The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
YOUR GUIDE TO TAIL GATING
Tailgating sampler
Gear up for the big game with these winning recipes.
Are you ready for some football? We’re all gearing up for the Big Game on Monday that pits the Georgia Bulldogs against the Crimson Tide of Alabama in an all-out brawl for bragging rights as No. 1 in the nation. But in these parts, “gearing up” for a football game is more than talking smack (or, in the current clime, rooting through closets in search of a real winter coat). It’s about planning what to eat and drink on game day.
With that in mind, we sifted through The Atlanta Journal-Constitution archives in search of tasty, easy-to-make dishes. Whether you’re tailgating as a lucky ticket holder at Mercedes-Benz Stadium or hosting Dawgnation fans in the warmth of your own home, these recipes for chili, queso dip and popcorn are sure to please.
Meanwhile, it’s also a new year, and plenty of folks are thinking about whittling their waistline. Never fear, we’ve got a few ideas on how the health-minded can partake in football festivities.
Here’s how to tailgate during the biggest game of the year in the dead of winter.
Tailgate without packing on the pounds
Football and food go together very well, but can lead to ingesting excessive calories.
However, Kristen Smith, a die-hard
college football fan and an Atlantabased registered dietitian, knows a little planning ahead of time, and making a few adjustments — such as swapping out processed foods for raw vegetables and sliced fruit — can help curb unnecessary calorie consumption. Smith (an Oklahoma State grad), who is currently the bariatric dietitian at Atlanta Medical Center, said she enjoys chicken or pork barbecue during football season. To keep calories in check, she skips the bread and chips and pairs the barbecue meat with a green leafy salad or raw veggies with hummus.
To prevent mindless eating, she always portions out her food on a plate.
Jennifer Hill Booker, a personal chef in Atlanta, likes to mix traditional football viewing bites with low-fat options. For example, she often begins with a black-eyed pea hummus platter paired with a plate of grilled hot wings, followed by fruit kebabs accompanied by queso and chips.
Booker, author of cookbooks “Field Peas to Foie Gras: Southern Recipes With a French Accent” (Pelican Publishing Co., $26.95) and “Dinner Déjà vu: Southern Tonight, French Tomorrow” (Pelican Publishing, $28.95), said one of her favorite low-fat munchies is
homemade popcorn dishes. By adding some spices such as cayenne or brown sugar for sweetness, popcorn can be an enticing and high-fiber, vitamin-rich alternative to chips. (One of her stovetop recipes calls for up to 1/4 cup of oil and 1/2 to 2/3 cup of popcorn kernels; once popcorn is popped, add 1-2 teaspoons of fresh, cracked black pepper, 1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese and sea salt to taste.)
Whether you are enjoying an outdoor tailgating experience with a grill, or serving crowd-pleasing gameday bites in your living room, Smith offers the following guide to not overdoing it:
1. Be mindful when snacking.
Snacks are one of the main attractions for most tailgates, and it can be easy to overeat the countless number of cookies or chips within arm’s reach. Go easy on these types of foods because they offer little nutritional value and won’t keep you full for long. To ensure nutrient-rich snacks are available, consider bringing one of the following: fruit kebabs or fruit salad; veggie chips (i.e., kale chips or sweet potato chips); airpopped popcorn; veggie tray with hummus or guacamole; bean salad with corn and veggies.
2. Think healthy grilling. Not all foods that hit the grill have to be greasy or loaded with fat. Consider one of these ways to add lean protein and vegetables to your next tailgate: marinate chicken in lowfat salad dressing; add some veggies to skewers for kebabs, or fruit; grill lean beef or turkey patties (choose at least 93 percent lean) and consider grilling a non-meat burger like a bean or veggie burger.
3. Make recipe substitutions.
If you are making the gameday food, don’t be afraid to make some healthier recipe substitutions to keep calories in check. Substitute plain Greek yogurt for mayo in recipes such as potato salad, coleslaw or deviled eggs. Replace half of the fat in baked goods with a fruit puree such as applesauce. Lay off the traditional buns and try using lettuce leaves or sandwich thins to hold your grilled meat. 4. Watch the alcohol. When alcoholic beverages are consumed in excess, they can contribute a significant amount of calories and impair your ability to make sensible food choices. To curb your intake, consider the following: choose a light beer to save about one-third the calories; limit yourself to no more than two drinks for men and one drink for women (a drink is 12 ounces of beer, 1 1/2 ounces of distilled spirits, or 5 ounces of wine); mix distilled spirits with calorie-free beverages, such as sparkling water, and sip a glass of water between alcoholic beverages. Drinking water will keep you hydrated and fill you up — ultimately leading to less eating (and less alcohol consumption).
TAQUERIA DEL SOL JALAPENO-CHEESE DIP
Taqueria del Sol’s Jalapeno-Cheese Dip has long been a crowd-pleaser. So much so that chef-partner Eddie Hernandez includes it in his cookbook“Turnip Greens & Tortillas”(Rux Martin, $30),
written with former AJC food editor Susan Puckett, to be released this April.“People love our velvety cheese dip and are always asking for the secret to how we make it,”writes Hernandez.“The key is using the right cheese, and here is where it can get a little tricky. We use Land O Lakes Extra Melt White American Cheese, the product most respectable Tex-Mex restaurants choose for achieving this smooth texture that’s just the right consistency for dipping a chip into. Unfortunately it’s hard to find retail, but other white pasteurized process American cheeses from the deli case can come very close, such as Boar’s Head.” Hernandez cautions against Velveeta for this recipe due to the minimal ingredients. “There’s nothing to mask those artificial flavors that keep it shelf stable.”He also discourages using a more expensive, natural cheese. “The sharper the cheese, the grainier it will be,”he says. His final tip: Grate the cheese yourself, just prior to using it so that the cheese does not dry out.
Recipe and text excerpted from “Turnip Greens & Tortillas”© 2018 by Eddie Hernandez & Susan Puckett. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Makes: 5 cups
2 cups milk
8 cups shredded American
cheese
1/4 cup diced pickled
jalapenos
Fresh jalapenos to taste,
diced
In a large saucepan, bring milk to a boil and then remove from heat. Stir in shredded cheese and pickled jalapenos. Whisk till smooth, about 5 minutes. Garnish with diced fresh jalapenos. Serve with tortilla chips.
Per 2-tablespoon serving: 87 calories (percent of calories from fat, 72), 5 grams protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, no fiber, 7 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 22 milligrams cholesterol, 341 milligrams sodium.
SUPER CHEESE POPCORN
Don’t dis popcorn. It’s an easy TV snack to make and serve to a rowdy crowd of football fans who are barely paying attention to what they are popping into their mouths. This recipe, a doctored-up version thanks to melted cheese, comes from popcorn company Doc Popcorn.
8 cups popped popcorn 1 cup shredded cheddar
cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan
cheese
Salt, to taste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, toss together the popcorn and the cheeses.
Spread evenly on baking sheets and bake until the cheese melts, about 5 minutes.
Salt to taste. Makes: about 8 cups
Per cup: 133 calories (percent of calories from fat, 54), 9 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 8 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 23 milligrams cholesterol, 291 milligrams sodium.