Bachelorette Finger Foods

This past weekend was my friend and college roommate, Meg's, Bachelorette Party. We booked at room at The Quincey Hotel in downtown DC near DuPont Circle with a kitchenette suite. I figured we'd enjoy sitting around having appetizers for dinner with drinks rather than rushing out to dinner somewhere. So I made a spinach-artichoke dip, stuffed mushrooms, mini salmon burgers with a lemon cream sauce, brushetta and hummus with veggies. Believe it or not, but four girls actually finished off almost all of this food. We had a great time, but what could be better than food, friends, girl talk and drinks all night? I've added a few pictures of the spread we enjoyed as well as some of the recipes I made.

Spinach Artichoke Dip (Food Network)

1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, plus more as needed
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained
Carrot sticks, celery sticks or baked tortilla strips, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Squeeze all excess liquid from spinach, place in a food processor with sour cream, Parmesan, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, the cream cheese, garlic, pepper and hot sauce.

Process until just blended but still slightly lumpy. Add artichokes and pulse to form a chunky mixture. Place in a 1-quart baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella. Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks or baked tortilla strips.

Mouth-Watering Stuffed Mushrooms (Allrecipes)

12 whole fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 340 F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding any touch ends of the stems.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped msuhroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn the garlic. Set aside to cool.

When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on a prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the msuhrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form until caps.

Salmon Burgers with a Lemon Cream Sauce

1 (14 ounce) can Alaskan salmon, drained and flaked
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
handfull parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3/4 cups italian breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

To the flaked salmon add egg whites, parsley, the zest and juice of the lemon, garlic, bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and form 4 large patties or 10 mini patties.

Preheat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a non stick skillet over medium to medium high heat. Cook salmon patties 2 to 3 minutes on each side for mini patties, 4 minutes on each side for large patties.

Serve alone with lemon cream sauce or on buns as a sandwich.

Lemon Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon chipotle ground pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour to form a smooth paste. Gradually stir in milk, bring to a boil stiring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, salt and chipoltle pepper.