my favorite recipe sites. The corn bread in the crab cakes was so delicious and moist and sweet. I just made the corn bread from a mix before hand. It was an extra step, but so worth it.

Abbie made some fantastic Dolmathes with Tzatziki Sauce, (grape leaves wrapped around a wild rice, veggie, and nut mixture), Michelle brought Butternut Soup, and Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette, Liena made Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Sarah brought Tomato and Red Pepper Bruschetta, Emily made a delicious turkey ham and Kelly supplied the Spice Bundt Cake for dessert. Along with dessert, Michelle gave us an in service on garter belts. It was a lovely evening.

Still retrieving recipes for turkey, bruschetta and Dolmathes, stay tuned.

 

Mini Corn Bread Crab Cakes with Lemon-Caper Sauce

Ingredients

• Sauce:
• 1/3  cup  reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  chopped fresh chives
• 1  tablespoon  capers, drained and chopped
• 1/4  teaspoon  grated lemon rind
• 2  teaspoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1/4  teaspoon  hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
• 1/8  teaspoon  minced garlic
• Dash of freshly ground black pepper
• Crab cakes:
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1/2  cup  sliced green onions
• 1/3  cup  finely diced red bell pepper
• 1/3  cup  finely diced green bell pepper
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 1/4  cup  reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh chives
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2  teaspoon  grated lemon rind
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
• 1  tablespoon  hot pepper sauce
• 1  teaspoon  (30%-less-sodium) Old Bay seasoning
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• 2  cups  crumbled Buttermilk Corn Bread
• 1  pound  lump crab meat, shell pieces removed
• Cooking spray
• Fresh chives (optional)

Preparation

To prepare sauce, combine first 8 ingredients; chill.
Preheat oven to 400°.
To prepare crab cakes, heat oil in a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell peppers, and garlic to pan; saute 3 minutes. Remove from heat; cool. Combine bell pepper mixture, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, and next 6 ingredients (through Old Bay); stir in egg. Fold in Buttermilk Corn Bread and crab meat. Scoop mixture into 16 portions (about 1/4 cup each) onto 2 baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Lightly cover, and refrigerate 1 hour. Uncover and bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheet with a metal spatula. Serve with sauce. Garnish with chives, if desired.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon  butter
• 1/2  cup  finely chopped onion
• 1/2  cup  finely chopped green bell pepper
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3  cup  fat-free cottage cheese
• 2  teaspoons  Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3  cup  Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
• 24  button mushroom caps
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  teaspoon  paprika
• 3  tablespoons  grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in cottage cheese and Worcestershire sauce, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat; stir in breadcrumbs. (Mixture will be thick.) Spoon mixture evenly into mushroom caps.

Place the mushroom caps in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle mushrooms evenly with paprika. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Michelle never gave me her actual recipe, so I did some research and made up my own, mostly adding things from my Bountiful Basket. This has a little heat to it, no so much that my kids wouldn't eat it, but it might make some people uncomfortable. Obviously if this is you, omit the jalapeno or cayenne pepper, or if you are a super wuss, omit both.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

• 2  butternut squash
• 2  potatoes, I've used sweet and Yukon, peeled and diced
• 4  carrots, peeled and diced
• 1  red pepper, diced
• 1  jalapeno pepper, diced
• 5  cups  low-sodium chicken broth
• 1  white or yellow onion, sliced
• 1 head garlic
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 8oz. light cream cheese

Preparation

First things first. I like to roast the squash and garlic in the oven for 1 hour at 450 degrees. Poke a few holes in the squash and wrap the garlic in tin foil. While that cooks, peel and dice all the other veggies. Use gloves to handle the jalapeno. Seriously.

Saute the onion, pepper, and jalapeno in a little ghee or olive oil. Add potato, carrots broth and spices, and simmer. When the squash and garlic are done, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins, and scoop the squash out and add both to the soup. Simmer for 20 minutes. The final stage is somewhat of a touchy point. Dave thinks that the soup would be better left chunky. I disagree. Finally, you puree the soup with the cream cheese, until the whole thing is smooth like butta. Yum.

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

• Bag o' spinach
• sliced mushrooms
• thinly sliced red onion
• feta cheese

• 1  Tbls. bacon fat or oil
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/3 c. cider vinegar
• 2/3 c. water
• Salt and Peppa

Heat vinaigrette on stove top to thicken a bit, then dump in salad and mix it up.

Pan Roasted Brussel Sprouts

1/4 C pancetta
3 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 shallot, sliced
2 pounds Brussel sprouts, stem trimmed, halved lengthwise
1/2 C chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 C grated Parmesan

Pancetta in 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat; 2 min.
Add garlic and shallot and saute for another minute.
Add brussels sprouts, chicken broth, salt and pepper; then stir.
Cover and cook for 4 minutes or until desired doneness.
Transfer to serving plate/bowl and garnish with Parmesan.

