Recipe
Let me give you an idea of what weekends look like at my house. Every weekend. {And some Mondays. And Thursdays. And all those days in between.}
Football. Football. And more football.
The only thing that changes are the shape of the ball, the length of the sleeves, and the team on the jersey. And occasionally the brand of beer.
I’ve learned there’s only two options: a) Become a football expert. b) Embrace it.
Option b includes keeping the boys happy. Keeping the boys happy includes feeding them.
On occasion, believe it or not, football-watching boys want something besides spinach dip and hummus. Whaaat? I know, I know. They’re crazy.
But I do have a favorite man-friendly dip. My mom used to make it all the time growing up, but we’ll pretend it was something I made just for the boys & their football. And we’ll pretend I spent all day on it. Don’t tell anyone it takes less than 3 minutes.
I have a feeling this will be making a re-appearance this weekend during the Superbowl.
Warning: it’s not pretty. Then it wouldn’t be a man dip.
It’s really hard to make. Ready?
Put cream cheese in a bowl.
Pour chili on top.
Microwave & stir until comes together and there are no cream cheese chunks left.
Serve straight out of bowl and eat with Scoops!
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by with a Side of Sneakers
- 1 package Neufchâtel cheese (1/3 reduced fat cream cheese)
- 1 can turkey chili no beans (I used Hormel)
- Scoops {or other tortilla chips}
Combine cream cheese and chili in a bowl.
Microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until thoroughly combined.
Serve warm with chips.
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Will you be watching the Super Bowl? Who are you rooting for? What’s your favorite football snack?
giveaway
At the risk of restirring up the chip company sponsoring a health conference controversy & my blasphemous idea that original chips may be a better choice than baked, I’m hosting a Labor Day giveaway courtesy of Frito Lay.
I figure I consider myself healthy, and I eat chips, so let’s just be real about it. Sometimes it’s not just about the chips- sometimes its about what goes with them- like spinach dip & pita chips!
Here’s some other dip ideas from the Frito Lay dietitian (yup, a chip dietitian.)
Watermelon Salsa
- 3 cups finely diced seedless watermelon
- 1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced (use the seeds to add spice)
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup minced red onion
- ¼ cup lime juice
- Kosher salt to taste
In a medium bowl, combine the watermelon, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, onion, and lime juice. Season with salt and stir everything together. Serve immediately or chill for at least an hour.
Corn and Heirloom Tomato Salsa
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 ears of corn
- 1 to 1 ½ cups cherry heirloom tomatoes, halved
- 1/3 cup minced red onions
- 1 teaspoon minced and seeded jalapeno peppers (use the seeds to add spice)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Lightly brush olive oil on the ears of corn. Grill the corn on all sides for about 2 minutes on all sides. (If you don’t have a grill, you can “grill” the corn over a stove’s flame – just be sure to hold the corn with tongs.) Remove the corn and set aside to cool.
Once corn is cool enough to touch, use a paring knife to cut kernels off cob into a medium bowl. Be sure to cut very close to the cob to use as much corn as possible. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss to combine.
Cucumber Yogurt Dip
- 1 English cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, and seeded
- 1 ½ cups nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Cumin to taste
Grate cucumber halves by hand or chop in a food processor until coarse, but not mushy. Place grated/chopped cucumber in a strainer and cover with a paper towel to squeeze out the excess juice. You may need to change the paper towel a few times.
In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, chives, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. Fold in the cucumber and season with salt and pepper. Add cumin to taste. Refrigerate until chilled, about an hour.
WIN!
Here’s your chance to win a Crate & Barrel chip and dip bowl & extra dip bowls, and some Frito Lay chips of course!
To enter: Leave a comment with your favorite dip & tell me how you’re celebrating Labor day!
Bonus entries:
Share the love: tweet about it, blog it, Facebook it. Come back & let me know in separate comments.
Contest ends Wednesday 9/8!!
Don’t forget to go click on the Dannon badge to get them donate to breast cancer research!
Happy Labor Day!
Food thoughts
Frito Lay recently sponsored a conference focused on healthy living, which raised some eyebrows. While it promoted balance, it was an odd pairing. Read about my opinions & what I learned on the Frito Lay factory tour here. It opened up my eyes to some surprising things. Perhaps the obvious healthier choices like Baked Lays & Sun Chips weren’t such a clear cut choice.
What is healthier to you?
A. Fewer ingredients? or B. Cooking method?
How about:
A. Heart healthy fats? or B. Low fat?
Here are your choices:
Classic vs Baked
The choice is obvious right?
Baked Lays are the clear “healthy” choice.
But are they?
Looking at the options at the top- let’s say your personal health goals are the (A) choices: few ingredients & a source of heart healthy fats. In that case, the “Classic” might actually be your own personal preference.
Let’s look at the labels:
Classic Baked
A Closer Look
Calories
Classic: 150 per serving
Baked: 120 per serving
Fat
Classic: 10g —> 8g unsaturated fats (aka good) vs 2g saturated (bad)
Baked: 2g —> 1.5g unsaturated fats (aka good) vs 1g saturated fat (bad)
Carbohydrate
Classic: 15g —> 1g fiber, 0g sugar
Baked: 23g —> 2g fiber, 2g sugar
Sodium
Classic: 180mg
Baked: 180mg
Ingredients
Classic: 3 ingredients; potatoes, oil, salt
Baked: 8 ingredients; dehydrated potatoes, modified food starch, sugar, soy lecithin, etc.
