Girls' Night
Jenny, Stacey, and Stasia all came over for another girls' night. Stasia and I talked about the menu and wanted something fresh and on the healthy side. So tonight's menu was fresh veggies with homemade yogurt dill dip, corn chowder, and paninis.
I love the yogurt dill dip because it has such fresh flavor. It was pretty low in fat as well. Yogurt Dill Dip
- 1 cup of lowfat plain yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- juice from 1/2 of a lemon
- grated rind from 1/2 of a lemon
- finely chopped fresh dill weed; I used the dill from 2 stalks.
- 1/2 tsp salt
Mix all of the ingredients together and adjust the salt if necessary. I love serving this dip fresh out of the fridge so it is good and cold. Add some crunchy veggies and you have a healthy and flavorful appetizer.
A panini is simply a grilled sandwich, but ingredients that are used on paninis are usually a little different than what you would put on a cold sandwich. Also, the bread used is usually a thicker, heartier bread like an Italian loaf, French bread, foccaccia, or ciabatta.
Mayonnaise or mustard aren't usually put on paninis - you'll usually see something like olive oil and balsamic, brie, pesto, or a spread to take the place of the traditional condiments. I made an artichoke spread for our paninis.
Artichoke Spread
- 1 can artichokes, drained well and chopped
- 2 tbsp reduced fat cream cheese
- 2 tbsp lowfat sour cream
- 1 tbsp reduced fat mayonnaise; I love the Hellman's Reduced Fat Mayonnaise
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp salt
Heat olive oil in a small pan; add garlic, saute til slightly golden, and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and stir. Adjust the salt if necessary.
My spread was just a touch too chunky so I gave it a few pulses with my handheld immersion blender - voila! It was perfect and got nice and melty when we grilled the paninis.
Fixins Bar..
Besides the artichoke spread, I put out the following ingredients:
- Loaf of Italian bread and a loaf of ciabatta bread; Stasia gave me the tip of slicing the bread into wide slices so the grill would hit the top and bottom of the bread, not the sides. This worked perfectly.
- Laughing cow spreadable cheese
- Olive oil
- Turkey breast
- Cooper sharp cheese
- Fresh spinach
- Sliced tomato
- Bean sprouts
![](http://bp3.blogger.com/_VXVqHWzVlXA/R5k6_aZvG1I/AAAAAAAAAVo/RPaRnvGsHoY/s320/012308+panini+004.jpg)
Other ingredients I'd use next time include balsamic vinegar, pesto, roasted red peppers, brie, bacon, and different cheeses.
Here is my sandwich before and after the grill did its magic:
![](http://bp1.blogger.com/_VXVqHWzVlXA/R5k6_6ZvG2I/AAAAAAAAAVw/bylF7pbUhBQ/s320/012308+panini+009.jpg)
![](http://bp3.blogger.com/_VXVqHWzVlXA/R5k7AaZvG3I/AAAAAAAAAV4/ZzsdkR8q8wQ/s320/012308+panini+010.jpg)
Finally, what goes better with a panini on a cold night than a bowl of chowder? I made my corn chowder - the recipe can be found here.
Thanks for such a fun night Stacey, Jenny, and Stasia! Let's do it again soon.
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yum! everything looks great. i love a good yogurt dill dip :)
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