Hot Crab Dip

If my husband ever had a reason to be jealous, it wouldn't be because of another man. But dip, now there's something to worry about. See, at some point in my life, I gave my heart to hummus, spinach artichoke dip, and anything else that plays well with pita. And now, nothing can be done to stop this love affair.

There’s just something so irresistible about the combination of crunchy, salty chips and creamy dip. One bite throws me into a trance, with glazed over eyes and zombie-like arm-to-mouth movements that do not...will not...subside until every last bit is gobbled up, scraped and licked clean. That's when I look up from my empty plate and realize that the last fifteen minutes of meaningful conversation with my husband had been one-sided. On his side. And jealousy ensues, without a doubt.

 

One of the most addictive dips I've ever had, fittingly called "crack dip," is sadly something I just have to restrict from my kitchen because the recipe comes with a death sentence. Cream cheese, ranch dressing, blue cheese, hot sauce, canned chicken and cheddar. Yes, that is the recipe. Not a list of every condiment in my fridge.

But I've been craving it. A lot. So I riffled through recipes and finally turned to this hot, cheesy crab dip instead. With a few lightened ingredients, but plenty of zesty, creamy goodness, it seemed to fit the bill without the added ridiculousness.

It really did hit the spot. Creamy, cheesy, crabby. Perfect with melba toast. And a little extra hot sauce adds just the right amount of kick. In fact, I’m sure I could sit for hours, a bowl of this dip in my lap, armed with only a bag of melba toasts and a remote control and be quite happy with life. Just don't tell the hubby. He's already begun to give our jar of salsa the evil eye.

Hot Crab dip

Laura Martin, Cooking Light, November 2006

Yield: 20 servings (serving size: about 3 tablespoons)

Ingredients:

1  cup  fat-free cottage cheese

1/2  teaspoon  grated lemon rind

2  tablespoons  lemon juice

1  tablespoon  Dijon mustard

1 1/2  teaspoons  Worcestershire sauce

1  teaspoon  hot sauce (or more if you like more zest.)

1/2  teaspoon  salt

1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

1  garlic clove, minced

1  (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

2  tablespoons  chopped green onion

1  pound  lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed

Cooking spray

2  tablespoons  grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/4  cup  dry breadcrumbs

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine first 9 ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth.

Combine cottage cheese mixture, cream cheese, and onion in a large bowl; gently fold in crab.

Place crab mixture in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Serve warm with melba toast or pita chips.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 63 (53% from fat), Fat: 3.1g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.1g,poly 0.0g), Protein: 6.8g, Carbohydrate: 1.9g, Fiber: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 30mg, Iron: 0.3mg, Sodium: 264mg, Calcium: 29mg.

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Fresh Fruit Salad with Honey, Ginger & Lime Sauce

Feel that? That crisp, chilly breeze that’s been swirling around us lately, filling our heads with the hope of golden-leafed, sweater-clad, apple-cinnamon-infused autumn days? Seems everyone is getting antsy for cooler weather and festive décor, but as we relish in this first taste of fall, stop for a minute and realize what is really happening here... Summer as we know it is slipping through our fingertips. And we don’t even care!

In a matter of weeks, we’ll all be welcoming spiced candles, wax leaf wreathes and warm hues into our homes with wide, goofy grins. We’ll happily pack up our sandals and swimsuits and replace them with the scarves and boots we’ve been waiting all year to don. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, we’ll start each brisk morning with silky, frizz-free hair and Starbucks pumpkin lattés and we’ll go for rosy-cheeked walks around our neighborhoods. And we’ll be happy.

But before long, brisk will turn into downright cold. The snow will fall. The ice will creep over our windshields. The heaters will eat away at our shopping funds. Our husbands will stab us with icy toes and our parched knuckles and lips will chap until they crack. There we’ll be, scuffing across frigid kitchen floors on three pairs of wool socks with afghan-draped shoulders to fumble through canned peaches and peas, in hopes of a decent dinner that doesn’t involve braving a blizzard.

And just as we're tempted to take a bite of our holiday beaded faux fruit, we’ll realize how precious those last few days of summer really were and how wistfully we wasted them. Those days when fresh, vibrant fruit filled our bowls and dinner meant something sizzling on the grill instead of caked in a casserole dish.

So hold on to summer, people! It will be long gone soon enough. Then we can buy our pumpkins and gourds and embrace fall with open arms. But for now, I’m not yet done with zucchinis and watermelons and pots of fragrant herbs. And I am certainly not done with my dear farmer’s market.

Where else can you find yourself riffling through baskets of fresh plucked peaches one minute, and the next, a bin of vintage scarves? Detroit's Eastern Market, to be exact, is the lovely place I finally discovered this summer. I went for peaches and blueberries and came back with four armfuls of goodies, some of which I wasn't sure what to do with (zucchini), some I wasn't sure if I even liked (radishes), and some bought out of pure guilty nostalgia (orange blossom honey, which I bought from the sweetest old beekeeper who reminded me of my grandpa, even though the stand two feet away sold the stuff for less. I'm a sucker).

