Pampering for the Face

AND for the stomach!

Ms Jones recently attended a 'Body Shop at Home' party thrown by a lovely friend named Dawn. While I was making my final purchases, I chose a random prize box which held a small piece of paper saying I had won my own 'BSAH' party! So the date was set and that meant one thing in my mind...what the heck am I going to serve to my guests?! Menu planning started right away.

On the invitiations, I said that 'refreshments' would be served. Now in my mind, that means stuff to snack on. BUT, as its been show throughout the years, and most recently show on Memorial Day, I'm always overprepared. So I wanted to make sure that I stuck to my guns this time and only soent the time and money that was NECESSARY to provide 'refreshments.'

If you couldn't tell from earlier posts, I live for Mediterranean cuisine. Its light, heart healthy, and full of fresh ingredients and flavor! Therefore, it was only natural to choose to stick with that theme. My homemade hummus is in high demand at social gatherings (or at least in my mind it is) so that needed to be on the menu. Since we were going to be testing face cleansing and moisturizing products, I wanted the guests to be able to have things that easy to pick up and eat. One of the first things that came to mind was mini spanakopitas. But phyllo dough is very crisp and crumbly when baked and I wanted to avoid as much of a mess as I possibly could. It would save my guests AND myself from alot of heavy clean up. In searching for alternatives using the spanakopita filling, a light bulb went off in my brain. Wonton wrappers. I would be able to bundle the filling up neatly and keep it sealed, while providing a crisp wonton corner for the attendees to hang onto as they eat.

I used a filling recipe from a June 2001 issue of Cooking Light Magazine:

1 (10-ounce) package fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

To prepare filling, place spinach in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Place over medium heat; cook until spinach wilts. Place the spinach mixture in a colander, pressing until barely moist. Combine the spinach and cheeses in a bowl; set aside.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green onions; sauté for 2 minutes or until soft. Stir the green onions and the next 5 ingredients (green onions through 2 egg whites) into spinach mixture.

It made a substantial amount of filling and the original recipe used phyllo to make 20 teeny bundles. Using the wontons and half of the regular filling amount, I was able to use all of the wrappers and ended up with 48 bundles.
Now, to save myself time, I bundled and stored them in an airtight container the night before. Next time, I will fill them and promptly bake them. The filling was very moist despite the fact that I squeezed the life out of the spinach. I think they would have crisped more while baking if I would have tossed them in the oven right away. They had more of a wet ravioli look to them after sitting, filled, in the fridge over night. They were also a bit stuck together, making placement on the baking sheet rather time consuming.

Every techinique I came across for baking filled wontons (instead of frying them) called for a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. When I was perusing my latest issue of Cooking Light, they suggested spraying the wontons with nonstick cooking spray and baking for 4-5 minutes. But that was unfilled and straight from package to oven. So the former suggestion was going to be my best bet.
I probably could have left them in the oven for the full 20, but they browned and crisped on the edges after 15 minutes. The moisuture in the filling caused a bit of puffing in the middle of the wonton from steam release as well.

As an accompaniment to the hummus, I made a small veggie tray of celery, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, sweet onions, and sliced cucumbers. One of the guests was also nice enought to swing by South Side 6 in BG before coming over to pick up a couple bags of the best pita chips in Wood and Lucas county.

For dessert, I wanted to keep it light and simple. I didn't really stick with the Mediterranean theme here, because, quite frankly, bakalava, burma, birds nests, and rice pudding are really hard to make. I was going to throw together some sugar free Angelfood Cake with a topping of crushed pineapple, Cool Whip Free, and SF vanilla pudding mix, but all the stores around me were out of the sugar free cake! So when I was pillaging my way through the shelves at my local Giant Eagle, I came across a tart shell shaped pre-made Bavarian Sponge Cake. 1/4 of the cake was only 164 calories, so do the math to serve 10 slices of the cake, and that comes to only 65.6 calories for the cake par per serving. Still a calorie conscious alternative! So I put together the topping I was going to use on the Angelfood cake and just flopped it in the middle of the sponge cake. It was garnished with a fanned whole strawberry.

I'm sorry I don't have any photographs of the 'refreshements' posted this time...I was a bit preoccupied with entertaining the 9 other people in my apartment, haha. But duty calls. Everyone raved about the taste and presentation. That made me feel like there's a ton of great supper clubs in my future.

Coming soon, cookies for a golf tournament!