A Healthy Super Bowl Party Dip, Chip and Sandwich Recipe

Buffalo chicken wings with ranch dressing, hot Dogs, burgers, chips, dips, nachos, bratwurst, and sausages are food staples found at most Super Bowl parties. An excellent opportunity to add a few more pounds to your body weight and increase your cholesterol level.

You can cut down your chances of putting on more weight at your next Super Bowl party by substituting classic Super Bowl dishes with a few health alternatives. The key to picking a successful healthy alternative Super Bowl food is not only flavor. You must also be able to eat it with your hands! Most food at Super Bowl parties is served buffet style. You must be able to make a run for feed trough, and get back to the game quickly with food in hand.

Here are a few recipes that satisfy both Super Bowl party food requirements that offer a more healthy approach to the Super Bowl buffet. These dishes not only taste good, but they also allow you to remain mobile enough in your quest to find the best seat in the house to watch the big game. Included are two side dishes and healthy sandwich alternative.

Appetizer
To start your Super Bowl party off right a delicious appetizer like artichoke dip served in a bread bowl. Whenever my wife and I need to whip up a quick appetizer we make this bread bowl dip. You can even make the artichoke filling the night before. They day of the game, simply cut out the bread bowl and bake the dip as described in the recipe. Your guests can take chunks of bread removed from the bowl and dunk it right into the dip. This recipe uses low fat products to make a healthier artichoke dip, along with the steps to create a delicious bread bowl.

Bread Bowl Artichoke Dip
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chopped of chopped spinach
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 8 oz. low fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
A dash ground pepper
1 cups shredded part skim milk mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped (usually a 14 oz. can)
1 loaf of Hawaiian style bread

Preparation:
Crush the garlic, place a little olive oil in a pan in the stove and saute on medium heat for a minute. Add spinach and cook for a few minutes until it just starts to wilt, remove pan from the stove. Allow the spinach to cool. Mix sour cream, softened cream cheese using a mixer on medium to high speed until you have smooth consistency. Add the chopped artichoke, chopped spinach, garlic, and remaining cheeses and mix with a spoon until it is even.

Cut out the center of Hawaiian style bread so that it forms a bowl shape. Try to make sizable chunks out of the bread that you remove, leaving enough bread along the sides of the loaf that will support the dip. Set the bread that you removed from the loaf aside.

Place the dip mixture in the hollowed out bread bowl. Wrap the bowl in tin foil and bake in a preheated oven at about 325 degrees for about 20 minutes. Check to see if the mixture is bubbling. If additional time is needed, then remove the foil from the top of the bowl and cook for a little longer.

Serve on a platter with the chunks of bread that you removed from the center of the load. Once the chunks are gone, encourage your guests to tear right into the bread bowl itself for a delicious treat.

The Side Dish
Next on the the agenda is to create a healthy dip for your side dish. Most dips are cheese or cream based, and contain a lot of fat. Cut down on fat by using a healthy base for your dip. Here is a recipe for a low fat dip called hummus. Hummus is made from chickpeas, which are more commonly known in the United States as garbanzo beans. Chickpeas have been a food staple for about 7000 years, going all the way back to the time of the ancient Egyptians You can not go wrong eating a food with that kind of history!

Hummus also uses tahini to help give a unique flavor to the dip. Tahini is a ground sesame paste that is commonly used in hummus. If it is not available in your grocery section, try a local Asian grocery.

As an alternative to serving regular potato chips and tortillas with your dip, serve celery or carrot sticks. If chips are an absolute must, use baked potato chips. You can also split open several pita breads, cut into triangular pieces, and bake them in the oven for a few minutes till they turn crispy. Instant pita chips!

Basic Hummus Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cans garbanzo beans (or chickpeas they are the same)
5 large cloves garlic (or more if you like garlic)
1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
4 tbsp fresh lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt, to taste

Preparation:
Drain the beans and save the liquid. Place every thing in a food processor and blend until it is smooth. Then add a little of the liquid from the beans to get the right consistency. That is about it! There really is no correct method to making hummus. It will always vary.

Some recipes call for any combination of cilantro, lemons, walnuts, tomatoes, basil. Just pick two or three flavors that you would like to combine, and you could easily incorporate them into a hummus dip.

The Main Course
For our sandwiches you can kick it up a notch with a spicy chicken sandwich on a pita. These pita sandwiches will satisfy any hamburger crave or buffalo wing crave during the big game. This sandwich can also complement your favorite beverage.

Spicy Chicken Sandwich Recipe
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
Pita breads.
1 chopped bunch of green onions
1/4 cup sliced mint leaves
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 red bell pepper chopped julienne
1 Serrano chili, finely chopped
1 head of shredded Napa style cabbage
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Dressing:
1/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of tahini or 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
1 clove of minced garlic
2 tablespoons fish sauce
A dash of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
Place a 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and bring to a medium heat. Pan fry the two chicken breasts over a medium heat, searing on both sides. If a grill is a available, then grill the breasts. Make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked. When the chicken is ready remove from the heat and set aside to allow it to cool. Once the chicken is cooled, shred both breasts with a pair of forks.

In a large bowl mix the mint, green onions, cilantro, Serrano chili,red pepper, and peanuts with the shredded chicken. Add a dash of salt and pepper to taste.

In a separate bowl combine all of the dressing ingredients. If you want the dressing to be a little more spicy, add a little more cayenne pepper.

Add the shredded cabbage to the dressing and mix.

Serve by slicing a pita bread in half. Scoop in a little of the chicken mixture into the pita pocket. Then scope in the cabbage mixture as a garnish. Drizzle remaining dressing inside the pocket.

You can also serve the pitas open faces style on a platter. Split the pita open and spread the cabbage evenly on the pita, and then layer the shredded chicken on top of the cabbage.

Even those these recipe offer a healthy alternative to the standard fare found at Super Bowl parties, remember that moderation in how much you eat will also help keep the extra pounds off.