Lets eat some Greek!

We had some of our best friends over last night for a dinner party! I love entertaining and usually do alittle too much!! So this night we went greek I didn't take pictures of everything because by the time dinner was done I couldnt help myself but dig in to all the awesome smells!! I can give you all the recipes I used or came up with. So that you can have your own greek themed night. I always like to have some sort of appetizer because dinner is never done on schedule. So I made hummus. Here is what u need. I had all this stuff laying around. And this was the recipe I came up with-


Ingredients:
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
4 cloves garlic
1 can garbonzo beans (chick peas)
2-4 T. EVOO
salt to taste


Roast red bell pepper in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes on a baking sheet. @ 15 minute mark flip your pepper and toss in your garlic cloves skin still on. roast 10-15 minutes longer or until garlic is tender. When garlic is soft take pan out of the oven and remove skin from both the pepper and garlic and shove in a food processor blend into a paste. Next drain your beans and pour them into your food processor pulse until incorporated. Drizzle in some of your EVOO and check your consistency. Add more as needed!! Then check your flavor add salt as needed pulse a couple time to incorporate. I also added a pinch of chipotle rub(pampered chef) I like alittle spice you could easily do cayenne or anything else you have lying around or it would be fine alone either way this is a good recipe if you like hummus.

I also made Turkey gyro burgers and authentic oven roasted greek potatoes.


I used this recipe for a couple of parties when I did pampered chef and it was always a crowd pleaser. It is also pretty low cal I am guessing cause it is made with very lean ground turkey. I could not find pitas and most of the time when I can they are stale so I decide to do a little spin of my own and make gyro burgers.
Here is the turkey gyro recipe I used:

Gyro Meat:

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Yogurt Sauce:

1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/8 tsp salt

2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped

1/4 cup cucumber, finely chopped

4 flat pita rounds without pockets
Sliced cucumbers and tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the above gyro ingredients. Mix vigorously until well blended. Form turkey mixture into four, thin rectagular loaves about 1/4 inch thick. ( I made six burger patties)

Cook in a nonstick skillet on medium heat for 1-2 minutes on each side or until browned. Place skillet in oven and bake an additional 11 - 13( I cooked them in the oven for 5 mintues and they were done) minutes or until loaves are no longer pink in the center. Remove turkey loaves from oven. Thinly slice lengthwise.

Meanwhile, prepare sauce. In a small bowl, combine all sauce ingredients.

To finish gyros, warm pita bread in oven. To serve, arrange turkey slices over pita bread, top with 1 tablespoon of yogurt sauce, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes.( I piled it all on whole wheat burger buns)

Recipe from Pampered Chef's "29 Minutes to Dinner" cookbook

I also made authentic oven roasted greek potatoes also called patates sto Fourno:

this recipe I found on About.com

Ingredients:

• 5-6 potatoes, peeled and cut in to evenly sized wedges
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Two lemons, juiced (plus more for serving)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Note: When I serve these with roast lamb, I also add a teaspoon of dried rosemary to the mixture and that works very well.

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, add the sliced potatoes and toss them with the remaining ingredients until they are well coated.

Lightly grease a non-reactive half sheet pan with olive oil. Place the coated potatoes in a single layer and drizzle them with any remaining marinade left in the bowl.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for approximately one hour. Carefully turn the potatoes halfway through cooking to prevent them from sticking and to brown them evenly.

Re-season with salt and pepper and squeeze a bit more lemon juice (if desired) when they are fresh out of the oven.




I hope these recipes inspire you to get together have a good time with some friends and of course have some good food!