Wednesday Wellness: Healthy Alternatives to Super Bowl Favorites


Do you find Super Bowl Sunday one of the most nutritionally challenging days of the year?!!

Would you love it if you could have chicken wings, pizza, fried mozzarella and ribs all day and still wake up a pound thinner?

Well, I can’t promise that, unless you are actually the running back for one of the Super Bowl teams, but here are some slight variations to those favorites!

1)      Buffalo Wings: *

Ingredients:
8 oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast, cut into 10 nugget-shaped pieces
1/4 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original), ground to a breadcrumb-like consistency in a blender or food processor
1 oz. (about 14 crisps) Pringles Light Fat Free Potato Crisps, Barbecue (or another fat-free BBQ-flavored potato chip)
3 tbsp. Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
dash onion powder
dash garlic powder
dash cayenne pepper
dash black pepper
dash salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Crush potato crisps completely and, in a small dish, mix with cereal crumbs. Add a dash of each of the seasonings and mix well. Place chicken pieces in a separate dish, and cover and toss with Frank’s RedHot. Spray a baking pan with nonstick spray. Give each chicken piece a shake (so it’s not dripping with RedHot), and then coat it evenly with the crumb mixture. Lay the battered nuggets on the baking pan. Place in the oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Then flip the wings over, and return them to the oven for 10 more minutes, or until outsides are crispy and chicken is cooked throughout. MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 5 wings (half of recipe)
Calories: 175
Fat: 1.5g
Sodium: 1,153mg**
Carbs: 14g
Fiber: 4g
Sugars: <1g
Protein: 27g

2)      Pizza

Ingredients:
Whole wheat lavash bread
Low sodium tomato/ spaghetti sauce or low fat hummus
Chopped chicken breast (or similar low fat meat)
Grilled veggies (get these from most deli counters already roasted; whole foods has fabulous roasted veggies)
Shaved veggie cheese or low fat mozerella cheese

Directions:
On top of lavash bread, lightly spread tomato sauce OR hummus.  Top with shredded chicken, vegetables and cheese.  The more veggies the better.  Bake in the oven @ 350 for 10 min or until the bread is lightly crispy

3)      Ribs

Try “Gardenburger” riblets and save yourself half the calories!!

4)      Mozzarella cheese sticks *

Ingredients:
2 light mozzarella sticks (50-60 calories and 2.5g fat per stick)
1/4 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original)
2 tbsp. fat-free liquid egg substitute
salt, pepper & Italian seasonings; to taste
Optional: low-fat marinara sauce (for dipping)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor or blender, grind Fiber One to a breadcrumb-like consistency. Place crumbs in a small plastic container with a lid. Season crumbs with as much salt, pepper and Italian seasonings as you like. Set aside. Cut cheese sticks in half, so that you have 4 sticks. Place sticks in a small bowl, and pour egg substitute over the top of the sticks. Swirl egg substitute around so that it thoroughly coats the sticks. One by one, transfer sticks to the container with the crumbs. Cover container, and give it a shake to coat the sticks in the crumbs. Carefully return sticks to the dish with the egg substitute, and coat them again. Next put sticks back in the crumbs container, cover, and shake once more to coat (try doing this two at a time the second time around). Place sticks on a baking dish sprayed lightly with nonstick spray. Spritz the tops of the sticks with a quick mist of the spray. Place dish in the oven, and bake for 10 minutes (or until the first sign of cheese oozing out). If desired, serve with warm marinara sauce. Best when eaten immediately, while cheese is hot and gooey!

Serving Size: 4 pieces
Calories: 155
Fat: 5.5g
Sodium: 500mg
Carbs: 13.5g
Fiber: 7g
Sugars: 0g
Protein: 19g

If making these are simply too much, go for jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce!  That’s always a high protein low calorie snack goodie nearly everyone loves!

Have fun!

*Compliments of Hungry Girl


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