Thursday, 08 October 2009

• Game Time Doesn't Have to Be Gain Time

  
  

  
  It’s that time of year again: football season. My boyfriend and I are the only ones of our friends with the Sunday Ticket TV package so we often host football parties. If your football parties are anything like ours, they involve lots of sitting on the sofa, drinking beer, and eating junk food. One day I realized that as the hosts, we weren’t required to serve junk. We could provide some healthy snacks to munch on during game time. We switched out our chips and dip for veggies and hummus and I searched for some yummy, but healthy recipes.

  One of my favorite, new half-time snacks is guacamole. Many people think of guacamole as being unhealthy, but while it does contain fat, it’s the good, monounsaturated kind found in avocados. To make my guacamole, you’ll need: 2-3 Haas avocados, 1 small tomato, 1 medium jalapeno, 1 large clove of garlic, 1 lime, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 lime, and some fresh cilantro.

  1)    After mashing the avocados, mix in the olive oil.

  2)    Mince the clove of garlic. Scoop the seeds and flesh out of the tomato and chop the outer part of the tomato into small pieces. Scoop the seeds and white center out of the jalapeno and chop the rest of the pepper up into small pieces. Toss all of this into the avocado mixture.

  3)    Chop a handful of cilantro leaves and add them to the guacamole. Cut the lime in half and squeeze half of the lime’s juice into the mixture. Add salt to taste.

  To make it extra healthy, I chop red and orange bell peppers into squares and serve those with the guacamole instead of chips. Peppers are much lower in fat and sodium and they are packed with vitamin C.

  I also love to serve English muffin pizzas. Whole-wheat English muffins are packed with healthy grains and are low in calories, so I like to use them as the crust. I top the pizzas with part-skim mozzarella, peppers, mushrooms, or a little pepperoni. Pop a tray in the over for 12-15 minutes and the crust will be crunchy while the cheese is gooey.

  Do you have any healthy snack ideas? Please share your recipes.

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