Chips and Dips

The Super Bowl is coming!  It may not be a surprise to some, but Super Bowl Sunday is second only to Thanksgiving in calories eaten in one day.  Approximately 1200 calories are eaten by the average American during the game.  This does not include any breakfast or lunch eaten earlier in the day.  There are many ways to help tame the calorie count such as choosing or serving sub sandwiches instead of pizza and hot dogs; loading up on fresh veggies and low fat dip instead of fried chicken wings.  For this post I'm going to discuss one of my favorite party foods, chips and salsa.

Last year our neighbor served lays baked scoops with the infamous Rotel tomatoes+Velveeta cheese dip.  It was of course placed on the coffee table in front of the TV so we could all dig in and watch the game.  A serving of 1oz (15 chips) + 2Tbs cheese dip:
202 calories, 7.8g fat, 4.3g saturated fat, 25g carbohydrate, 7.7g protein, 538mg sodium
For the most part it's pretty devoid of any nutritional value, and who actually sticks with these small serving sizes.  Personally I can put 1/4 to 1/2 Tbs on one chip.  All that dip adds up quickly.

Instead of serving cheese dip or fatty spinach dip think SALSA!  Not only that, but serve some guacamole along side it for a boost of heart healthy fats.  Yesterday Ryan and I tried Garden of Eatin's new three pepper, blue corn tortilla chips.   We needed something crunchy to go with our homemade burritos.  I also picked up a package of Dancing Iguana guacamole...it was on sale.  The best part about this guac is that it contains only 'real' ingredients: avocado, jalapeno puree, dehydrated onions, lime juice, salt, and garlic.  Pretty much the same things I would put in my own guacamole.  The chips are delicious and have sweet/spicy taste without adding excess salt. Compared to regular white or yellow corn, blue corn contains slightly less starch and slightly more protein per serving; plus it packs a greater antioxidant punch thanks to it's deep blue/purple color.

(blue corn research)

 A serving of chips (15) + 2Tbs guacamole + 1/4 cup of our favorite Trader Joe double roasted salsa adds up to:
210 calories, 12g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 25g carbohydrate, 3g protein, 500mg sodium.  For a similar amount of calories you get 3 times the amount of toppings!  Not only are you saving on saturated fat and sodium, but you also get a boost of vitamins A & C.