Playing Host

I did it. This weekend I took the plunge and opened my home to guests (and by guest I mean friends of course). For Bax and I this was a pretty big and rare occurrence, we don't open our home to just anyone. Mostly this is due to the fact that while I enjoy the idea of entertaining (it's something I aspire to take on as an adult with an immaculate kitchen), my apartment is so tiny and I feel bad making people cram into it (I also don't believe that many could even fit inside if they wanted to). Alas, even with that caveat, the time finally came for me to open my home to a select few (after much analysis of the seating/space situation I decided 6, including me, was about the max) to not only see where most of the recipes on here transpired, but also to meet the elusive Baxter! 

Bax was all abuzz when I told her the news, which I was glad about as things like this can go either way with her (she has very strong opinions and is not afraid to let them be known). Since I love appetizers as dinner more than actual dinner (I like the ability to sample multiple things), everyone brought an app or dessert plus a beverage of their choosing (because the only thing I may in fact love more than food is wine) for an evening of basketball, food, and girl time. 

Bax's one request in having company was that they pay her in belly rubs. They obliged and she loved every minute of it. 

Perhaps my favorite part of gathering together friends is the opportunity to pull some new recipes out of the hopper (or off my Pinterest boards). Keeping with the app and dessert theme, I decided to try out one of each.

First up, a healthy twist on spinach and artichoke dip. I lamented the other day about my failure to conquer my current food of the year (the artichoke), so while I was happy to be incorporating it into a recipe, I already liked artichoke in this form so I don't technically count it as a step towards artichoke domination. Soon, though, I'm promising myself soon. 

Healthier Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Ingredients
Original recipe courtesy of Skinny Taste

• 1 jar (14 oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
• 1 box (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

Preparation

1. After spinach has thawed (don't defrost in microwave, just leave it sit out at room temperature for a couple hours), squeeze out as much of the water as possible. I used this amazing invention/Christmas present (see below) but paper towels also work

Best invention ever.

It spins water out in a flash! 

2. In a food processor, combine artichoke hearts, spinach, garlic, and scallions. Blend until coarsely chopped

3. Combine, in a large bowl, spinach/artichoke mixture with the remaining ingredients. Dump mixture into crock pot, smoothing so that it evenly covers the bottom of the crock pot

This would probably be better in a smaller crock pot, it looked a little lost in mine

4. Cook in crock pot on high for 2 hours. [I chose this method of cooking because I wanted to just serve it out of the crock pot so it would stay warm]. You can also bake in the oven at 375 F for 20-25 minutes

Ready to eat

For the closing course, I dug into the stash of rolos that I had in the cabinet from my first foray into rolo baking a few weeks back and pulled a recipe from my favorite baking blog to create these:

Rolo Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

Brought to my life courtesy of Sally's Baking Addiction

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened 
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar [if using salted peanut butter, reduce to 1/4 cup]
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup creamy unsalted peanut butter
• 1/4 tsp salt [omit if using salted peanut butter]
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 + 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 24 rolos

Preparation

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter with sugars

2. Add egg, peanut butter, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined

3. Mix in baking soda and flour, mixing until dough becomes moist and a dough ball is formed

4. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, unwrap rolos and cover cookie sheet with parchment paper

5. Once dough is chilled, scoop out 1 1/2 Tbsps of dough, create a pocket/hole in the middle of it, and insert rolo, gently molding dough around it to form a ball

6. Bake at 350 F for 9 minutes. Cookies will appear slightly underdone, but remove from oven and allow to cook completely on wire rack

*My aside is that I prefer this version of peanut butter cookies over the one above, so I may try that recipe with rolos at some point, but these were still another wonderful incorporation of rolos into my life!