Rich & Skinny Supper Club- Low Carb Eggplant Lasagna/Cucumber Hummus Medallions/Hail the Kale Caesar Salad

  It's a beautiful Saturday night and we wanted a healthy, affordable meal in with the girls before heading out for the night. I put together a super simple, cheap menu that was low carb, vegetarian and didn't require a lot of ingredients. We started with Cucumber Hummus Medallions. These take 3 ingredients, take no time to prepare, and look fancy while being a easy finger food that is a great healthy pre dinner snack that will not ruin your dinner appetite! Eggplant lasagna takes a bit to cook so starting with something to snack on is a good idea!

Tonights Menu:

Cucumber Hummus Medallions

Hail The Kale Caesar Salad

Low Carb Eggplant Zucchini Lasagna

Appetizer:

Cucumber Hummus Medallions:

1 cucumber

1 container of hummus 

Small Ziplock Baggy

Optional Topping: Sun dried tomatoes 

Here are the ingredients:

Use your mandolin slicer to create medium thickness cucumber circles. 

Place your ziplock bag in a small glass to hold it steady. Spoon in your hummus. Then squeeze it all to the bottom of the baggy and cut a small opening on one corner so you can "pipe" the hummus onto your cucumber medallions.

Next pipe the hummus onto your cucumber is a circular pattern.

Add your sun dried tomatoes to your hummus. You could add Kalamata Olives, or a slice of Feta cheese here instead and they would also be delicious!

Your finished Cucumber Hummus Medallions!

Serve your healthy low carb appetizers to your guests!

Imogen decided to join our Rich and Skinny Supper. Sista's got some serious lb's to lose.

 Next was our Hail the Kale Caesar Salad. You will need a bundle of kale, some spinach (optional- you can use all Kale if you like) a great Caesar dressing ,some Parmesan cheese and some Italian seasoned bread crumbs (This is your secret ingredient!)

I love Brianna's dressings. They have all natural quality ingredients and are all delicious.




Peel your Kale off the stalk and tear into small pieces.Add a couple hand fulls of Spinach. Add some dressing, less is more to start. You do not want to drench your salad! Add some parmesan cheese and toss. Add your breadcrumbs, toss. Then finish with more breadcrumbs on top. Do not add your breadcrumbs too early or they will get soggy! Make sure you are ready to serve your salad before you add them! The crunchy crumbs really make this salad unique and delicious!! For a light main course you could add some sauteed shrimp to this salad! So good.

Table is set and ready for my guests! I love mixing and matching my dishes. Classic blue and white Willow pattern on bottom, with more modern geometric patterned black and white salad plates on top I got for a great price at Z Gallery. I even lit the candles in the branch chandelier for this party! Hello romance!! Just kidding, it's just me, and my single girlfriends, and my cats. Damn it.

The other day I found a eggplant the size of a newborn infant at the grocery and thought I had to go home and have a supper club with it. It was huge and would feed a crowd of hungry gals on a budget and on a diet. It ended up being too big and I did not use it all, but I made another delicious recipe with the leftover eggplant I will post soon!

Eggplant can be tricky. It holds a lot of water so if you don't draw that out it can take forever to cook and be tough and spongey. To prevent this you want to slice your eggplant in to thin slices on a mandolin and then put them layer by layer in a colander and sprinkle generously with salt. Let them sit about 15 minutes this way and it will tenderize the eggplant and draw out the water. Be sure to rinse and wipe off the salt before cooking or you will be one bloated babe.

Mandolin Slicer-if yours has settings use the middle-not too thin not too thick

My eggplant was so big I cut it length wise in half before I sliced it into thin "lasagna noodles" with my mandolin. The mandolin is another essential super cheap kitchen tool you will want in low carb cooking. They evenly and quickly slice up anything which a)looks nicer b) helps cook evenly and faster. I got mine at TJ Maxx for $6.99.

Salt your eggplant in a colander to salt. Leave sitting with salt around 15 minutes and then rinse.

In a 9x10 baking dish start with a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of your dish. Add your first layer of eggplant on top of that.

Next add your sliced zucchini on top of that. Add a layer of sauce on top of that and any additional veggies or ingredients, I added baby Portabella mushrooms. Then add a layer of cheese. Be sure to season with salt , pepper and and Italian seasonings between layers.

Continue that layer pattern, veggies, sauce, cheese until you have reached the top. You want your final layer to be cheese and sauce. 

Place your finished lasagna covered in the oven at 425 for 35 minutes.  It may take longer, if your eggplant didn't get tender enough. You will know if is done when you can very easily stab it with a knife and feel that it is very soft.



Meanwhile, pour your guests some wine and take a load off!

Allow your lasagna to rest for 10 minutes and the liquids will absorb. You want to be sure to pat dry your eggplant well or you will end up with really watery lasagna.

Piping hot lasagna is ready to be served!

Dinner was a success! Time to blow out the candles and hit the town!