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Hosting or attending a Super Bowl party on Sunday? 

How fun. Game Day has always been an unspoken holiday in the United States--and another opportunity for friends and family to celebrate. However, Game Day could also ruin your clean eating diet, with junk food and alcohol appearing everywhere, tempting you to splurge on calories and fat.

To continue your weight loss journey with clean eating and still enjoy food at Super Bowl parties, consider trying the easy healthy appetizers below.

Theyre quick, tasty and crowd-pleasing, but most of all, theyre healthy. From creamy dip to crunchy veggies, these clean eating ideas and weight loss foods help you stay on track of a clean eating diet without feeling deprived during the fun-filled American "holiday."

1. Veggies and Hummus Dip

Crunchy veggies in creamy hummus? Yes please!

2. All Natural Corn Chips and Greek Yogurt Guacamole

Have you tried Trader Joes Reduced Guilt Chunky Guacamole?

Its delicious! Made with nonfat Greek yogurt, this lighter guacamole contains only 30 calories and two grams of fat per serving. Yet it tastes just as good, if not better, than traditional guacamole. Im in LOVE with it! Hope you give it a try.

For chips I used Way Better Snacks Simply Beyond Black Bean Tortilla Chips.

Oh my god! They are delicious! Theyre sprouted tortilla chips, which means the grains are sprouted to increase nutrients and better digestion. The black beans also reduce cholesterol. Plus, and again, theyre delicious.

Get them at Way Better Snacks Black Bean Chips.

3. Apple Banana and All Natural Peanut Butter Stack

Just stack all-natural peanut butter, Apple slices and banana together, and enjoy!

4. 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Fruit Dip (by Cooking Classy)

What a creative idea by Cooking Classy! This fruit dip is easy-to-do and protein-rich. To make it even cleaner, I recommend using all-natural, freshly-ground peanut butter, raw honey and nonfat plain Greek yogurt. Still, this is a wonderful and creative idea, and heres the original recipe: Peanut Butter Fruit Dip

Photo credit goes to Cooking Classy.

5. Cucumber and All-Natural Turkey Sandwich Bites

Simple and protein-rich, these bite-sized sandwiches are great for low-carb diet. I eat these often as snack and saw them fitting to be served at Super Bowl parties.

6. Healthy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites (by Gal on a Mission)

Cauliflower fans are in luck because these buffalo-flavored snacks are crunchy, tasteful and nutritious. Rich in vitamin C, folate and fiber, cauliflower is one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables in the world. Due to its thick texture, it can be cooked in various ways, including being used as pizza crust. 

This clean eating recipe transformed cauliflower into a classic Super Bowl appetizer, with saucy, finger-licking buffalo spices and creamy dip on the side. I absolutely adore this idea, and hope you like it too.

Find recipe at Healthy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites.

Photo credit goes to Gal on a Mission

7. Tuna Salad on Roasted Seaweed

Many consider seaweed as super food because its abundant in iodine, which keeps thyroids healthy and therefore regulates hormones. Seaweed also reduces inflammation and is rich in antioxidants.

Seaweed, especially roasted seaweed in this clean eating appetizer, is also tasty. Its slightly salty, crunchy and wholesomely delicious. Add tuna salad on top and these make the perfect bite-sized snack.

Interested in the recipe? Find it at Healthy Appetizer - Tuna Salad on Roasted Seaweed.

8. Crunchy Tomato Mozzarella Pesto Stack (recipe from Clean Eating Recipes Blog)

Not sure about you but I feel that pesto makes everything tastier. The combination of crunchy cucumber and soft tomato also works well. Overall, this was a wonderful, delicious appetizer to both serve and enjoy.

You can find recipe at Clean Eating Appetizer - Crunchy Tomato Mozzarella and Pesto Stack.

9. Paleo and Low Carb Deviled Eggs (by Ripped Recipes)

These low carb treats are made tastier with avocado. Deviled eggs are already crowd-pleasers--and Ive a feeling that these avocado-filled deviled eggs will please even more.

Find recipe at Paleo and Low Carb Deviled Eggs.

Photo Credit by Ripped Recipes

10. Natural and Organic Chips and Snacks

Well its the Super Bowl after all, and you deserve to splurge. But if you splurge, splurge on natural and organic snacks that are non-GMO and contain little preservatives. As long as youre aware, youll find ample choices like Terra Chips (see below), vacuum-fried vegetable, Nuts and Dried Fruit Mixes and organic chocolate.

Terra Chips are awesome! They are made with real vegetables, are non-GMO and gluten- and preservatives-free. Theyre crunchy, delightful and great for snacking.

