It’s almost that time of the year—football season! And what’s football season without tailgating? Burgers, brats, chips and dip are just a few of the scrumptious grub you’ll find at these events. Then again, tailgating fare isn’t exactly the healthiest kind of food and while it’s tempting to chomp down on all of these greasy treats, they don’t exactly leave you feeling so great. Nonetheless, we love football here at DMA and we LOVE tailgating. Wishing we could stay truer to our love for fresh produce and keep it a little FRESHER for football games, we put our heads together to create this list of fresh swaps for our tailgating favs. Use these recipes to share with your friends and family so that they too can #ChooseFresh!
Burgers and tailgating are practically synonymous. We love this Turkey Burger from Balanced Healthy Life because it doesn’t skip on the flavor!
Balanced Healthy Life Turkey Burger
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lean turkey meat
- 1 lb. lean turkey meat
- 1.2 cup reduced-fat cottage cheese
- ½ red or green bell pepper, chopped
- ¼ cup chopped roasted banana
- peppers
- 1/8 cup parmesan cheese, coarsely
- shredded
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Preheat the grill. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.
2. Shape the turkey mixture into four burger patties.
3. Grill for about 4-6 minutes per side, or until the turkey is fully cooked through (add cheese at the last minute you grilling if you want a cheeseburger!)
4. Serve with whole wheat buns and your favorite burger toppings!
Every tried a sweet potato fry? These addicting little morsels are perfect to munch on at tailgate parties!
Baharan’s Baked Sweet Potato fries
Ingredients
- 3 sweet potatoes
- 2-3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbs. freshly minced garlic
- 1 ½ tbs. chili powder
- 1 ½ tbs. cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Peel and cut sweet potatoes into half-inch thick fries
- Toss olive oil (just enough to coat fries), minced garlic and seasonings until well incorporated.
- Spread evenly across 2 baking sheets coated with parchment paper, foil or non-stick surface. Do not overlap.
- Sprinkle generously with kosher salt and bake 30-45 minutes, or until crisp. Flip fries halfway through cooking time.
- Serves 3-5 people, depending on how hungry you are! Enjoy!
Lastly, try this Creamy Avocado Yogurt Dip from Two Peas and Their Pod to spread on the burgers or accompany the sweet potato fries! Yum!
Ingredients
- ½ cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
- 2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tbs. freshly chopped cilantro
- 1 tbs. finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
- 2 tbs. fresh lime juice
- ¼ tsp, ground cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Place the yogurt, avocados, garlic, cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice, and cumin in a blender or food processor. Mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Now you can go football-crazy and eat healthy, too. I encourage you to try out these recipes with your friends and see what they think. That’s if they even notice what they’re eating is full of vitamins and other nutrients our bodies crave. You can tweak any of these and make them your own: Greek yogurt is an excellent base for any healthy sauce or dip, turkey burgers could easily become beef or veggie burgers and you can experiment with the seasonings on the baked sweet potato fries. It’s all up to you and your taste buds.
Now, to the most important part of this post: Who’s your favorite team?
