How To Make Your Tailgate Party a Little Healthier

Tailgating and football go hand-in-hand just as much as chips and salsa. Speaking of chips and salsa, there are several ways that you can make this dish and others at your tailgate party a little healthier by making a few smart food choices.

In this post, we’ll let you know how you can still enjoy good food, watch some great football, and keep those inches off your waste by sharing with you a few of our tailgate recipes.

So without further ado, back to those chips and salsa….

Skip the Cheese

Chips and salsa, and fries for that matter, get a whole lot unhealthier when you drench them with melted cheese. So do yourself a favor and omit the cheese if you can allow yourself to do so. Sure, cheese tastes great with anything, but it also contains a lot of fat and extra calories that you don’t need.

Also, have you noticed how Subway and Gandolfo’s have started selling baked Lays and other brands of potato chips? That’s because baked is healthier! Needless to say, you can also find baked tortilla chips at your local grocery store. Not only are they healthier, but they are just as tasty as well.

Lean Meat and Wheat Bread

Speaking of sandwiches, meat is always a must at a tailgate party. Along those lines, concentrate on buying lean meats that won’t balloon your fat count. The leaner the meat, the healthier of an option it’ll be.

Also, if you’re planning on making a bunch of subs, you should also consider buying wheat bread or rolls instead of white. Wheat contains fiber that is essential for a healthy diet because of its ability to cleanse a body’s system. And if you’re wanting to eat super healthy, you can also avoid the mayo or miracle whip as well.

Consider the Vegetable Platter

Now, we know that veggies aren’t the most popular food item…especially at a tailgate party. But it doesn’t hurt to at least have a small platter as an option for you and other health-conscious guests. Containing a host of vitamins and minerals, there is nothing better for your body than a hearty helping of veggies.

Also, we all know that a veggie platter has to come with dip right? Look for a low-fat dip alternative that can complement your healthy food option. After all, its no good to take one step forward, if you’re just going to take one step back by drenching your carrot in a high-fat ranch or cream cheese dip.

Fruit Over Cookies

Lastly, dessert is a must as well when it comes to tailgating. Sure cookies, brownies, and the like are great and all. But you’re body is not going to like all that sugar and fat that it intakes…trust us on this one. Although you’ll probably still want to accommodate your friends with some goodies, you can also consider providing a healthy dessert alternative such as a fruit platter or kebob.

After all, who doesn’t like grapes, watermelon, pineapple, honey dew, cantaloupe, and especially strawberries?

Last Word

In ending, we’d encourage you to try out these ideas. See which ideas your friends and family like, and don’t like, and then stick with the one’s that work. You may be surprised at how much they enjoy eating healthy food options…

Easy and Healthy Meals To Prepare

Often, we tend to eat out when we don’t feel that we have enough time to cook a well-prepared, healthy meal – or at least that’s our excuse anyways. Well, if you’re someone who feels that you’re always in a time crunch and that its affecting your diet, we’re here to help you out!

In this post, we’re going to go over a few of our favorite “30 minutes to prepare or less” meals that can have you well (and healthily) fed and still leave you with enough time to attend to other things.

Fish Tacos from Heaven

If you like Mexican, and you life fish, you’ll love this easy-to-make recipe. Sure, you can go to any mexican or tex-mex restaurant and probably find a hearty sampling of fish tacos, but making them yourself will be much healthier and less expensive.

Here is what you’ll need for this recipe:

-Store-bought fresh salsa
-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-1/3 cup beer (or ginger ale)
-8 ounces tilapia fillet, cut crosswise into 1-inch wide strips
-2 teaspoons canola oil
-4 corn tortillas, warmed

Now then, once you have all the ingredients you’ll need, you can start cooking. First of all, you’ll want to combine the salt, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, and flour into a medium-sized mixing bowl. From there, you can whisk in the beer or ginger ale if you don’t drink alcohol, to create your batter.

Once you have the batter prepared, you can dip and coat your tilapia into the batter. From here, take a large skilled and heat it over a medium-heat burner. Once the skilled is nice and hot, place your tilapia on the skillet and let it cook until the outside has a nice crispy and golden tinge to it. You can also flip the tilapia over after a few minutes to brown both sides evenly.

Once your tilapia is done cooking, simply serve it with the corn tortillas and salsa! This recipe only contains 2 grams of saturated fat, 57mg of cholesterol, 408mg of sodium per serving, and 409 calories combined, per serving.

Grilled Cheese Anyone?

Grilled Cheese can be the perfect lunchtime meal or with tomato soup on a cold, winter day. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including:

-4 poblano peppers (see Note)
-1 14-ounce can pinto beans, preferably low-sodium
-3 tablespoons prepared salsa
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese
-2 tablespoons low-fat plain yogurt
-3 scallions, sliced
-2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
-8 slices sourdough bread
* You’ll need a panini maker for this meal as well

Once you have all of your ingredients in order, you can place the 4 poblano peppers in a covered bowl and microwave them on High for about 3 to 4 minutes. Once they are done, let them cool.

While the peppers are cooling, you can combine the salt, salsa, and beans in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Make sure to “paste” the beans by mashing them up with a fork. Once you’ve accomplished this task, you can combine the yogurt, scallions, cilantro, and cheese in another bowl.

Now, back to the peppers. Once they are cool, cut them in-half and be sure to slice off the stems and seeds. When you’re done cutting the peppers, turn you’re panini maker onto its High setting. While the panini maker is heating up, you’ll want to spread your bean mixture evenly over 2,4,6, or however many slices of bread you’re going to eat (remember, 2 slices = one sandwich).

From here, you can sprinkle the cheese mixture on top of the bean mixture, put 2 pepper halves over the cheese, and then you’re all set! Place one slice of bread on top of the other, and you can stick it in the panini maker.

This recipe only calls for 415 total calories, 3 grams of saturated fat, 13mg of cholesterol, and 761mg of sodium per serving.

The Mac and Cheese You Don’t Bake

You’ve probably heard of No Bake Cookies before, but have you heard of No Bake Mac and Cheese?! Here is what you’ll need for this recipe:

-8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles (2 cups)
-1 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli
-1 3/4 cups low-fat milk, divided
-3 tablespoons flour
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
-3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
-1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
-1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Once you’ve gotten all of these ingredients together, you’ll first want to get a large pot of water boiling. Once the water is boiling, throw your pasta in. From here, you can add the frozen broccoli and continue to stir occasionally until the broccoli and pasta is cooked.

In the mean time, you can heat the milk in other pot until its simmering. While the milk is simmering, go ahead and add the garlic powder, salt, pepper, flour, and a little more milk together in a small bowl. This mixture can then be combined with the simmering milk. Once this is done, continue to stir and cook the mixture until it looks thick.

When the mixture is done, you can take it off the burner, and add your cheddar, parmesan, and mustard cheese into it until they all melt. Now you can go back to your broccoli and pasta, drain it, and add it to your cheese sauce mixture. This should all then be put over the burner again for a few more minutes to heat your mac and cheese all the way through.

In this recipe, you’ll only be indulging in 412 calories, 7 grams of fat, 37mg of cholesterol, and 640mg of sodium per serving.

Final Word

We hope you’ll try these recipes out and give them a shot. Its always nice to be able to feel “domesticated” while you’re preparing an easy, healthy, and speedy meal for yourself and your family.