Great Food for Great Friends

Saturday of this past weekend was a fun day…I invited over some good friends and we had a great time eating, drinking, and just socializing. Once I knew that people were going to be coming over I decided I wanted to do something a little different for dinner than what I normally do. It is always great to break from the mold :-). I know a lot of people who tend to try and stick to what they know when they have guests coming over because normally, that makes for a guaranteed good meal. ::raises right hand:: I am very guilty of this! However, this time I wanted to step outside my comfort zone and do something different. (Just as a sidenote: this is basically just my picture display post haha, all the recipes for all the main food dishes will be coming in later posts…stay tuned…)

I started to think of what I could do. Of course, we HAVE to have drinks. I started with that thought…then I brainstormed, beer, mixers, cocktails…hmmm, the boys will drink beer so CHECK! What about the girls though? Then it hit me, MARTINIS! Yes, scoooooorrree! All of my girlfriends enjoy martinis so I went with that, but being the girl I am, and knowing my friends, I know that they are going to be worried about only having maybe 2 drinks because of the calories. Never fear, RavieNomNoms is here! I looked around to try and see how I could skimp on calories but not on flavor. Diet pop (yes I say pop and not soda), diet juice, flavored vodka, fresh fruit…we got ourselves a drink ladies!

Raspberry Pineapple Martini:

• Stoli Raspberry vodka
• Pineapple juice
• Sprite Zero
• Cranberry-Raspberry juice (diet)
• Fresh Raspberries
• Lemon
• Crystal sugar (like for decorating cookies)

Depending on how you like your martinis will determine how much of each of the ingredients that you put in. These following portions are for 3 drinks, shaken…not stirred :-P. I used about 4-5oz of the vodka, just a splash of the pineapple juice, about 3 oz of sprite, 2oz of the juice, and then added a toothpick with raspberries for the “olives”. Lemon and sugar for garnish. I find the easiest way to make the sugar (or salt) ring is to use the lemon around the rim for some moisture and then use a small plate with the sugar on it and just place the rim down and rotate and you come out with a perfectly lined rim.

The girls and I loved these, they were sweet and the fruit really added some fun. Not to mention we didn’t feel bad about drinking 6…I MEAN, 3! 😉

Now onto the meal…I saw this recipe on Priscilla’s blog, She’s cooking, for Baked Salmon Eggrolls. Once I saw them I knew I was going to be trying them! I mean, who doesn’t love eggrolls? I do! I always feel so bad eating them though because they are fried so to see a “baked” version…holy moly I was in heaven. NOT to mention it had salmon in it. YUM! That was a definite for my menu, I also made them with chicken because I knew most of the guys don’t like fish. All the girls enjoyed the salmon eggrolls ALL to ourselves! hehe

They were amazing! Priscilla, you really hit a homerun with this one lady. They were crunchy on the outside, a different kind of crunchy than you get with it being fried. It was a crisp crunch, which I really enjoyed. The flavors on the inside with the salmon and the broccoli slaw were really fantastic. I am definitely going to be making these again! (recipe to come…)

Now we need something to dip these babies in! This was the sauce that I came up with to dip all the various things we had going on. I also put out some regular soy sauce (low sodium), hot mustard, and sesame garlic sauce which I just bought at the grocery store. This dipping sauce however was the homemade one, it had so many awesome flavors going on.

Recipe for dipping sauce:

• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
• 1 clove of fresh garlic
• 3 tablespoons green onion

All you do is mix all those ingredients in a bowl with a whisk together. Easy as pie!

So what else did we have going on? Oh yea! The pot stickers! This was my very first attempt at pot stickers…I know some of you are thinking, “Wow Raven, that is bold to try something you have never made before with guests there!”…oh, I know! Believe me. It paid off though. The pot stickers I made were filled with ground turkey and also salmon. Have to make those things for the boys that have no fish haha. Again, the girls and I enjoyed all the salmon ones to ourselves…fine by me!

They turned out really good, I was nervous about not cooking the meats before I put them into the little pockets, but I am SO glad I didn’t. It would have made everything really dry and these were moist and so flavorful! (recipe to come…)

I was lucky that someone got the camera and started snapping some photos for me or I would have had none of my guests haha. Thanks for that Jay!

Even little Gizzy came out to play! 🙂

Now onto the main course. I decided to go with some beef and vegetables with a simple brown rice. I think everyone was basically full before we even got to that point, but oh well. I staggered each of the dishes so that we could talk and sip our drinks and enjoy the evening.

I skewered all my vegetables and beef because I thought it would be easier for my guests, it ended up being a good thing to do. The beef was made with a hoisin glaze and the vegetables were yellow and orange peppers with just a pinch of salt and pepper. Just simple brown rice, no special seasonings. (recipe to come…)

All in all I thought the night was a complete success. We all had so much fun and it was so nice to see my friends and have them over at my house for a night of entertaining. I really do love cooking for people. It is one of those things that just makes me happy…cooking for me is almost like my little get away from the world, which is why I think I enjoy it so much. Especially when I can share that with people I love and care about. Thanks to my friends for coming over and having such a great time! We all need to do it again VERY soon!

OH I almost forgot dessert! Whew, what was I thinking?! haha

I served my Fig Muffins that I made earlier in the day. They went over really well, people seemed to really enjoy them. Plus it made them feel like they weren’t eating something too awful. Just a little fun fact, everything I made for the get together was from Cooking Light so it was all really good for my guests and myself! I was happy I could serve my guests something they could really enjoy and then not feel guilty about later! 🙂 Oh, and you know how sometimes the cook doesn’t get to eat because they are always running around in the kitchen?? Not this girl! hehe 😉

Happy Cooking Everyone!