My Super Yummy and Super Healthy Superbowl Menu!

Chicken wings...pizza...chili...chips...dip. Typical Superbowl menu - but I really want to NOT have the junk food hangover come Monday!! So, I've been on a quest redo my Super Bowl menu - recipes need to be easy ingredients, easy to make and most importantly - yummy!

Here are my planned substitutions:

Instead of Chips and Dip....Zucchini Chips and Skinny Ranch Dip

Zucchini Chips (Recipe from BestLife.com)
Makes - 4 Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 large zucchini

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.
2. Thinly slice the zucchini on the diagonal, about 1/8″ thick. Place the slices in a large bowl and toss well with the oil, salt, and garlic powder (if using).
3. Arrange in a single layer on the baking sheets.
4. Bake, turning often, for 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F and bake until splotchy brown and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.

Nutritional Information per serving: Calories - 56. Fat-  3.5g,  Protein - 2g, Fiber - 2g, Carb - 6g.

Skinny Ranch Dip (Recipe on skinnytaste.com)
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients: 

• 2 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp fat free plain Greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped scallion
• salt and fresh pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and serve. Keeps refrigerated for about 2 days.
Nutritional Information per serving: Calories - 41.3 Fat-  4g,  Protein - 0.8g, Fiber - 0.2g, Carb - 1.7g.

 

Instead of Beef Chili....Crockpot 3 Bean Turkey Chili

Crock Pot 3 Bean Turkey Chili (Recipe on skinnytaste.com)
Makes 12 servings (10.8oz serving)

 Ingredients: 

• 1.3 lb (20 oz) fat free ground turkey breast
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (4.5 oz) can chopped chilies, drained
• 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, undrained
• 1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, undrained
• 1 (15.5 oz) can small red beans, undrained
• 2 tbsp chili powder

For the Topping:

• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro for topping
• shredded cheddar to top (extra pts)

Preparations:
1. Brown turkey and onion in a medium skillet over medium high heat until cooked through.
2. Drain any fat remaining and transfer to crock pot. Add the beans, chilies, chickpeas, tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder mixing well.
3. Cook on high 6-8 hours.
4. Garnish with onions, cilantro and cheese and enjoy!

Nutritional Information per serving: Calories - 206.3 Fat-  1.4g,  Protein - 16.8g, Fiber - 9g, Carb - 31.8g.

Instead of Chicken Wings....Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites

Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites (Recipe from skinnytaste.com)
 Makes - 6 servings (1 serving is about 1 cup of cauliflower)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 22 oz (6 1/2 cups) cauliflower florets
• 3/4 cup Franks Hot Sauce
• 1 tbsp melted unsalted butter

Preparation:

1.  Preheat the oven to 450°F. Lightly spray a large non-stick baking sheet with oil.

2. Combine the water, flour, and garlic powder in a bowl and stir until well combined.

3. Coat the cauliflower pieces with the flour mixture and place on the baking sheet; bake for 20 minutes.

4. While the cauliflower is baking, combine the hot sauce and butter in a small bowl.

5. Pour the hot sauce mixture over the baked cauliflower and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes. Serve with skinny blue cheese dressing if desired and celery sticks.

Nutritional Information per serving: Calories - 119.4. Fat-  2g,  Protein - 4g, Fiber - 3g, Carb - 21.4g.

 

Instead of  Pizza....Quinoa Pizza Bites

Quinoa Pizza Bites

Makes ~40 bites

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 cup chopped pepperoni slices (~1/2 of a 7 oz bag) 
• 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried crushed oregano
• pizza sauce for dipping

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Mix together all ingredients, except pizza sauce, in a medium mixing bowl.

3.  Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup to the top (1 heaping Tbs each), and press down gently to compact. 

4.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Nutritional Information for 5 bites per My Fitness Pal: Calories - 175, Fat - 10g, Protein - 9g, Fiber - 2g, Calcium - 10mg, Carbs - 12g

So what would you save if you made these changes?????? 

•  11 Lays Potato Chips = 160 calories, 10 grams of fat vs Zucchini Chips = 56 calories, 3.5g fat

• 2 tbsp Helluva Good French Onion Dip = 50 calories, 5g fat vs Skinny Ranch = 41 calories, 4g fat

• Wegman's Chili (10oz)= 351 calories, 13g fat vs 3 Bean Turkey Chili = 206 calories, 1.4g fat

• 3 Hooter's Chicken Wings = 520 calories, 38g fat vs Spicy Cauliflower Bites = 119 calories 2g fat

• 1 slice Papa John's  Pepperoni Pizza = 330 calories, 14 g fat vs 5 Quinoa Bites = 175 calories, 10g fat

Traditional Super Bowl Menu = 1,411 calories and 80g fat
Substituted Healthy (but still yummy) Menu: 597 calories and 20.9g fat
Total Calories saved = 814 calories and 59.1g fat

Winter Survival Activity: Sock Puppets

So the holiday rush is over....we made it! Congrats!!!

Now that leaves about 3 looooooong months of cold weather, snow and lots of time indoors with children. That is potentially a recipe for losing your mind as a parent (ongoing chorus of "I'm bored!", bickering siblings, too much TV...)

So, I've decided to find activities to do with the kids that look fun and then rank it based on success of the activity with the kids, amount of prep required, level of mess, level of hands on Mom, etc.

This first activity was making Sock Puppets and Puppet Show.

Ratings:
Overall Score - Would definitely do again
Cost of Materials - about $20
Prep Time - Virtually None
Level of Mess - Some Mess
Level of Hands on Mom - Pretty High
Kids Engagment Level - Pretty High

Part One: Make the Sock Puppets:

I bought this sock puppet kit at Joanne Fabrics from Creativity for Little Kids. So, there was no prep involved (with a coupon, I got 2 kits for $11 each - it made 6 sock puppets). If you have your own sock puppet materials, you can probably get this to be cheaper (I also have materials left over so we can do this again, which would further reduce the cost).


My 7 year old was able to do this on her own, but she flew through the craft portion in about 10 minutes. My two 4 year olds needed me to work with them on their puppets, but they really loved figuring out how they wanted their puppets to look and they picked out all the decorations for their puppets. However, I did have one minor temper tantrum when I placed a felt decoration in the wrong spot and found that the adhesive was pretty strong...it was there to stay, not to the liking of my son!!!

It took about an 50 minutes to make the sock puppets for the younger two (I sent one to play while I worked with the other one, so it was more like 20-25 minutes per pre-schooler).













They puppets came out cute but there was a little clean up involved with all the adhesive backings. I had to do a quick vacuum - but not too bad.

 

 Part Two: The Puppet Show

We just got an air popper machine for Christmas so I made a big bowl of popcorn for a snack (the kids love watching the popcorn pop!). Then I made a make-shift stage with two chairs and a blanket. Each child was given 5 minutes to perform a "show" with their puppets while the rest of us watched. One show included all the kids and their puppets and that turned into a minor meltdown - highly recommend the solo performance unless your children just LOVE to share the stage together!!

Overall, a good activity for today! If you have any tried and true indoor activities for your kids, I'd love to hear them!!!!