There’s something about watching football that just screams out for junk food. Chips, wings, pizza – as long it’s greasy, it goes with the game. But if you’re trying to stay fit this fall, you can’t just pig out in front of the tube.
Here are a few easy-to-make ideas for healthy football snacks from Dr. Margaret Lewin, Medical Director of Cinergy Health:
- Toasted pumpkin seeds ? Check out this recipe at Epicurious
and add your favorite seasoning (see readers? reviews for variations). - Veggies – cut up raw vegetables such as carrot sticks, celery, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower and add some healthy dips such as:
- Muhammara ? a Middle Eastern dip with roasted red peppers, garlic, cumin and pomegranate molasses ? Epicurious has a good recipe.
- Guacamole
- Bottled salsa
- Smoky Chipotle Hummus ? check out this recipe.
- You can also bake your own low-fat chips for any of the dips listed above.
- Seasoned nuts such as Black Pepper Almonds ? sweet and spicy; check out a recipe here (see suggestions from ?Todd from Vancouver? in the readers? reviews)
- Portobello Bruschetta – these take a bit more time to prepare, but fly off the plate when you entertain. Recipe is here.
If you?re up for something sweet, try?
- Maple pecan popcorn ? try using less salt, a healthy brand of microwave popcorn and heart-healthy margarine and mixed unsalted nuts.
- You can make your own sports bars with dried fruit and peanut butter. To make it even healthier try using brown rice syrup rather than corn syrup (see readers? reviews for variations).
See – it’s not so hard to be healthy while watching football. Now put down the chips and start cooking!
photo credit: Sister72
September 30th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
You can still have tasty snacks even though they are healthier for you. Try The Electric Kitchen to get some handy kitchen appliances to make your cooking easier.