The Super Bowl is right now the corner (in fact, 2 weeks from today!), which means another excuse to eat unhealthy foods, right? I am sure a lot of you are thinking YES, but let’s change your answer to “this year, I want to make healthier versions of typical football party foods and not feel so guilty the next day!”

I might be able to help you out! I have selected a few typical Super Bowl foods and made a slimmer version that you might be interested in making this year!

Check out my recipe ideas and let me know what you think!

1. Lemon Drop Chicken Wings with Spicy Honey Mustard

CLICK HERE TO PRINT RECIPE

Ingredients:

Marinade:

• 1/2 cup of plain vodka
• 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice (about 2 squeezed lemons)
• 3 tablespoons of white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

2 lbs of chicken wings

Spicy Honey Mustard:

• 3 Tablespoons of Whole grain mustard
• 1 Tablespoons of Honey
• 1/2 cup of non-fat plain greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

Directions:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients.
2. Place the chicken wings into a gallon plastic bag and pour the marinade over the chicken wings. Refrigerate the chicken wings for 2-4 hours to soak up the marinade (I let mine sit overnight).
3. Pre-heat oven for 400 degrees F. Prep a cookie sheet with 2 layers of tin foil. Spray tin foil with olive oil.
4. Place marinated chicken wings on cookie sheet and cook for 1 hour. Turn over the chicken wings every 15 minutes.
5. Mix together all the Spicy Honey Mustard ingredients for a chicken wing dip.

This chicken wing recipe was inspired from HERE 

2. Low-Fat Spinach Artichoke Dip with Baked Pita Chips

CLICK HERE TO PRINT DIP RECIPE

CLICK HERE TO PRINT PITA CHIP RECIPE

Ingredients:

Dip

• 16 ounce of plain low-fat greek yogurt (I used fage plain 0% greek yogurt)
• 1-14 ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained, chopped
• 1-8 ounce can of water chestnuts, chopped
• 1 10-ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed, and drained
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon of garlic, minced
• 1 packet of vegetable/onion dip mix
• 1 cup of 2% mozzarella cheese, shredded

Pita chips

• 6 inch pita bread
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme to taste

Directions:

1. Mix all the dip ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Put mixture into a crockpot, sprinkle a little extra mozzarella cheese on top, and cook on HIGH for 1 hour
3. Slice two  6 inch pita bread into 8 pieces each.
4. Brush olive oil on top of every piece
5. Sprinkle a little of salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme on top of every piece.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
7. Once the dip is warm and cheese is melted, you can dig in with your baked pita chips and veggie sticks!
   

   carrot and celery sticks are great dippers too!

Spinach Artichoke Dip inspired from here

*The chunkier the dip, the more veggies per bite!

3. Low Fat Crab Stuffed Mushrooms- NO cream cheese and mayo! 

CLICK HERE TO PRINT RECIPE

Ingredients:

• Mushroom Filling:
  • 8 ounces lump crabmeat
  • 2 Tablespoons of chives, minced
  • 2 Tablespoons of red bell pepper, minced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon of yellow mustard
  • 3 Tablespoons of 0% plain greek yogurt
  • 2 teaspoons of old bay seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 cup bread crumbs (I food processed 1 slice of whole wheat bread)
• 12 mushroom buttons (wash and remove stems)
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt ( a pinch)
• 1/8 teaspoon of pepper

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven for 350 degrees F, prepare baking sheet with alumni foil and olive oil spray.
2. Mix together all the mushroom filling ingredients.
3. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper to the washed/destemmed mushrooms.
4. Stuff mushrooms with filling.
5. Bake mushrooms for 25 minutes and broil for 5 minutes.

