Greek Girl's Night Dinner: 500 Calorie Challenge

Situation
Monday night was girl's night; where my group of small friends get together to watch the train wreck that is "The Bachelor" every Monday.  "The Bachelor" this year is something for a completely different post since I have a few tidbits on what it has become over the last few seasons (unfortunately) but onto the food.

While there was definitely wine, mocking of catty women and laughing, last night was a little different...the goal was to make a meal under 500 calories that would be good enough for my foodie friends!  Tough challenge.

I had a garlic sauce that I wanted to use as a marinade so I decided to make the whole theme Greek:

• Appetizers: Olives, Feta, Hummus and Pita Chips (these are not part of the 500 calorie meal - are extra)
• Main Course: Garlic Chicken Kabobs (148 Cals) with a Hummus Dressing over Spring Greens (94 Cals), Served with Greek Rice (144 Cals).  Also made some gyro meat available since I wasn't sure how many people were going to come which is not part of the calorie count.
• Dessert: Deconstructed Baklava Yogurt (154 Cals)

The total for the main course and dessert came to 540, so while I failed at hitting under 500 I got pretty darn close and think that I found a balance between healthy and tasty.  By no means as good as the risotto or creme brulee (one of my favorites) that we had last week I tried darn it!

Garlic Chicken Kabobs, Greek Rice and Creamy Hummus Dressing over Spring Greens and Cucumbers

Deconstructed Baklava Yogurt

Garlic Chicken Kabobs
Serves 4
Ingredients

• 2 Chicken breasts, cubed into 1 inch cubes
• 4 cloves of ground garlic
• 2 TBSP of olive oil
• Salt 
• Pepper
• 4 Skewers

Directions

1. Marinade cubed chicken breast overnight with garlic and olive oil in the fridge.
2. Preheat oven to "broil - high".
3. Stab chicken cubes with skewer and place on broiler pan.
4. Cook chicken for 15-20 minutes, watch chicken since you will need to rotate it for even grilling.

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Greek Rice
Serves 12
Ingredients

• 2 Cups Uncle Ben's Standard White Rice (NOT Instant)
• 4 Cups Chicken Broth or Chicken Stock
• 6 tsp butter

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and bring to boil.
2. Turn down heat and simmer with the cover on for 20 minutes.
3. Take off heat and cool for 5 minutes before serving.

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Creamy Hummus Dressing (care of Carrie on Vegan)
Serves 10
Ingredients 

• 1 can garbonzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 TBSP tahini
• 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.
2. Serve over spring greens or romaine, great with sliced cucumbers and a lemon wedge.

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Baklava is very very naughty.  Like 25 grams of fat per serving naughty.  But who doesn't love it?  The walnuts, the honey, the cinnamon, the phyllo...it's all so tasty and I created this dish to capture all of the flavors while still trying to stick to my 500 calorie challenge.

Deconstructed Baklava Yogurt
Serves 8 
Ingredients

•  2 lb container of 99% Fat Free Vanilla Yoplait Yogurt
• Vanilla extract to taste (start with 1 tsp)
• Cinnamon (start with 1 tsp)
• 1 sheet of puff pastry (Pepperidge Farms)
• 1 egg
• 4 TBSP of honey (or agave)
• 8 TBSP of crushed walnuts

Directions:

1. Thaw puff pastry overnight in your fridge.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  
3. Beat egg with 1 TBSP water to make an egg wash.
4. Cut puff pastry sheet into 1x1 inch squares.  On a greased cookie pan or parchment paper, place the squares and brush with egg wash.  Bake in oven 12-15 minutes until light brown.
5. In a large bowl stir the yogurt, cinnamon and vanilla to taste.
6. Serve in ramekins or bowls putting the yogurt on the bottom, then a few puff pastry squares, 2 TBSP crush walnuts, drizzle over about 1 TBSP of honey (or agave) and then a little bit of cinnamon for decoration.

Check out these little nuggets!

Low Calorie Version of Baklava?  Yes Please.

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