Score Big with this Skinny Game Day Menu

Tailgating is a sport of its own, with more than 70 million Americans hosting or attending tailgate parties to root on the home team. But here’s the Game Day dilemma: How can you enjoy yourself and serve up great-tasting food without racking up the calorie and nutritional penalties? Julie Upton, MS, RD, CSSD from Appetite for Health is here to help with a winning strategy.

The four food groups of football—beer, wings, pizza and chips and dip can really pile on calories. In fact, a tailgate party can set you back some 1,500 calories—and that’s all before kickoff. By the fourth quarter, it’s not uncommon to eat and drink several days’ worth of calories. Some simple substitutions in your Game Day menu can make you the “MVP” of the party. Here's what to serve and what to sideline, and several winning recipes to try.

Blitz on Chips and Game Day Dip: Opt for baked chips instead of fried to slash calories and fat and make your dips with nonfat plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. Using a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt in place of regular sour cream shaves off 315 calories and 45 grams of fat from your dip recipes.

A Few Skinny Dip Ideas:

Skinny Artichoke Dip
Creamy Cold Parmesan Spinach Dip
Hot Spinach Dip
Skinny Taco Dip 
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip
Southwestern Black Bean Salsa

Wings pack in about 75 calories—not counting the dip! Bench Wings and Put Burgers on Your Playbook: For a main course to serve and ones to sack, go with burgers made from ground sirloin or 95% lean ground beef; or make a turkey or salmon burger.

Try these leaner tasty options...

Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw
Chicken Parmigiana Burgers
Turkey Burgers with Zucchini
Spicy Black Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayo


If you’re serving pizza, make sure it’s veggie-rich and ask for half the cheese and meat toppings. Or eliminate the bread altogether and serve these Zucchini Pizza Bites.

Score with Extra Light Beer: As an official food group of football, beer is required if it's a real football party. There are 150 calories in a bottle of regular and 95-100 in most light beers. But if you try a new extra light choices, like MGD 64, Budweiser Select 54 or Beck's Premier Light you'll not only have a skinnier sip, you'll help damper the appetite-stimulating impact of alcohol.

Guest Post from Julie Upton, MS, RD, CSSD from Appetite for Health 

Santa Fe Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Santa Fe inspired stuffed bell peppers loaded with a zesty filling of ground turkey, corn, black beans, hot peppers and tomatoes, topped with melted cheese and scallions.

These were sooo good I heavily debated saving this recipe for the cookbook! They have just the right amount of kick, but you can certainly turn the heat up a bit more if you like.

High in protein and fiber, one serving filled me up with a side of sliced avocado and a little sour cream on top, but if you want more carbs, a side of cilantro lime rice would be perfect!

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Skinny Pumpkin Granola

              

Making your own granola is easier than you think, and the beauty of doing it yourself is you can customize it to suit your taste and it's6 so much cheaper than buying it in the store.

Since pumpkin is so popular this time of year, I thought it would be fun to make a pumpkin version using oats, quinoa, maple, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, pecans, pepitas and dried cranberries.

Granola is great to eat alone as a snack, or over yogurt, but my favorite way to eat granola is with some fresh fruit and almond milk; it's one of my favorite quick breakfasts.

I paired this with some fresh chopped apples and pears, if you have some pumpkin butter, you can even stir some in... yum! (FYI, the cute spoon is from For Such A Time Designs)

The trick to keeping a bowl of granola cereal light is the ratio of fruit, milk and granola. First I fill my bowl with fresh fruit, then top it with 1/3 cup of granola and then some unsweetened almond milk. It's a great way to get your serving of fresh fruit and has lots of fiber to keep you feeling full longer. I've included the nutritional info both ways, for your convenience.

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Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies

Don't you love the smell of homemade oatmeal cookies baking in the oven!

Once a month I contribute a skinny dessert recipe to Dash Recipes. If you love a moist, chewy oatmeal cookie, you'll just love these! Under 200 calories, and 5 points plus for 2 cookies. Please visit Dash Recipes for the complete Skinny Oatmeal Walnut Raisin Cookies Recipe.

I usually use quick oats in my oatmeal cookies because I prefer the end result, but rolled oats will work just fine in any of these recipes.  

For the chocolate lover, these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies will hit the spot!

For the pumpkin obsessed! These chewy, Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Cookies made with quick oats, pumpkin, and chopped pecans will bring delight with every bite.

And my personal favorite, Banana Nut Oatmeal Cookies taste like banana nut bread, but in a cookie.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Lasagna

By replacing the lasagna noodles with thin sliced zucchini you can create a delicious, lower carb (gluten-free) lasagna that's loaded with vegetables, and you won't miss the pasta!