Recipe inspired by Neo-Homesteading

4. Baked Beat Chips, Baked Zucchini Fries, and Baked Onion Rings (refer to previous posts) 

5. Individual Veggie Pizzas

CLICK HERE TO PRINT RECIPE

Ingredients:

• Vegetables of choice sliced: Eggplant, zucchini, or portabella mushroom.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Pizza Sauce
• Cheese: mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, parmesan, etc.
• Toppings: basil, olives, bell pepper, tomato, mushrooms, crushed red pepper, etc. (whatever you have on hand)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet with a layer of aluminum foil.
2. Place sliced veggies on the baking sheet and brush each veggie slice with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Bake sliced veggies for 10 minutes.
4. Remove sliced veggies from oven and place your pizza sauce, toppings, and cheese to make your pizzas complete.
   

   Add just 1-2 Tablespoons of pizza sauce on top of every veggie slice

   

   Be Creative with your toppings! Go light on the cheese!

5. Baked pizzas for 10 minutes and broil for 3-5 minutes.

Veggie Pizza’s inspired by 1, 2, 3

6. Sloppy Joe Lettuce Wraps

CLICK HERE TO PRINT RECIPE

Ingredients:

• Sloppy Joe Mixture
  • 1.5 lbs of lean ground beef or turkey (93% lean, leaner the better)
  • 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
  • 4 ounce can of tomato paste
  • 2 Tbsp of yellow mustard
  • 3 Tbsp of brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar
  • 1 medium yellow onion, minced
  • 3 gloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 red bell pepper, minced
  • 1.5 tsp of chili powder
• 2 heads of bibb lettuce
• Optional Toppings: avocado, mozzarella cheese, jalapeños, plain greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Cook and brown the beef in a pan. Drain the juice and add the beef to the crockpot.
2. Add all the other sloppy joe ingredients into the crockpot and mix the sloppy joe mixture well.
3. Cook sloppy joe mixture for 4-6 hours on LOW (2-3 Hours on HIGH).
4. Place 2 Tbsp of the Sloppy Joe mixture onto each bibb lettuce leaf. (Optional: Add toppings) 

Wrap your bibb lettuce leaf and take a bite! 

 Sloppy Joe Recipe adapted from Family at Heart

*if you don’t have a crockpot, you can make the sloppy joe mixture in a large pot on the stove. Bring sloppy joe mixture to a boil and simmer for 1-2 hours!

Don’t worry I didn’t forget about DESSERT!

7. Chocolate Covered Strawberry Footballs

Ingredients:

• Fresh strawberries, washed
• Dark chocolate (I used ghirardelli dark chocolate)
• White icing for the football details (pre-made in a squeeze bottle OR you can make your own icing and put it in a sandwich bag, in which you will cut off  a corner of the bag to pippet the icing onto the strawberry)

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate (melt in the microwave, double broiler, or glass bowl on top of a saucepan heating up water)
2. Dip strawberries in the chocolate and place on wax paper/aluminum foil on top of a baking sheet or plate.
3. Put chocolate covered strawberries in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens.
4. Now it is time to be creative with your football details with white icing on top of the chocolate (no matter how good your details look, at least you know it will taste good!)

Inspiration from Pretty Please

8. Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Footballs 

Rice Crispy Recipe adapted from Oh She Glows  & football shape with white icing details inspired by Life Love Beauty

Hopefully, you can use one or more of these recipes to make your Super Bowl party dish (es) lower in fat and calories.

A few other game day tips to think about:

• Avoid having nuts, chips, pretzels, and other snacky type foods around that add excess calories while watching the game. However, popping your own popcorn would be a good choice (without butter of course!), if you do want something to snack on that is not a fruit or vegetable and is still considered low-calorie.
• Use plain greek yogurt as a base for your dips (avoid using sour cream, mayo, and cream cheese).
• Incorporate vegetables in your dishes to replace pasta, bread, and chips OR to make dishes more dense with healthy nutrients.
• Drink zero or low-calorie beverages.
• Always keep in mind to eat in MODERATION and don’t go to your super bowl party absolutely starving!

And lastly, enjoy your SLIM Super Bowl Party foods and of course GOOD FOOTBALL & GOOD FRIENDS!