I work in an place that is predominantly employed with women. It is a fast paced, usually high stress work environment that doesn't allow for mistakes or some one could die. This makes for a large group of women who are mostly type A personality. A group of women who get up every day ready to save lives, treat people who are sick or injured and give a lot of attention to detail for 8-12 hours straight. We do this while working along side other strong minded women and surgeons who expect nothing less than perfection and efficiency in as short of a time as safely possible.
I love my job.
I am lucky to work part time right now and with a flexible schedule so I can spend a lot of time with my 3 young children. So when I go to work it's a little like spending time with a group of friends and catching up on each others lives. I think my favorite part of working in an surgery is that every day I get to work with several different people and do many different types of surgeries from total joint replacements and spinal fusions to urology and fertility.
What's strange to me, working in a place with mostly women is that almost ALL of them are into football. Big time. More so in fact than most men I've ever known. Picture 7 nurses in the lounge Monday morning all fighting for the sports page and talking stats and irate over the referee's bad call the night before. Picture news paper clipings of football articles taped up in the women's locker room. These women can carry on a conversation with the male surgeons about football as easily as my friends and I do about recipes and everyday happenings. Weird.
I learned early on when I started working at my current hospital 3 years ago not to mention the fact that I wasn't a football fan. That is an unforgiveable sin as far as my co-workers are concerned.
While I'm not a big football fan ( shhhhhhhhhhh.......) I do like football food. Hot wings, chips and dip, 7 layer bean dips and brats with saurkraut. Mmmmmm.
Love the food, hate the calories and more importantly the way I feel after indulging. Hot wings are my weakness. I could eat a big pile of them covered in chunky blue cheese and lick the sauce of the plate afterwards with out a bat of the eye.
When I discovered this much healthier version of hot wings, minus the wings I nearly jumped out of my chair. Now I didn't have to feel guilty about eating my beloved hot wings and could eat them when ever I craved them which is often. Sometimes before noon. Im not ashamed.
recipe source: Curvy Carrot
Servings: enough for at least 3-4 people
Ingredients
1 head cauliflower, cleaned and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 cup buffalo sauce
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, flour, and garlic salt, whisking until mostly smooth (it’s ok if there are a few lumps left).
3. Very gently (cauliflower can be pretty delicate), place the cauliflower in the bowl and lightly toss to completely coat with the buttermilk mixture.
4. Place the cauliflower in a shallow baking dish and bake for about 15-18 minutes or so (watch it, it may start to brown up quickly on you.)
5. Meanwhile, combine the buffalo sauce and the melted butter in a small bowl.
6. Carefully remove the hot cauliflower from the oven and pour the buffalo sauce mixture over it, stirring gently to coat it as best you can.
7. Return the cauliflower to the oven and bake for another 5-8 minutes or so. Let cool slightly and serve immediately.
Recipe originally from PETA. {Who knew Peta had vegetarian recipes?}
*see home made healthier blue cheese dressing below {my own recipe}
Enjoy!
Home made healthier Blue Cheese dressing:TIME 5 MINUTES YIELDS 1 /12 CUPS
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
In a small bowl, mash 1/2 cup blue cheese and yogurt together with a fork. Stir in lemon juice, vinegar, garlic powder and salt and pepper until well blended. Top with more crumbled blue cheese. Makes a little more than 1 cup.