And what to do with four armfuls of fruits and veggies? Become vegetarian, of course, at least for a while. That weekend, I was enslaved to the kitchen, making avocado-radish salad (turns out I do love radishes), grilled corn with lime butter, wild mushroom quesadillas, homemade hummus and salsa, two huge fruit salads and fried, golden zucchini.

Orange blossom honey, by the way, was perfect combined with lime and fresh ginger for this amazing hold-on-to-what-you-got summer fruit salad. Sweet and tangy with a little kick, the sauce really takes juicy peaches, plump blueberries and sliced green grapes to a whole new level of deliciousness. For the perfect summer afternoon, I have an inkling this salad would be awesome served up with a nice grilled pork chop and a glass of sangria.

So, don't jump into fall prematurely, folks. Soak up every last drop of summer. Keep the lemonade flowing. Keep the grill grilling. Take advantage of every fruit and vegetable before it goes out of season.

Although, I must admit...all this talk about fall is making me want to bust out just one glittery pumpkin for the bookshelf. And just a little candy corn isn't going to spoil summer all that bad. And what's so wrong with burning a few cinnamon candles and wearing a few scarves and breaking in my brown suede boots and all my fuzzy sweaters and...

...so it begins.

Fresh Fruit Salad with Honey Ginger Lime Sauce

Marie Meyer, Greensboro, NC, Cooking Light, JUNE 2006

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup)

Ingredients:

1  tablespoon  fresh lime juice

1 1/2  tablespoons  honey

1/4  teaspoon  minced peeled fresh ginger

2  cups  sliced peeled peaches (about 2)

1  cup  blueberries

1  cup  seedless green grapes, halved

Preparation: Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Combine peaches, blueberries, and grapes in a bowl. Drizzle juice mixture over fruit mixture; toss gently to coat. Chill at least 1 hour.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 53 (3% from fat) Fat: 0.2g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.1g), Protein: 0.7g, Carbohydrate: 13.8g, Fiber: 1.3g, Cholesterol: 0.0mg, Iron: 0.3mg, Sodium: 1mg, Calcium: 6mg.

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Ginger-Peanut Chicken Salad Wraps

As far as I’m concerned, this post could very well be titled “ginger peanut lime sauce.” Because one taste of this sauce – this amazing, Asian-inspired, creamy dreamy sauce – will cause you to forget all about making wraps and instead instinctually ladle it into a gigantic soup bowl and slurp to your heart’s content, stopping only to wash it down with an icy cold pint of more wonderful ginger peanut lime sauce.

After all, what’s not to love about peanut butter, aromatic fresh ginger, lime juice, soy, garlic and red pepper whirled together into a fresh, citrusy, heavenly sauce? If you’re worried that a liquid meal would deprive your teeth of their God-given potential, give them something to sink into by filling in the blank.

“_____ with ginger peanut lime sauce.”

You choose. Beef? Pork? Tarantulas? I’m not one for exotic fare, but I swear, even raw, slimy snails would be nothing short of stupendous smothered in a sauce like this.

Or, of course, you could make these chicken salad wraps, because after all, they’re delicious, no matter how outshined they are by their own sauce. Chicken, cucumber, red pepper and cilantro make a perfect combo of flavors smothered in peanut butter based goodness and swaddled in lettuce and tortilla. 
 

I recommend making a double batch of sauce. Since this is a light recipe, the wraps surely won’t be drowning in sauce and if you like a little extra for dunking, you’ll be left empty handed. Plus, once you taste it, you’re going to wish you had extra to pour over veggies, noodles or shrimp later in the week.

Another tip: Store leftovers separately or all your sauce will soak into the chicken and the water from the cucumbers will dilute the flavors. Instead, store cucumbers and peppers together, and store the sauce separate from the chicken, then mix right before serving.

We absolutely loved this dish. I’m already contemplating future additions and tweaks. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that fresh, crunchy bean sprouts, matchstick carrots or chopped peanuts would be heavenly in this wrap. Next time, I’m definitely adding a little of each, maybe in lieu of the red pepper as it’s not my all-time fave veggie.

And for an extra healthy lunch, I may just loose the tortilla and make lettuce wraps. (No tortilla means room for more sauce!)

As I licked every last drop from my plate and fork, I wondered to myself if the chicken was a little jealous that the sauce, something that is supposed to merely enhance it, but instead stole the show? One will never know. However, I for one got jealous (enraged) when my hubby took it upon himself to lick the sauce bowl clean. He can have the brownie batter-lined bowl and the frosting-coated spoon, but don’t come between a girl and her ginger peanut lime sauce.

Ginger-Peanut Chicken Salad Wraps

Cooking Light, June 2000

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 wrap)

Cookbook Note: You can substitute slices of breast meat from prepackaged rotisserie chicken, which makes the preparation easier, but the dish will be a little higher in fat and sodium.

Ingredients:

1  teaspoon  olive oil

6  (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves

1  cup  chopped seeded peeled cucumber

3/4  cup  chopped red bell pepper

1 1/2  tablespoons  sugar

1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger

3  tablespoons  fresh lime juice

1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce

1/4  teaspoon  salt

1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper

1  garlic clove, crushed

1/4  cup  creamy peanut butter

2  tablespoons  water

3  tablespoons  chopped fresh cilantro

8  (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas

4  cups  chopped romaine lettuce

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes on each side or until done. Remove the chicken from pan; cool. Shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Place chicken, cucumber, and bell pepper in a large bowl; set aside.

