Want a break from high calorie, salty, fatty, sugary, and over-processed Super Bowl snacks?
The staff from the Center for Science in the Public Interest is recommending six recipes and packaged foods for Super Bowl entertaining.
“This Sunday, Americans should be more concerned with over-inflated bellies, not under-inflated footballs,” said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director for the center. “Consider making at least half of the food you serve on the healthier side of the spectrum, including generous amounts of fresh vegetables or fruit. Not all of your guests will want to eat like a linebacker, anyway.”
Vegetables are a good option for mindless nibbling, Jacobson said. Fresh veggies contribute to lower rates of heart attack and stroke, especially if they’re replacing higher-calorie salty snacks such as pretzels or potato chips.
The center’s recommendations for Sunday include:
- Veggies and Hummus. Make your own hummus. Or buy a packaged brand such as Sabra, Tribe, or Athenos. Serve with platters of baby carrots, red pepper slices, cherry tomatoes, or snow peas. A typical hummus has about 50 to 70 calories per two-tablespoon serving.
- Roasted Chickpeas. Chickpeas aren’t just for making hummus. Roasted, they make a snack that’s high in fiber and a good source of protein. The Good Bean Roasted Chickpea Snacks come in seven flavors, including Cracked Pepper, Thai Coconut, and Smoky Chili & Lime. Saffron Road Crunchy Chickpeas is another option, which offers Korean BBQ, Falafel, Wasabi, and other flavors. A quarter cup serving has about 120 calories.
- Chipotle Chicken Lettuce Wraps. This recipe is an alternative to wings. Flavored with garlic, chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, and orange juice, these lettuce wraps are garnished with scallions and slivered tortilla chips. They have about 400 calories a serving.
- Cannellini Beans and Chorizo. Instead of a big vat of chili, consider this 5-ingredient, 20-minute recipe for white beans and chicken or turkey sausage. This dish keeps sodium under control, 370 mg, and packs 6 grams of fiber for only 300 calories.
- Clementines. Put out a big bowl full of sweet, easy-to-peel, and kid-friendly clementines or other variety of mandarin orange. Halos and Cuties are two varieties of the small seedless, citrus fruit, usually sold in bags or small wooden crates. Each has about just 40 calories and a gram or two of fiber.
- Flavored waters. Instead of soda, consider serving seltzer water spiked with fruit juice, or if you’re more ambitious, pitchers of spa water flavored with slices of citrus fruits, cucumbers, herbs such as basil or mint, and berries.
Have a good – and healthy – time watching the Super Bowl.
