*Note: I am having a little trouble getting the pictures to show up. I am not really sure what’s going on–but clicking on them seems to get them to reappear for me. Sorry!!
After multiple requests, here are the pictures from Andrew’s junk food extravaganza of a birthday.
After flipping through my copy of Eat This, Not That: Restaurant Survivial Guide, Andrew decided that for his birthday he wanted me to recreate the “Worst Appetizer” — Applebee’s Appetizer Sampler.
The platter is a melange of everyone’s favorite high fat, high calorie, primarily deep-fried appetizers: Mozzarella sticks, spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips, cheese quesadillas and Buffalo wings. The entire plate rings in at 2,500 calories, 49 g saturated fat, 6,520 mg sodium and 157 g carbohydrate. One could argue that it is meant to be shared, not eaten by one person. With those numbers though, even sharing the platter between 4 individuals is worth almost a meal in itself (and a high fat one at that).
But of course, I had promised. I did my best to cut a few calories here and there; nevertheless this was quite possibly the fattiest meal I have ever made, Christmas and Thanksgiving aside.
1. Warm Spinach and Artichoke dip
This was Andrew’s favorite part. Equal parts cream cheese (I used low fat), sour cream and mayo. Mix in blanched (squeeze out the liquid), chopped spinach and chopped canned artichoke hearts. Stir in a small handful each of jack, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, add some garlic and onion powder and you’re golden. Sprinkle the top with even more cheese, a pinch of crushed red pepper and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until warm throughout and cheese is bubbly.
2. Baked Jalapeño Poppers
Okay, okay. So I didn’t copy the original platter exactly. I substituted jalapeño poppers for the mozzarella sticks. Why? Because they’re good, and because I envisioned my attempt at deep frying cheese to be a complete disaster. I was also excited to find a recipe from Emeril for baked jalapeño poppers ( recipe here )–so I skipped the deep fry altogether on this one.
Jalapeños are halved and stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese (low fat), jack cheese, cumin and cayenne. They are then dredged in flour, coated in egg, then breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until crispy.
3. Quesadillas
This was the easiest part. I made three types of quesadillas: Roasted poblano and steak, black bean and corn, and cheese. They were garnished with sliced avocado, jalapeños, tomato, lime and sour cream.
4. Buffalo Wings
I am secretly very proud of myself for pulling this off. They tasted just like the real thing and that is probably because, well, I fried the chicken.
Wings were first dredged in a combination of flour, paprika and salt. I heated 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a frying pan. I cooked the wings on one side, and then flipped to the other until it was crispy all around. With a slotted spoon a transferred the wings to a bowl and tossed with buffalo sauce.
The finished platter:
My rendition
*Note: I am having a little trouble getting the pictures to show up. I am not really sure what’s going on–but clicking on them seems to get them to reappear for me. Sorry!!
After multiple requests, here are the pictures from Andrew’s junk food extravaganza of a birthday.
After flipping through my copy of Eat This, Not That: Restaurant Survivial Guide, Andrew decided that for his birthday he wanted me to recreate the “Worst Appetizer” — Applebee’s Appetizer Sampler.
The platter is a melange of everyone’s favorite high fat, high calorie, primarily deep-fried appetizers: Mozzarella sticks, spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips, cheese quesadillas and Buffalo wings. The entire plate rings in at 2,500 calories, 49 g saturated fat, 6,520 mg sodium and 157 g carbohydrate. One could argue that it is meant to be shared, not eaten by one person. With those numbers though, even sharing the platter between 4 individuals is worth almost a meal in itself (and a high fat one at that).
But of course, I had promised. I did my best to cut a few calories here and there; nevertheless this was quite possibly the fattiest meal I have ever made, Christmas and Thanksgiving aside.
1. Warm Spinach and Artichoke dip
This was Andrew’s favorite part. Equal parts cream cheese (I used low fat), sour cream and mayo. Mix in blanched (squeeze out the liquid), chopped spinach and chopped canned artichoke hearts. Stir in a small handful each of jack, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, add some garlic and onion powder and you’re golden. Sprinkle the top with even more cheese, a pinch of crushed red pepper and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until warm throughout and cheese is bubbly.
2. Baked Jalapeño Poppers
Okay, okay. So I didn’t copy the original platter exactly. I substituted jalapeño poppers for the mozzarella sticks. Why? Because they’re good, and because I envisioned my attempt at deep frying cheese to be a complete disaster. I was also excited to find a recipe from Emeril for baked jalapeño poppers ( recipe here )–so I skipped the deep fry altogether on this one.
Jalapeños are halved and stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese (low fat), jack cheese, cumin and cayenne. They are then dredged in flour, coated in egg, then breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until crispy.
3. Quesadillas
This was the easiest part. I made three types of quesadillas: Roasted poblano and steak, black bean and corn, and cheese. They were garnished with sliced avocado, jalapeños, tomato, lime and sour cream.
4. Buffalo Wings
I am secretly very proud of myself for pulling this off. They tasted just like the real thing and that is probably because, well, I fried the chicken.
Wings were first dredged in a combination of flour, paprika and salt. I heated 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a frying pan. I cooked the wings on one side, and then flipped to the other until it was crispy all around. With a slotted spoon a transferred the wings to a bowl and tossed with buffalo sauce.
The finished platter:
My rendition
The original