This recipe is from the archives, but needed a photo-makeover. I also like to make some of my older recipes over to see if I can improve them. I made slight adjustments to the original recipe, so if you have an old printout, you may want to re-print it. This feeds eight, and is quite filling. Everyone in my house likes it, including my picky daughter.

The first time I made this, I didn't grill the zucchini first, but there was a lot of liquid so I found grilling it first greatly improved it. I soaked up as much of the liquid as I could with paper towels before layering the ingredients. I think the next time I make this, I'll try it with turkey sausage in place of the ground beef, I bet it will be spectacular!

Tip: Using a mandoline is a must to slice the zucchini thin, and it's quick and easy. You can also make the sauce ahead of time if you want to speed this up for a weeknight.

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Skinny Chicken Pesto Bake

Baked chicken breast topped with skinny basil pesto, tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Quick and easy, serve this with pasta or zucchini noodles (zoodles) for a low-carb meal.

This is a great way to use up your end-of-summer basil. If it's still warm out, you can also do this on the grill.

As the weather turns cooler, I've been making and freezing skinny pesto in small batches to keep on hand throughout the year. You can freeze them in ice cube trays and measure them out or use small containers like I did here. Enjoy!

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Mushroom Stroganoff

A quick and easy meal, perfect for Meatless Mondays! A combination of Shiitake, Baby Portabella and Cremini mushrooms with noodles in a light creamy sauce.

I played around with Mushroom Stroganoff a few times last week (until we were sick of it) for a Meatless Monday option. Now don't get me wrong, I love Beef Stroganoff, so for me it was a challenge to get the flavor of the beef without using any meat as well as keeping it creamy yet light. The bonus of making it without the beef is that you can eat more for less calories and fat.

Using a variety of mushrooms gave nice textures and flavor and the Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste helped give me some of that beef flavor I was looking for. I love Ronzoni Smart Taste noodles, I think they have the best taste but No-yolk and Healthy Harvest are also good options.

As a kid, I always topped my Stroganoff with grated Parmesan cheese. This is completely optional, but I personally think it makes any noodle dish go from good to great. Hope you enjoy!

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Pumpkin Nut Muffins

With a chill in the air, weekends in the Fall are perfect for baking muffins. These pumpkin nut muffins have very little oil, but lots of pumpkin taste. The pecans add a little crunch in every bite that I just love! Enjoy them with some hot tea or a cup of pumpkin spiced latte!

This is basically a variation of my Pumpkin Bread with Pepitas, if you prefer to make these into a Pumpkin Nut Bread, the baking time will be 50 to 55 minutes.

And coincidentally, these are dairy-free for those with a milk intolerance. Not sure if they can be made gluten-free, but I think I'll test it out soon with a GF flour and see. If anyone has a favorite GF mix, feel free to comment, I heard Williams Sonoma's GF mix is really good.

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Baked Chicken Parmesan

An Italian classic, lightened up. Baking the cutlet as opposed to frying really lightens this dish up while remaining moist and full of flavor. Serve this over pasta or with a large salad to keep it on the lighter side.

This recipe is from the archives which first made it's appearance back in 2009. I decided to update the photo because my photo skills were lacking back then.

We all love this dish in my home, it's perfect for a weeknight yet good enough to serve to company. This is also how I bake my chicken cutlets if you want it without the cheese and sauce. Kid friendly and delicious, make this tonight!!

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Beef Barley Soup

 

A hearty bowl of soup made with carrots, celery, onions, lean beef and pearl barley.

When I was a kid, we had soup for dinner almost every night. Sometimes we had a bowl as a first course, and other times as a main dish. I wasn't always very happy about this, because believe it or not I was a very picky kid. But when my Mom served Beef Barley, I never complained.

This soup is perfect for the cooler evenings as we head into Fall. It's a one pot meal that's really simple to make, but it takes a little over an hour for the meat to get tender, so keep that in mind if you're pressed for time. The pressure cooker is perfect to speed this up, I've also included instructions if you own one.

I wasn't sure what my toddler would think, but I fed it to her anyway and to my surprise she ate it. Leftovers only get better and make a great lunches; this also freezes great if you want to make freezer meals for the month. To make this soup gluten-free, you can sub the barley for quinoa.

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Skinny Pumpkin Overnight Oats in a Jar

Pumpkin spiced overnight oats with pumpkin butter, banana, chia and spice in a jar (no cooking required!) I know what I'll be eating for breakfast every morning for the next few weeks.