What Does This Tell Us?
1. Read labels. Don’t assume anything; packaging & wording can be misleading. (Ultimately packaging & labels are marketing tools.)
2. Don’t worry so much. If you want chips for a snack, have chips for a snack. It’s important to look at the big picture, not each individual food. Foods shouldn’t be labeled “good” or “bad”, instead look at your diet as a whole.
3. Know your goal. Decide what’s best for you. What fits best into your picture of “health”? What’s important to you? Number or type of ingredients? Nutrient content? Sugar? The decision can be different for everyone.
What factors do you consider when deciding if something is healthy? Do you read labels?
HLS
I admit, I was a little shocked when I saw Frito Lay was not only a sponsor of the Healthy Living Summit, but was also offering an activity for attendees.
Potato Chips + Healthy Living = ???
Though I’m all about balance & not ruling foods out, I didn’t quite see the connection.
I went back & forth, and finally decided to participate in the tour of the Frito Lay plant. When I don’t understand something, the obvious solution is to learn more about it. Plus, I love “behind the scenes” activities. (Beer tours, anyone?)
To be honest, I was secretly hoping I’d find out some astounding health secret Frito Lay was working into their products, but not so much. It was, however, a fun & informative tour, and I’m glad I went. However, I was left feeling like the day was full of contradictions.
Health Stuff
– Several of Frito Lay’s “original” products contain only 3 ingredients: Potatoes, oil, & salt.
– The oils used are heart healthy! Olive & canola oils aren’t stable enough, but Frito Lay uses a lot of sunflower oil. A majority of the fat in their potato chips ends up being unsaturated.
– “Healthier” versions are being added to the line up: tortilla chips with whole grains, Sun Chips with extra fiber, potato chips with less salt.
The good: No crazy preservatives, chemicals, & fillers in many chips.
The bad: Added fiber comes from “corn bran”, 3 ingredient options only include “original” flavors, little “nutritional” value.
The ugly: Corn, corn, & more corn. Corn bran, corn oil, corn kernels. (Have you read The Omnivore’s Dilemma?)
Sustainability Stuff
– The Beloit, Wisconsin plant is Gold LEED certified.
– Frito Lay is working on a “Net Zero” project- how to make their product with having an impact on the earth. (Capturing heat, recycling water, compostable bags, renewable energy, etc.)
The good: Sustainability is pretty much the equivalent of gold. It rocks. Especially when big companies do it.
The bad: Not all of the plants are using all of the sustainability options the company has.
The ugly: Have I mentioned corn? I’m not sure how that’s being factored into the “zero impact” initiative.
The Tour
On to the actual tour. Seeing the factory at work makes me wish I had decided to be an engineer. Watching the machines in action was amazing. How cool of a job would it be to design a machine that uses color to identify chips that are too brown for consumption?!
Before we were allowed into the plant, we had to take some sanitization & safety precautions.
Hair nets & lint rolling.
Goggles & earplugs.
Ready to hit the factory floor!
Then it was time for some chip action.
Peeled potatoes. I wish they’d leave the skin on. 🙁
Corn squishing for tortilla making.
Uncheesed Cheetos.
Freshly seasoned Cooler Ranch Doritos.
Doritos hot off the press. (So much better than from the bag. Although I accidently tasted the cheeseburger flavored version- gag.)
Evaluating what makes the “perfect” chip.
Lunch & Learn
While we lunched, we listened to a Frito filled presentation.
Lunch was a spinach wrap of marinated veggies, a monster salad, and some fruit.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love fresh pineapple?
There were lots of salad topping options: carrots, sprouts, dried cranberries, walnuts, gorgonzola, croutons, and balsamic dressing.
Health salad balance by yummy treats: a peanut butter cookie & my weakness, Diet Mt. Dew.
Plus plenty of chip snacks- during the presentation, on the tour, and on the bus.
These were some of the regional flavors. We tried the Tangy Carolina BBQ & Garden Tomato Basil. I had to toss my NC loyalty aside- I hated the BBQ version, but the Tomato Basil was great.
The Mad Dash
After a 3 hour bus ride [enter unintentional detour here] to the plant in Beloit, Wisconsin, we were hoping for a quick & uneventful trip back to Chi-town —> a cocktail party was awaiting!
However, no such luck. Chicago traffic had other plans, and eventually it became clear our best option was to debus and hop on the L. 20+ bloggers with overflowing bags of chips rushing through the train station and piling in a single car during train rush hour was quite a sight, but made for a great adventure.
Luckily, we made it in the nick of time. Cocktail party here we come!
Lunch, Training
Lunch
As predicted, I was hungry quite early today! I started off with an appetizer of V8 Sweet Red Pepper soup mixed with a little leftover Tomato Herb soup.
Ouch I burned my mouth on the spoon!
And some RiceWorks Chips.
Then a little later I had my main course: eggplant parm! (Surprise, surprise- I obviously failed to put this in the freezer….it’s just soooo good!)
Triathlon training starts TODAY!
Since my half marathon is in 4 weeks (!!), training for that will take precedence. For now I will approach the triathlon training as cross-training for running. It will be a good way to remind my body how to swim and bike. When the half is over- it’s full on tri mode!
The plan is listed by time as of now. I’m fine with that until the half marathon, but I’d like to make it more specific and distance oriented after that. Anybody have any good recommendations for sprint triathlon training plans that are by distance instead of time?
