Dinner Diva's

It's funny where life takes you, when you first meet someone you may never expect where life will take that relationship in years to come, and how people and come and go from your life. That is how it is with my now friend Michele. I first met Michele when I was about 13 and we went away for my 'cousin' Jennifer's sweet 16 on a big extended family cruise and Jennifer had brought Michele along with her. At the time I was the younger cousin that looked up to the girls and tagged along with them. Years passed and I never saw Michele again until at Jennifer's wedding, 3 1/2 years ago when we were sitting at the same time. When we reconnected we realized we were now living just 20 minutes apart from one another and we exchanged information to try and get together sometime. I actually owe discovering what a blog was to Michele, who introduced my to hers, and I started this blog as a direct result of our conversation at the wedding.

The timing just never seemed to work out with getting together, mostly on my end I must admit, with graduate school, the wedding, and the puppy, there never seemed to be a good time, until recently, when things have certainly calmed down. Michele invited me to join her monthly dinner group. They call the group, "Dinner Diva's." Every month the girls get together and rotate houses, the host is the one responsible for the main portion of the meal, and the other girls rotate bringing the appetizer, dessert, and the wine. And there is a monthly theme, usually a cuisine, country or region, last month was "California Fresh" and before that was "Southern Cooking."

This month it was my turn to host the event and even a snow storm couldn't stop us (although it almost did). Since the girls have been doing this for quite some time they were running out of new themes to try, having exhausted all the typical ones, so I decided to make my theme "Celebrity Chefs," specifically Giada De Laurentis, who I love, and also have a cookbook of hers that I had yet to use. Although later I figured out that all of my recipes in my cookbook were also online, so much for that one. My menu for the evening was as follows:

• Pomegranate & Cranberry Bellini's
• Mixed Salad (Insalata Mista)
• Tuscan White Bean & Garlic Soup
• Roasted Pork Loin with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
• Broiled zucchini and potatoes with parmesan crust

Janet also brought along Giada's, Apple and Onion Confit Crostini as the appetizer (which were delicious). I think the biggest hit of the evening had to be the Tuscan White Bean & Garlic Soup, which was delicious. I don't make a lot of soups so this one was a nice treat and was perfect for the snowy day we were having. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this soup was to make, and also how fantastic it smelled in the kitchen. I used light cream for mine, since that is what I could find in the small size in the supermarket and to save some calories. When I put the recipe into the Weight Watchers recipe calculator (using the light cream) it came out to be 7 points for a bowl (at 5 servings total), which was worth it to me for this delicious, creamy soup. 

Tuscan White Bean & Garlic Soup
Source: Food Network Giada De Laurentis

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
1 sage leaf
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4 cloves garlic, cut in 1/2
1/2 cup cream* (I used light)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place a medium, heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the butter, olive oil, and shallot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sage and beans and stir to combine. Add the stock and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the garlic and simmer until the garlic is softened, about 10 minutes. Pour the soup into a large bowl. Carefully ladle 1/3 to 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. Be careful to hold the top of the blender tightly, as hot liquids expand when they are blended. Pour the blended soup back into the soup pan. Puree the remaining soup. Once all the soup is blended and back in the soup pan, add the cream and the pepper Keep warm, covered, over very low heat.

I'm so happy that Michele invited me to participate in their dinner group and that the girls welcomed me with big arms right away. I really look forward to our monthly dinner group, it's been so much fun to get together with them and I love trying out making new recipes and also seeing what delicious things the other girls whip up as well.

Cooking has certainly been a learning experience for me. This time for example, I forgot to season the pork with salt and pepper before I roasted it. I also got another little surprise when I was checking on the roast, I literally left a knife in the roasting pan with the pork, when I went to check on it I saw the melted handle and knife blade in the pan, that was quite a surprise, at least I didn't set anything on fire though.

I'm also really bad at figuring out what cuts of meat I need to buy. Like when I made my pot roast last month I bought the wrong cut, this time I also bought a pork tenderloin instead of a loin, who knew there was a difference. Maybe one day I'll figure out my meat cuts, in the meantime the girls didn't seem to mind my lack of salt and pepper, or the melted knife, or the wrong loin, but that's what friends do, Mike on the other hand is another story..... Can't wait for next months already, we're doing Swedish at Janet's house and I'm bringing the appetizer, Swedish Meatballs sound good to me!