Eating out and catching up

Friday night I didn't have a new recipe because we went to a new restaurant. The restaurant was fantastic, but I have no recipes because no one will come off of Chef Tony's secret sauce.

Saturday we had beef stroganoff for dinner, which Thomas made. I didn't cook dinner because I had my very first "catering" gig. My friend Jen had a party to celebrate her new promotion and tell everyone that she was moving away. I figured it was best to make some snacks for the party and test out my new kitchen. (I am buying her house!)

I am going to tell you my recipes for the evening. I drank too many booze smoothies (orange/pineapple juice, strawberry daiquiri mix, coconut or vanilla rum and ice all smoothed up in the blender), but there were only 9 wings left, so the food must've been a hit.

The menu:
Buffalo wings and veggies with homemade blue cheese
Reuben bites
pizza bites
bruschetta

For the buffalo wings, I didn't bread and deep fry them because we forgot our flour and Jen didn't have any. They were pretty good baked, and pretty good for you. I just baked the wings, and then made a sauce with 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 bottle of Louisiana hot sauce, a sprinkle of garlic powder and some fresh ground pepper. Heat those ingredients on low in a sauce pan and then once the wings come out of the oven put them in a serving dish, coat them with the sauce and shake them up until they are all covered. Serve with homemade (and low-fat!) blue cheese.

Low-fat blue cheese dressing (it's the same dressing as the buffalo chicken roll-ups from the other day. Actually, it's the leftovers :-)

Whisk 2 tablespoons light mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons low-fat, plain yogurt, freshly ground pepper (to taste) and 1 tablespoon vinegar in a small bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup blue cheese.

Reuben bites
(I got this recipe from my sister-in-law. I think she said she saw it on Paula Deen's show.)
1 frozen pizza crust from the store, thawed
Corned beef sliced thin
swiss cheese (can use shredded or slices
sauerkraut
spicy brown mustard

Roll out pizza dough into a rectangle (I made two rectangles out of one tube of Pillsbury dough)
Cover with a layer of spicy brown mustard
Cover with a layer of corned beef slices
Cover with swiss cheese
Top with sauerkraut
roll it up width wise so that it makes a long, fat roll

Bake for 10-12 minutes on 425 until golden brown.

Let it set up for about 20 minutes and slice. Serve with thousand island dressing for dipping.

Pizza bites -- follow the same recipe as the reuben bites but use the following ingredients:
Pizza sauce
thinly sliced hard salami or pepperoni (I used hormel pepperoni from the pizza aisle, but they were too thick and it made it hard to roll them up)
mozarella cheese

Bake on 425 for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let it set up, and then slice it and serve with additional pizza sauce.

The "cheater" bruschetta is getting a separate post so I can talk a little about seasonal veggies and wintertime.