Place sugar and the next 6 ingredients (sugar through garlic) in a blender, and process until smooth. Add peanut butter and water; process until smooth, scraping sides. Add peanut butter mixture to chicken mixture; stir well. Add cilantro, and toss well. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken mixture onto each tortilla; top each serving with 1/2 cup lettuce, and roll up.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 280 (19% from fat), Fat: 5.9g (sat 1.1g,mono 2.7g,poly 1.6g), Protein: 25.8g, Carbohydrate: 30.5g, Fiber: 2.4g, Cholesterol: 49mg, Iron: 2.5mg, Sodium: 572mg, Calcium: 29mg.

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Butter Crunch Lemon-Cheese Bars

As much as I love summer, and all the potlucks, picnics and family reunions that come standard, there’s one thing I believe should be banished forever, as it’s the true bane of bikini season...

The dessert buffet.

Maybe plate upon plate of glorious, gluttonous goodies are ok in the presence of super skinny self-control toting types, but put a homemade confection-clad table in front of me, and my fat five-year-old inner child will surely go buck wild, piling her flimsy styrofoam plate with a superfluity of sweetness.

Because why settle for just one cookie when I can have three cookies and a brownie? And…a lemon bar? Oh, and a cupcake. And a teeny, tiny slice of apple...pumpkin...and lemon meringue pie. And c'mon, it just isn't summer without Aunt Marcy's banana trifle and grandma's pumpkin roll! Heck, I can even squeeze room for that green Jell-o fluff that I don’t even like. A few more wedges of this and smidgens of that and you can bet I'll turn from the table with a teetering five-pound plate of sugar and not an ounce of self restraint.

So with all my friends and family to bear witness, I take my seat ala the walk of shame, fending off stares and smirks with an “Oh this? Of course it’s not just for me,” then scarf down that mountain of sugary shame until my belly is boated and the smears and crumbs on my plate resemble a homicidal crime scene at a bakery.

Am I the only one who gives in to this torturous temptation? Is there any hope to change my summer dessert destiny?

Why yes, actually. Enter, the two-in-one dessert dream bar. Part cool, creamy cheesecake. Part tangy, gooey lemon bar. All atop a crumbly, buttery pastry crust, this is TWO desserts, cleverly and deliciously disguised as ONE. So you feel like you're pigging out, when in reality, you're staying quite human. And at just 140 calories, it comes with a much appreciated side of self-control, too.

And you can make this fabulous dessert faster than you can load up a plate with ten others! Just a quick crust blended with a hand mixer, followed by an even quicker filling whipped up in a food processor. Bake, let it chill and you're ready to gorge...err...daintily nibble.

Top with blueberries, sliced strawberries or a little fresh lemon zest and I bet these would make beautiful little desserts at an afternoon tea or baby shower. Although, the pregnant guest of honor will most assuredly prefer the aforementioned dessert buffet.

Fruit topped or naked, you won't be disappointed. These are delicious. Perfectly lemony, wonderfully creamy and cheesecakey. They really do taste like two amazing summertime desserts melded into one. And the crust is ahh-mazing. I will be definitely be making these again and again, especially for all those family gatherings this summer. That way I can secretly splurge while still looking all proper and ladylike. (Well, maybe just one brownie...and a cupcake...and...)

Butter Crunch Lemon Cheese Bars
Adapted from…Greg Patent, Cooking Light, JANUARY 2001
Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 square)

Cookbook Note: You can substitute fresh orange juice and grated orange rind for lemon, if you wish. These are best served chilled.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1/3  cup  butter, softened
1/4  cup  packed dark brown sugar
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1/4  teaspoon  ground mace or nutmeg
1  cup  all-purpose flour
Cooking spray

Filling:
1  cup  1% low-fat cottage cheese
1  cup  granulated sugar
2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
1  tablespoon  grated lemon rind
3 1/2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
1/4  teaspoon  baking powder
1  large egg
1  large egg white

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare crust, place first 4 ingredients in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Lightly spoon 1 cup flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Add 1 cup flour to butter mixture, and beat at low speed until well-blended. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough excess at the edges to create handles to later lift out. Spray with cooking spray, and press crust firmly onto foil. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

To prepare filling, place cottage cheese in a food processor; process 2 minutes or until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once. Add 1 cup granulated sugar and remaining ingredients, and process until well-blended. Pour filling over crust. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until set (the edges will get lightly browned), and cool. Cover and chill for 8 hours.

While holding the edges of the foil, carefully remove dessert from pan and place on cutting board. Cut into 16 squares. Chill until ready to serve.

Nutritional Information: Calories:140.5, Fat: 4.5g (sat 52.6g,mono 1.3g,poly 0.3g), Protein:3.35g, Carbohydrate:22.25g, Fiber:0.25g, Cholesterol:24.5mg, Iron:.55mg, Sodium:149mg, Calcium:20mg.

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