FORWARD PROGRESS For a Super Bowl party, consider healthier alternatives to popular recipes
Super Bowl parties don’t have to get bogged down with lots of fat, calories or sugar. Kick your game-day menu up a couple of points with healthier alternatives to some popular recipes. Go into it, too, with a game plan on how to eat smart, whether you’re the host or a guest, because you know you’re going to eat and eat and eat.
“It’s the unofficial American holiday, and it’s celebrated by eating,” says Paul Kita, food and nutrition editor at Men’s Health. “There’s a difference between indulging and overindulging.”
Kita, author of Men’s Health cookbook “A Man, A Pan, A Plan” (Rodale, $15.99), admits he’s guilty of going to a party and overeating. Then there’s the Super Bowl, which he notes offers both a long game time and such traditional goodies as Buffalo chicken wings and brownies. But take heart. You can work around it. “Part of what the Super Bowl is about is variety,” said Jack Bishop, chief creative officer for America’s Test Kitchen. “People want to see options.”
Those options can include healthy, smart items. Here are some tips from Kita and Bishop to put your Super Bowl party into play.
“Whenever you go to a party with a buffet, there’s a supermarket crudites platter out,” said Kita, noting you need to “appreciate it” as likely the only vegetables you’ll get all night. Go there first; the fiber may help prevent overeating later.
While guests can’t do much with the usual supermarket veggie tray but eat it, Kita said hosts can make their own tray stocked with “surprising and delicious” foods, including sugar snap peas, jicama, multicolored carrots from the farmers market, even kale chips fresh from the oven.
Kita
dismisses what he calls the usual “crummy ranch dressing” (try our vegan version of this super-popular favorite) in favor of more healthful dunks, like hummus, guacamole, tzatziki or baba ghanoush.
Bishop zeros in on dips, as well, suggesting ways to boost both flavor and nutrition from the new America’s Test Kitchen book “Nutritious Delicious” (America’s Test Kitchen, $29.99). Add pureed sweet potato to hummus, or garnish guacamole with pomegranate seeds and roasted pepitas. Don’t forget your dippers — look to whole-grain chips or raw vegetables, he said.