I've been eating overnight oats in a jar all summer, it's perfect to make the night before and eat on a busy weekday or even to bring to work. A few weeks ago someone emailed me about making a pumpkin version which I thought would be perfect for the Fall.

This weekend I whipped up a half batch up pumpkin butter (aka- pumpkin heaven on a spoon) and I stirred it into my oats along with chia, bananas and pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and it was delightful! If you like your oats a little sweeter, you add a few drops of stevia, honey or maple, but for me it was just right.

Pumpkin season's back which prompted me to create a Pinterest board called Pumpkin Madness for all my pumpkin recipes. If you're pumpkin obsessed, you'll want to follow this board! I also have them all in the recipe index, which you can see here.


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Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Summer plum tomatoes roasted in the oven with garlic and herbs make an easy and delicious sauce that will fill your kitchen with an intoxicating aroma.

The end of summer means using up my garden vegetables and herbs before the weather changes. It seems I wait all summer long for my tomatoes to ripen, then I wind up with so many tomatoes I don't know what to do with them!

One of my favorite things to do with tomatoes this time of year is to roast them. The flavors of the tomatoes get concentrated and makes a wonderful sauce for serving over pasta or freezing for the future.  If you think four pounds of tomatoes is a lot, you'll be surprised! Four pounds reduced down to the contents of this jar.

What else do I like to do with my end of summer tomatoes? I have tons of recipes that use fresh tomatoes, but these recipes are a must!

Tomato Bisque - one of my favorite soups and perfect this time of year
Panzanella Salad - Using a good crusty bread is a must here!
Easy Garden Tomato Sauce - Perfect for grape tomatoes
Heirloom Tomato Sandwiches - So simple and delicious!
Heirloom Tomato Salad - I can eat this with some crusty bread and call it a meal!
Tomato, Mozzarella and Arugula Tower - A perfect meatless Monday lunch

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Greek Salad Sandwich

If you love a Greek Salad, then you'll love this sandwich. Crisp Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, feta cheese and red onion on ciabatta bread with a touch of oil and red wine vinegar. 

Some of you have been asking me for more sandwich recipes to pack up for work, school or to eat on the road. This is a great sandwich, it's meatless but has plenty of flavor from the olives and feta. You can even add some sun dried tomatoes.

Other sandwiches I love that don't require heating up Egg Scallion and Tomato Sandwich, Tomato Roasted Pepper and Mozzarella Sandwich, Prosciutto Arugula and Balsamic Sandwich, Heirloom Tomato Sandwich, Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Avocado and Tomato, and my favorite... Roast Beef, Arugula and Shaved Parmesan. More sandwiches are coming soon, what are some of your favorite sandwiches?

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Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

Cheesy baked pasta made with Italian chicken sausage, mozzarella, ricotta, Pecorino Romano and spinach (but don't worry, no one will care about the green stuff). Perfect to feed a hungry family!

This is also easy to make ahead, then pop it in the oven when you are ready to eat. If you like to freeze meals ahead for the month, this freezes well after baking. To freeze, I like to cut it in portions when it's cold, then wrap them in plastic and freeze individually. When frozen you can put them in large freezer bags and label them so you can take out as many or few pieces as you want at a time.

If you don't want to make such a large amount, you can easily halve this recipe and make in a square baking dish as I did in the photo above. Italian turkey or chicken sausage works great, use whichever is available near you. For a meatless version, try this Baked Ziti with Spinach recipe.


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Raspberry-Blueberry Gazpacho with Fresh Mint

A simple, chilled sweet berry soup topped with fresh berries and mint topped with frozen yogurt. The perfect dessert if you're having company because you make it ahead and keep it chilled until ready to serve.

I get so many magazines delivered to my house yet never seem to find the time to read them. However, I found myself thumbing through last month's Bon Appétit and came across a Mixed Berry Gazpacho with Basil by Chef Michael Laiskonis and ripped out the page.

I changing it up slightly using raspberries and mint from my garden and some store bought blueberries. It was so easy to make and a perfect light ending to my meal. They topped theirs with olive oil and fresh cracked pepper, but I kept it simple and made it without. A scoop of Stonyfield's frozen yogurt was the perfect finish to this easy light summer dessert.

And let's just talk about this spoon for a minute, isn't it the most darling spoon? If you love supporting local artists on Etsy, you'll love this giveaway from For Such A Time Designs, she creates fun vintage hand stamped and re-purposed flatware and lucky me, she agreed to do a giveaway! If you're interested in her pieces go to Skinny Bits for the giveaway!

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