Super Bowl becomes Super Healthy!

As the culmination of football season is upon us, here is the start of our Super Healthy Series to help you prepare for the Super Bowl coming up this Sunday!  Not sure where to find local ingredients this time of year?  Be sure to check out City Greens Produce on Friday, Clayton Farmers Market on Saturday morning, or Local Harvest Grocery any day of the week.

Here are some tips, courtesy of SparkPeople to help you have healthier party fare at your Super Bowl bash!
Check out the recipe at the end to apply some of the new tips to the dip!

Ditch the Chips

• When serving dips, try a more nutritious option instead of greasy, fried potato chips. Some ideas:
• Grilled chicken or tofu chunks (Try local St. Louis Chef Dan Brewer's tofu made with non-GMO, Missouri-grown soybeans!)
• Broccoli or cauliflower, steamed or raw
• Bite-sized chunks of crusty, whole-grain bread
• Small whole-wheat pretzels
• Pita chips
• Baby carrots
• Bell peppers, sliced into strips or cut into triangles
• Inner leaves of Romaine lettuce

Dip Tips: Substitute!

• Instead of using store-bought or traditional homemade chip dip, try some new substitutions that will help cut some of the bad stuff, without compromising flavor.   
• Use light mayo instead of regular, neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese, skim milk instead of whole milk, and plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
• Swap pureed white beans for half the mayo in creamy dips.
• Use regular or low-fat mayonnaise for half of the recipe, and replace the other half with reduced-fat sour cream (or Greek yogurt!).  One cup of lower-fat sour cream will provide all the flavor and texture of mayonnaise but cut 1,300 calories and 150 grams of fat from the whole batch.

Don't Leave Dip Pair-a-dice

Even if you have healthier dips available, keep in mind when you're perusing the snack table that one serving of dip is about 1 ounce (about 2 tablespoons) - about the size of a pair of dice.  Just remember with dips to stay in the pair-a-dice rule and you won't over indulge.

Creamy Spinach and Feta Dip 

Ingredients

• 6 ounces nonfat, plain Greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 ounces neufchatel cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
• 1 Tablespoon fresh dill
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

1. Place yogurt, feta cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and crushed garlic clove in a food processor; process until smooth.  Spoon yogurt mixture into a medium bowl; stir in spinach, fresh dill, and black pepper. Cover and chill.  

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light via MyRecipes.com