Getting married should only happen once in a lifetime (here’s hoping…) so the whole process should really ooze indulgence.  That’s why we decided that this time around, we weren’t going to cut back on calories and fat, but instead focus on another important issue, eating seasonally.  Our entire menu plan was based on the fruits and vegetables that are in-season, and therefore, the most delicious!  Here are the recipes we used: 

Hors D’oeuvres

Eggplant Focaccia

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/eggplant-focaccia?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/eggplant-recipes#slide_18

Grilled Figs with Goat Cheese and Proscuitto

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/grilled-figs-with-goat-cheese-and-prosciutto?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/fig-recipes#slide_22

Cucumber Tapas

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/cucumber-tapa?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/cucumber-recipes-1#slide_38

Arugula Salad with Tomatoes

http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/arugula-salad-with-tomatoes

Zucchini, Lemon, and Ricotta Galettes

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Individual-Zucchini-Lemon-and-Ricotta-Galettes-350127

Deserts:

Plum and Raspberry Upside Down Cake

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/plum-and-raspberry-upside-down-cake

Strawberry Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/strawberry-cupcakes-with-strawberry-buttercream

My beautiful older sister (see above) recently got engaged to this gentleman trying to steal her pizza.   Although once they get marred they may need to learn to share better, they truly deserved the grand celebration we threw to mark their engagement. Stay tuned for links to the recipes we prepared, and as always, photos of our guests digging into the food and getting into party mode.

For a red white and blue dessert stunner to top off our fourth festivities we adapted the Summer Berry Crisp recipe from PARADE magazine.  Our new improved pie cut out a huge amount of sugar, berries are sweet already, remember? The berry mixture we chose for our recipe was based on what we had in the fridge—feel free to experiment with different fruit and amounts. Our pie turned out so fantastic the pie pan was licked clean by the end of the night.  We topped the pie off with some 1/2 yogurt 1/2 heavy cream whipped cream made from scratch.

Berry Crisp with Yogurt/Whipped Cream

Servings: 10

Yield: 1 pie

Serving Size: Small scoopful

Pie filling:

3 cups strawberries

2 cups blueberries

1 cup raspberries

3 T sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 t cinnamon

Crisp topping:

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 t cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter cut into chunks

Whipped Cream

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup Fage 0% Greek Yogurt

1/4 t vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Pam a 9-inch glass pie plate
2. In a large bowl, stir filling ingredients together.  Pour into pie plate.
3. In another bowl, combine oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Use a pastry blender or 2 knives to mix the butter in until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet.  Bake in the center of the oven until fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown, approx 1 hour.
5. Remove crisp from the oven and place on rack to cool.
6. Put cold whipping cream into electric mixer and mix until it forms soft peaks. Carefully fold cold yogurt and vanilla extract into the whipped cream being careful not to collapse the whipped cream.
7. Serve pie with dollop of whipped cream.

Nutrition Facts

Old recipe (with serving of regular whipped cream): 362 calories; 18.9g fat; 11.4g saturated fat; 3.3g protein; and 3.9g dietary fiber

New recipe (with yogurt/whipped cream): 290 calories; 14.7g fat; 8.7g saturated fat; 4.1g protein; and 3.9g dietary fiber.

Not going to lie, I personally am not the world’s biggest Baked Beans fan. I think (or at least, used to think) that they were a little too heavy for summer picnic/BBQ fare and frankly, rather socially unacceptable. But, when Barbara and I cut the extra sugar and meat, added more spice and veg, and let them cook for a little extra time, I’ll call myself a Baked Beans Convert. Here’s what we used as a basis for baked beans: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Maple-Baked-Beans-350993

Baked Beans
Servings: About 20
Serving size: About 1 ladle full per person
Yield: 8 cups
6 cups navy beans (4 cans)
0.75 cup molasses
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 large yellow onion
2 cups tomato paste
2 T low sodium soy sauce
2 T garlic powder
2 T smoked paprika
1 T mustard powder

1.) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

2.) Stir together all ingredients

3.) Bake in a large casserole dish for an hour, then adjust time per taste (saucy-er beans are cooked for less time). 

Nutrition Facts per serving:

Original Recipe:

386 calories, 2.4g of fat, .8g saturated fat, 18.1g of protein, 18.6g of fiber.

Our Modified Recipe:

154 calories; .4g  fat; .1g saturated fat; 7.9g protein; 4.9g fiber

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As for potato salad- we went through a few stages with this guy. An original recipe for your regular ole’ potato salad straight from grandma’s pantry of mayo, you’ll get nutrition facts that look like this per serving:436 calories; 33.7g fat; 5.1g saturated fat; 6.2g protein; 2.8g fiber Horrified as we were, we found a healthier recipe we decided to modify further (for your enjoyment and ours):

Potato Salad
Servings: 16
Serving size: 1/2 cup 
Yield: 8 cups

4.5 pounds red potatoes with skin
0.25 cup olive oil
1 large yellow onion
0.5 cup scallions
0.5 cup lemon juice
6 T dijon
salt and pepper
1.) Boil potatoes until soft
2.) Whisk olive oil, dijon mustard, lemon juice, scallions, and diced onions until blended
3.)Chop potatoes into quarters; mix with dressing and serve
Nutrition Facts per serving:

Original Recipe (That we further modified):

We adapted a Martha Stewart recipe for Veggie Burgers from http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/veggie-burgers.  Although the recipe was already packed with yummy healthy food, we don’t like to do things half-assed so we cut out even more of the crap (we nixed the egg, cut back on cheese and bread crumbs, substituted english muffins for buns, amped up the mushrooms, and decreased the portion size) and ended up with absolutely fabulous burgers.  I was really nervous the burgers wouldn’t hold together, because homemade veggie burgers usually crumble to pieces and demand delicate attention throughout the cooking process.   It turned out the quinoa/mushroom/bread crumb combo was the perfect texture to keep a shape. I seriously am planning on making them again this weekend for the real Fourth of July…YUM!