I couldn't find pancetta, so I used bacon. I first cooked the bacon then drained
the fat. The pan was coated enough so I didn't use the olive oil. I also used an
onion because I didn't have a shallot on hand.

Gingerbread Loaf

So Kelly made this in a bundt pan, and brought homemade whipped cream for the top. Delish.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour (about 7 3/4 ounces)
• 3/4  cup  whole wheat flour (about 3 1/3 ounces)
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  ground ginger
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cardamom
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• Dash of nutmeg
• 1  cup  warm 1% low-fat milk (100° to 110°)
• 1/2  cup  molasses
• 1/4  cup  canola oil
• 3  tablespoons  prune baby food
• 2  large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4  cup  packed dark brown sugar
• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons  finely chopped walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, salt, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (through eggs) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add sugar, stirring until well blended. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until combined. Scrape batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray, using a rubber spatula. Sprinkle walnuts in a 2 1/2-inch-wide strip down center of loaf.
Bake the loaf at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool loaf in pan on a wire rack.

Inaugural Recipe Club Dinner

Abbie, who is a co-worker, great friend, and fellow foodie, was chatting with me at work the other day trying to have a conversation over the dramatic moaning and groaning coming out of a patient room in the ECU. It is like the step-down ER, where the pace is significantly slower, and when we get stuck over there for a shift, we like to make the most of our downtime, i.e, reading food blogs and talking recipes.

During our banter we decided that we needed to form a dinner party club, that met once a month and everyone brought something delicious and healthy to share. By the end of the shift, we had a full club, an inaugural date, and more ideas for what we were going to bring, than we could possibly fulfill in years of clubbing.

I hosted the first dinner, and we had an amazing time eating and laughing and eating and laughing some more. One of the rules of this dinner club, was that you had to bring a copy of the recipes that you brought. That was overlooked in the frenzy of food and joy, but I managed to pin down a few of the girls for the following recipes.

I was going to make about a thousand different things, but as fate would have it, my copy of Cooking Light came in the mail that very same day, and this recipe was on the cover. The fish looked so delicious in the picture,  and while I was at the grocery store, the salmon just kept calling to me. There real secret to this recipe is the pure Maple syrup. It makes all the difference, do not try to substitute pancake syrup or Aunt Jemima.

Maple-Glazed Salmon

Ingredients

• 1  teaspoon  paprika
• 1/2  teaspoon  chili powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground ancho chile powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1/4  teaspoon  brown sugar
• 1  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 4  (6-ounce) Alaskan salmon fillets
• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons  maple syrup

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients; rub spice mixture evenly over flesh side of fillets. Place fish on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; broil 6 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Brush fillets evenly with syrup; broil 1 minute.

Abbie who always manages to bring delicious stuff that I have never tried brought an appetizer of Fresh Figs and Apples with Low-Fat Ricotta Dip, and a delicious warm salad. They were both delicious, and it was fun to try figs that hadn't been crammed into a newton. They were so good and beautiful to look at. The salad was equally delicious and a great way to use up any veggies you might have sitting around. I don't necessarily love eggplant, but it was delicious cubed and roasted in the salad. The recipe made a crazy amount of salad, so Abbie gave me some left overs and I enjoyed it for days after. Really tastee.


Fresh Figs & Apples with Low-Fat Ricotta Dip

Ingredients:

8-10 fresh figs
1 apple
2 cups reduced fat ricotta cheese
2 tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla
sweetener to taste ( I used agave nectar to taste which you can find in any grocery store, but honey or stevia or even straight up sugar will do the trick.)

Cut each fig into 4 pieces and slice apple. Put dip in center of a plate and arrange fruit around it. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a drizzle of honey/agave nectar. Sprinkle chopped almonds on top. You could also add some chopped Medjool dates on top if you would like.

Roasted Vegetable & Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:
Vegetables for roasting- for today's salad I used:
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
1 red bell pepper
1 eggplant
2-3 cups mushrooms

*Chop veggies into equal size pieces and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until veggies are soft. They will shrink quite a bit.

In a bowl, combine roasted veggies with:

1 can artichokes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives
2 (15oz.) cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 (4oz) containers, or as much as you like of feta cheese. I used one 4 oz. pkg of sun dried tomato feta and 1 4oz. container of reduced fat feta. (Athenos brand)

Make dressing:

1 T. dry basil or 2 T. fresh basil, chopped
2 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice ( about 1 lemon)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 T. red wine vinegar

Pour dressing over mixture in bowl. Taste before serving and add more salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm or at room temperature. This makes a ton, and could serve 6-10 as a side dish.
*As always you could changed this up so many ways. Add whatever veggies  you have in your fridge that need to be used up. You could add chopped tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, or omit any of these ingredients that you don't like!