Recipe Tuesday: Healthy Football Snacks

Last Tuesday, the Ohio State Buckeyes played in the Sugar Bowl. Instead of going to a bar filled with tempting, unhealthy food, we decided to stay home & watch the game. I whipped up some healthy "snacks" to have as dinner during the festivities. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the food, as we were both starving by 8:30pm when we finally sat down to nosh.

In addition to the great guilt-free potato skins below, I also made baked chicken fingers (I dip the chicken in bread crumbs without using an egg wash), a hot ricotta cheese dip (using part-skim ricotta cheese), & some phylo dough wrapped cheese triangles. It was all a lot more satisfying than having the usual high fat, high calorie chips & queso!

Guilt-free Potato Skins
recipe from the awesome Hungry Girl

Ingredients
3 medium-sized potatoes
1/2 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
2 tbsp. imitation bacon bits
1/4 cup chopped chives and/or fat-free sour cream and/or salsa (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prep potatoes by washing & drying to remove dirt & piercing them several times with a fork to prevent bursting while cooking. Place potatoes on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave for 4 minutes. Turn potatoes over & return to microwave for 4 more minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Using a fork, gently scrape out the bulk of the flesh. Place potato skins on a baking dish spritzed with nonstick spray. Cook for 8-10 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your potato skins.

Evenly distribute cheese and bacon bits onto potato skins. Turn off oven, but return skins to the oven until the cheese has melted (for crispy crunchy cheese, leave the oven on).

Remove and top with chives. Cut skins in half. Serve with fat-free sour cream and/or salsa. Makes 3 servings.

Five for Friday

1. It's back! I thought I would return to Five for Friday because I've found myself with a lot to share lately & not always the photos to do it with. So if you enjoy rambling posts to end your week, this is your place. If not, I suggest checking the ol' blog Monday through Thursday only. I'm going to warn you though: I am feeling verbose today. With that being said...

2. How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was lovely. It was spent in Ohio at my in-laws for the first time ever (the first Thanksgiving trip there, not the first time ever going to their house. Just in case that wasn't clear). My mother-in-law cooked up a turkey & all the fixin's & I made two pies. We ate in the early afternoon, so afterward was filled with much football watching & relaxing. Friday, I drove to Columbus & did some Black Friday shopping with one of my best friend's. She had a list & a plan & we pretty much stuck to both, which was shocking. Saturday was the best day of all, but that needs its own section on this post, so I'll get to that in a minute. All in all, an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

3. Saturday was an epic day in college football. Now, I know that word is thrown around a lot, but it truly was. At noon, Ohio State played Michigan in The Game. Ohio State won The Game, which means that, as of today, it has been 2568 days since Michigan's last victory over Ohio State in football (yes, there are people in Columbus who keep track of such things. Mainly the newspaper).

As if that wasn't exciting enough, at 3:30pm we had Florida State vs. Florida in their big rivalry game. My Florida State Seminoles have not won this game in six years &, quite frankly, it was getting embarrassing. But I had a good feeling about this year. For an extra stroke of luck, I busted out my t-shirt from their 2000 win (my freshman year there), & wore that in lieu of my traditional 'Nole gear. Well, it must have worked. Because they won. BIG. I think I also scared my in-laws with my manic screaming, chopping, fight song singing, running up to the TV & mimicking throwing the spear & other general Florida State hoopla. Regardless, 'twas a good day.

4. To cap off what made Saturday so great (& Tuesday & many days to come) my super, fantastic, wonderful brother-in-law brought me a whole case of my second-most-favorite* beer ever: Great Lakes Brewing Company Burning River pale ale. Not only is it 1. from Cleveland & 2. only available in the Ohio-area, how can you not like a company that makes fun of the fact that in1969 the Cuyahoga River, which runs next to downtown Cleveland, was so polluted it caught on fire. Yes, a river caught on fire. Randomly. Completely on its own. Love it & love the beer. Since we were driving back, instead of flying, I was able to bring the case home for enjoyment throughout the bowl season & whenever the mood strikes. Brian, you're a rock star.**

*My favorite beer is Great Lakes Christmas Ale which is almost impossible to find in bottles. I did snag a glass on draft when I made Brad take a wild lunch detour so we could go to a restaurant that was rumored to have it on tap. Thank goodness that rumor was true!

**Perhaps if I keep using adjectives to describe how great he is, he'll buy me another case.

5. Are you ready for the holidays? How is it December already? Where has 2010 gone? Craziness, I tell you. I was scroog-ing it up until yesterday when I decided to decorate a little tree for my office & was suddenly struck with the holiday spirit. Which is good because I have a lot of baking, chocolate making, present wrapping & tree decorating to get to!

Happy Friday!

Five for Friday

1. Holy wowzers, Batman! Autumn has returned to the D.C. area in force today & I couldn't be happier about it. It was a crisp 65 degrees in the house this morning, with the windows wide open & a great breeze moving through the place. These days call for sweatshirts, jeans & mugs of coffee while watching football. Too bad it's a work day :)

2. With the return of fall can only mean one thing: the return of football season! The college games kicked off last week (very proud of OSU so far) & the NFL season kicked off last night. Brad & I are beyond excited & looking forward to a great season for all the teams we cheer for. Additionally, we (I) discovered last night that our TV does picture-in-picture, thus allowing me to watch Ohio State vs. Miami & Florida State vs. Oklahoma at the same time this weekend. All is right in the world.


Photo © Christina Saull-All Rights Reserved

3. Last weekend, we were in Minneapolis visiting my grandparents & other family that lives there. We had a heck of a good time just sitting around & talking, BBQ-ing, & taking my three cousins (ages 12, 11 & 6) to breakfast Monday morning. I'm so lucky to have grandparents that are not only still alive, but relatively young. I am thankful for every minute of quality time I get to spend with them.

4. Even though it was only a four day week, this week has seemed to drag on forever. Why is that?

5. Finally, I have a special September 11th blog post prepared for tomorrow, but I just had to share the email that Brad just forwarded me from his boss:

Subject: Have a good weekend

"All:

"Tomorrow is September 11th. Take a moment as you rush through your Saturday to think about what you are thankful for.

"For me, days like September 11th are important reminders to focus on what is important and not to sweat the small stuff."

Wow. Powerful.

& she's exactly right. Take a moment tomorrow, hang up Old Glory with pride, give the people you love a hug & remember those lost nine years ago.

January 1 = football!!!

We treated New Years Day as it is meant to be treated: like a day to worship the best sport there is!! We parked our butts on the couch all day, only breaking to warm up snacks and do a little laundry.

breakfast of champions: a denver bagel sand-o from Brugger's Bagels

football food!

Rose Bowl action

Did you ever wonder what it would look like if you photographed that last swig of beer? I think it looks kind of cool! (the top one is without flash, bottom one with)

Happy 2008 everyone! May you have a joyous and prosperous year!