Dinner Party!

Barry and I have some house guests for a while, so we had a dinner party to welcome them on Friday night.  It was small...nothing fancy, but my sister Becky, her husband Michael, and of course, CORA are going to be living with us for a little while before they head up to their new home in College Station.  So we had a few friends over for dinner...for appetizer I made "fried" zucchini, then we had light Caesar salad and baked ravioli for dinner and of course we had dessert!  I made an angel food cake (which is FAT FREE!) with a berry topping that was just sweet enough and somewhat healthy...well better than cheesecake or pie anyways =)

Apparently our party was boring!

Any time you can incorporate berries into your diet, you are doing your body a favor!  Berries in general are really high in fiber (raspberries are the highest in the berry family...FYI) and a great source of antioxidants.  Antioxidants have been shown to have tons of health benefits, the biggest one being cancer prevention, because they help prevent cell damage caused by unstable molecules called free radicals. 

So...for our appetizer, I combined a few different ingredients to make a marinara sauce.  But in hindsight, for time purposes...and for less dishes, I would have just used a jar.  For the zucchini you need:

2 eggs

1/3 cup light Italian salad dressing

1 cup bread crumbs

2 zucchini, sliced

After cutting up the zucchini into circles, combine the eggs and Italian dressing into one mixing bowl and put the bread crumbs into another.

I clearly went overboard with the zucchini...needless to say we will be eating sauteed zucchini for dinner this week!

Dip the zucchini slices into the egg mixture then into the breadcrumbs and place on preheated indoor grill.  I used my George Foreman grill.  The original recipe said they would take 2-3 minutes to cook...took closer to 8-10 minutes for me.  The grill cooled off too much in between batches I guess?

Zucchini will be done when tender and slightly browned.  Serve along side marinara sauce for dipping.

Our main course was pretty much pre-made low fat cheese ravioli (for Lent), covered in marinara sauce with a little bit of water, and topped with low fat mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  Baked at 350 for about 30 minutes.

And now for DESSERT!  My favorite part of any meal...

To make the berry topping you need:

2 lbs of strawberries, chopped

1 carton of blueberries

1 carton of blackberries

1 carton of raspberries (mine unfortunately turned into a science experiment before I made this)

1/2 (roughly) cup Splenda (or whatever you like) 

1/4 cup (roughly) powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 box Angel Food Cake mix (or the premade kind you buy in the produce section)

Combine first 7 ingredients in mixing bowl, stir together.  Cover and place in fridge over night.

My phone died before I could snap a picture with all the ingredients in the bowl.  After sitting in the fridge over night the berries will have a nice glaze over them.  Prepare the cake according to package directions.  Or just take out of the container if you bought a premade one! =)

Serve each slice with a spoonful of berries on top.

Easiest dessert ever!  On a side note...I made WAY too much of the berry mixture (as I usually do with most things) so I put them on my waffle in the morning...DELISH!  And a way better option than syrup and butter!

WHEW!  That was a long one...sorry!

ENJOY!