Mushroom Quinoa Burgers

Servings: 20

Serving Size: palm sized burger, or approx 1/2 cup

Yield: 20 burgers

6 oz portobello mushrooms without stems, finely chopped

14 oz crimini mushrooms, finely chopped (i wish i had a food processor)

2 small zucchini, shredded with grater

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large shallots, minced

1/2 t red pepper flakes

1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

1.5 cups quinoa, cooked according to package directions

salt and pepper to taste (we may have added a little too much, test as you go)

squeeze of half a lemon

2 cups gluten free bread crumbs (we made it gluten free for Jackie)

20 english muffins, toasted and cut in half

1. Cook quinoa, set aside.
2. Mix shredded zucchini and chopped mushrooms in a bowl. 
3. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in skillet (we used a wok, cause we made a huge amount) over medium heat until it shimmers.
4. Add red pepper flakes and shallot and cook for 2 min until softened
5. Add mushrooms and zucchini and cook for 5 min.
6. Remove from heat and drain a little of the excess water that may have leaked out of the mushrooms and zucchini. (I didn’t drain it all because it seemed to help bind the burgers)
7. Add parmesan, quinoa, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and bread crumbs
8. Shape into burgers and put on covered tray in fridge for on hour or until firm.
9. Remove from fridge and bake on cookie sheet in oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly brown on both sides, and flip once halfway through.  
10. Place burger between english muffin bun and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts per serving:

Original recipe with bun: 483 calories; 18.5g fat; 2.9g saturated fat; 16.5g protein, and 7g fiber.

Our modified recipe with english muffin: 292 calories; 9.3g fat; 1.3g saturated fat; 9.8g protein; 6g fiber.

At our party last weekend, we knew one thing was a non-negotiable: BURGERS. Just in case you’ve been living on McDonald’s and aren’t up on the health news, burgers are often linked with clogging up the ol’ pipes and keeping you refilling your Prevacid Rx.  So, how did we succeed so intensely at making burgers that didn’t taste like a weird amalgamation of tire rubber and wheat grass, without tipping the calorie scale? BUFFALO MEAT.  Yes, you heard correct. b-u-f-f-a-l-o.  

Buffalo meat is like the holy grail of grilling—tender, juicy, red meat that is super lean. And oh my god so so good.  Their smell alone was so good in fact, that little old “I’ve been a vegetarian for 7 years” me, broke down and had to try a bite. (I’m sure I’ll be hearing an earful from PETA tomorrow.)  Also, don’t worry, we did not leave the more pious vegetarian’s adrift, I made the BEST veggie burgers of my life, hands down, and promise to share that mind-altering recipe tomorrow.

Anyway, back to meat.  The best part about buffalo, it’s NOT expensive. It was only $1 more a pound than the hamburger at Whole Foods, so you have no excuse to avoid it. And because Jackie and I are cheap and health conscious, we made smaller burgers for our guests.  I promise you, you do not need a monster sized burger to satisfy!

I basically don’t have a recipe to share with you, because we just seasoned our burgers with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and plopped them on our grill pan with a little Pam. We served our burgers sandwiched between 100-cal multigrain english muffins and offered our guests some lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, dijon, and BBQ sauce to top their little pieces of burger heaven. 

Here is a comparison though of the nutrition facts of a 2.6 oz bison burger with an english muffin vs a 2.6 oz 17% fat hamburger with a regular bun. 

Buffalo Burger: 204 calories; 4g fat; 1.2g saturated fat; 21.2g protein; and 8.4g fiber

Hamburger Burger: 290 calories; 14.2g fat; 5.4g saturated fat; 17.7g protein; and 0.9g fiber.

yum yum yum yum 

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On a side note about food safety…

We quickly discovered that cooking burgers indoors can be a safety hazard. As our apartment filled completely with smoke, the whole hacking party was forced to run for their lives…

Hmm kind of odd our fire alarm never went off…!  

Lessons learned:

A.) Baking burgers might be a better plan than using the grill pan indoors. Meat + Heat = Smoke. Or, if you are one of the few lucky New Yorkers that has a backyard, go ahead and grill those burgers as god and our country intended.  Just remember that buffalo has less fat to protect it from heat, so it shouldn’t be cooked directly on the flame at such an intense temp.

B.) Check your fire alarm batteries, please.  You don’t want to kill yourself and your neighbors in pursuit of a low-fat burger.

C.) With a little booze, and a lot of fan power…the raging never stops!