Alternative to ginormous deep-fried onion thingees

You know those ginormous deep-fried onion thingees served at chain restaurants? The one you order and pretend it's a good thing because it's a 'vegetable'? Believe it or not they are 2,710-calories and they are only an appetizer! CRAZINESS! The newsletter from Hungry-Girl.Com has a re-work for this tempting little devil in disquise and I thought I'd share it with you today. (Note: If you haven't checked out their website yet I highly recommend it.)

Here it is:
This swap for those notorious fried onion appetizers is slightly more complicated than our other recipes -- but it is SO, SO, SOOOO worth it! And if you share this giant thing with 3 pals (instead of 1), each serving'll have just 96 calories, POINTS® value of 1*. Rock on, Bloomin' Blossom!

Ingredients:

For Onionn:
1 jumbo sweet onion, not peeled
1 cup Fiber One bran cereal(original)ground to a breadcrumb-like consistency in a blender or food processor
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Original Egg Beaters)
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt (like Lawry's)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. black pepper

For Sauce:
3 tbsp. fat-free mayonnaise
2 tsp. ketchup
1/8 tsp.seasoned salt
dash chili powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine ground cereal with the seasoned salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

Cut the top half-inch of the onion off (from the pointy side, not the flat one). Leaving the root (bottom) intact, carefully peel the outside layer off.

Next, starting from the top, carefully cut the onion down and across the middle, stopping about a half-inch from the root. Repeat to make a criss-cross, cutting the onion down the middle again and stopping a half-inch from the bottom. You should now ha ve 4 sections still attached at the bottom. Cut each of those sections down the middle (from the top), again stopping before you get to the root.

Place the onion, cut side up, in a large bowl, and cover completely with ice water. Allow to sit for 5 - 10 minutes, or until "petals" open up. (You can use your hands to gently help pry them open once they've been soaking for several minutes.) Remove the onion, and dry both the onion and the bowl.

Once both are dry, place the onion back in the bowl, with the petals up. Pour the egg substitute evenly over it, making sure to get in between all the petals (use your hands to separate them). Swirl egg substitute around so the bottom and sides of the onion get coated. Then flip the onion over to drain excess egg substitute. The entire surface of the onion should be covered lightly with egg substitute. Transfer onion to a separate, dry bowl. (You'll likely have about half the egg substitute left in the first bowl.)
Slowly sprinkle ground cereal mixture evenly over the onion, making sure to thoroughly coat each petal -- again, use your hands to separate them -- flipping the onion upside-down once you're almost done coating, so that the entire surface gets coated in crumbs. (If needed, spread a little more egg substitute on any dry spots to get the crumbs to stick.) Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray, and place the onion in it with the petals facing up.

Place dish in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes (until outside is crispy and inside is soft). Meanwhile, combine sauce ingredients. When onion is done, allow it to cool slightly. If you like, carefully cut out the center of the onion (so petals are easy to remove). Serve with sauce and enjoy! MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Serving Size: half of recipe (including half of the sauce)
Calories: 192
Fat: 1.75g
Sodium: 700mg
Carbs: 54g
Fiber: 17g
Sugars: 13g
Protein: 7g

Points value 3*