Sassy Sexy Shapely

My girlfriends joined me for food and conversation at our girls’ night last night.  I had a great time preparing for the evening. 

Being on a fiscal diet as well as a physical one means I had to think outside the dinnerware when devising a knock-out tablescape.  I’m pretty pleased with what I came up with.

I used inexpensive lime, yellow and pink paper plates and cocktail napkins to set the color theme.  I offset the lime and yellow napkins with the plates, alternating the colors.  Then, I mixed & matched turquoise and pink bubble glasses at the place settings.  I even improvised a centerpiece using an overturned small casserole dish, shiny mother-of-pearl holiday garland, a decorative turquoise dessert plate and a feminine rose-accented candle.

The fun didn’t stop there!  I created two clean eating recipes for the party: guacamole and a subtly spiced rice pudding.  I don’t have nutrition stats, but here are the yum-o-licious recipes!

GO-GO GUACAMOLE

• 3 whole avocados
• 1 cup pico de gallo
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• Mrs. Dash Table Blend to taste

Directions

• Cut avocados in half, remove pit and flesh from peel.
• Dice the avocado into uniform chunks.
• Place diced avocado in blender with pico de gallo and almond milk.
• Blend to desired consistency. 
• Add seasoning and blend again.

ROCKIN’ RICE PUDDING

(I’m especially pleased with this recipe because I created it on the fly after finding out the girl bringing dessert to the party wasn’t going to make it.  I used leftover rice from previous Chinese food orders that I’d frozen, and I used only ingredients I had on hand.  Except for the fact that the rice was white, it was a very healthy, very economical dessert!)

• 4 cups leftover cooked white rice
• 1 5-ounce can fat-free evaporated milk
• 27 ounces unsweetened vanilla almond milk (enough liquid to equal 4 cups)
• Torani sugar-free coconut syrup
• Pumpkin Pie spice to taste

Directions

• Heat the evaporated milk and almond milk in a heavy saucepot until it comes to a simmer.
• Add the sugar-free syrup and Pumpkin Pie spice, both to taste, and stir to blend.
• Add the cooked rice and heat through.
• Simmer it until it thickens.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool.  The rice will continue to absorb the milk as it cools.
• Serve warm or chilled, topped with a swirl of fat-free Reddi-wip.