Healthy Tailgating: 11 Easy Recipes
Football season is without a doubt my favorite time of year. I love watching my favorite team play on a Sunday afternoon or evening from the end of summer into the new year, no matter what the outcome of the games may be. When I'm lucky enough to actually go to a game (instead of watching it at home with friends or at my local watering hole) the best part isn't picking out whose jersey to sport at the game, it's deciding which snacks to bring to the tailgate.
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The tailgate is a hugely important part of attending a football game; there's nothing better than being able to socialize with friends and fellow football fans over a tasty nosh or two. If you're anything like me, once you get inside that stadium, the only "socializing" you'll be doing is screaming at the ref for his multiple bad calls against your team, and ordering another tallboy from the traveling beer men (okay, maybe that's just me).
For most of us, the tailgate portion of a football game means some aggressively unhealthy eating. Greasy burgers, multiple mayonnaise-based and cheese-based dips, and bags upon bags of potato chips... let's just say that if it's unhealthy, you've probably eaten (and over-eaten) it at a tailgate party. But, you've worked hard all summer to retain some sense of a beach body, so why ruin it now just because you're trading in your bathing suit for fall football-game gear?
For your next tailgate, try one of these easy-to-prepare and easy-to transport recipes that won't cause you to stray too far from that summer diet you promised yourself you would stick to this year. Trade in your ranch for peach dipping sauce, your seven-layer dip for grilled pizza, and your beef burgers for turkey sliders, and save the guilt for when you mercilessly taunt the opposing team's fans. Happy tailgating!
Grilled Peach BBQ Chicken Wings
(Credit: Taste of Home)
If you really want to impress your tailgating party friends, you've got to show up with a hell of a chicken wing. This smoky BBQ sauce is perfectly balanced with sweet peach jam dipping sauce, meaning you can kiss your fatty ranch and blue cheese goodbye.
Grilled Vegetable Pizza
(Credit: Thinkstock)
Grilled pizza is not only an excellent and simple-to-prepare tailgate snack, but it's also far more delicious than the standard delivery variety. Cooking it on the grill gives it a perfectly charred crust so you'll have less of a greasy mess.