Get them at Terra Sweets and Beets.

Another awesome idea is mixed nuts and I like Kirklands Signature Extra Fancy Unsalted Mixed Nuts. The mix includes almonds, peanuts, cashews...basically, all your favorites, and are fun to nibble on and delectable to taste.

Get them at Kirkland Mixed Nuts.

Happy Super Bowl Day!

I know. Theres no such thing.

Well, I hope you enjoy the game, the gatherings and the food anyway.

See you next time on Clean Eating Weight Loss Meal Plan!

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Breakfast

Egg White and Onion Sandwich

Theres no reason not to like this easy and protein-rich breakfast sandwich, which you can find the recipe at Healthy Breakfast Sandwich.

Mid Morning Snack

Organic Apple Slices

Lunch

Fried Cheesy Eggs and Apple Slices

Afternoon Snack

Garden Fresh Tomato with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Dinner

Baked Chicken Breast Over Mixed Greens and Natural Colby Jack Cheese, in Dressing of Your Choice

Thank you again for your time!

Hope you enjoyed todays meal plan!

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I spent New Years Eve doing all of the things I liked doing most in the year that came before which is what I hear youre supposed to do for a successful new year.  Not the least of these things was spending a ridiculous and enjoyable amount of time in the kitchen cooking with the chef while the fella supervised.  We decided to do a gluten free pizza party and it was splendid.  I worked with two crust recipes Ive tried before with interesting toppings and the chef to my great pleasure tried something purple.

 

 Almond Flour Zatar Pizza

The first crust was the much loved almond flour variety that the fella and I have been making off and on all year.  I found out totally accidentally that it comes out it a much better crust texture if you half the recipe and go for a mini sized thinner crust. 

Once the crust was par baked I used a pastry brush to slather it with oil from the huge jar of sun dried tomatoes I always have in the back of the fridge.  Then I sprinkled it with my newest obsession, zatar seasoning.  I added, a wee bit of feta, some grape tomatoes, and marinated artichokes.  A couple more minutes in the oven and it was amazing.  This was simple but my favorite pizza of the evening,  I will be making this again many time over.

 

Flax Seed Crust with Roasted Veggies

Next up for turning the flax seed focaccia recipe into a crust which worked out pretty well.  I halved that recipe too so it would fit into a well greased cake pan.  The only problem was once it had moist ingredients and melted cheese on it, the crust got a little too wet.  We decided it needed to cook longer or be cooked once, refrigerated, toasted in the oven and then decorated with toppings.  This situation will obviously require more experimentation.  Oh darn.

On this pizza I wanted to do something more traditional.   So I put some left over pasta sauce on it, roasted some veggies, threw on some sun dried tomatoes and covered it all with mozzarella and baby portabellas tossed in balsamic vinegar.  It was tasty but the slightly too wet texture of the crust was a bit of a turn off so it wasnt our favorite.  The crust did do a good job of imitating the taste of a hearty whole wheat type crust though so Ill continue to play with this one until I get it right. 

Purple Rice Flour Crust

The chef will have to explain to the world what he did the create the purple rice flour crust.  All I know is it was very yummy and while it was cooking it looked like the surface of the moon and he has the pictures to prove it.  So lets all bother him until he posts about that.

What I do know was that the crust had a really nice texture right out of the oven but suffered from sogginess as it cooled.  So this crust will require more experiments before its perfect as well.  With roasted eggplant, Parmesan, fig vinegar, and a goat cheese red wine reduction sauce it was as near to perfect as I could hope for something that pretty to be. 

Leatherwood South African Cab 

The only disappointment of the evening was the wine I picked.  In my defense my boss at the wine store I work at raved about it saying it was the best Cab in the store in the $11 to $15 range.  He almost always has impeccable taste so I believed him, needing something big and tannic to hold up to a bunch of pizzas.  Sadly it was a watery very blah wine.  You know the kind of wine Im talking about--its fine, not bad but not good.  It just tasted like wine it had nothing going on in it. 

Happily after dinner we were off to Lindsays to have more sparking wine cocktails than most people could possibly imagine.  That helped me to forget the very so so wine.  And we got to confuse our friends by serving them the pizza left overs.  I did have to bow out to go to bed early, having a low key ringing in the new year with the dog and my favorite guys.  But I couldnt have been happier doing it.  All in all its been my favorite new years even so far.  If you ask me all the other holidays could be improved with pizza.  

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This is what dinner looks like when I neglect to plan out recipes ahead of time.  Dont get me wrong, it was delicious but more random than Im used to.

The fella and I were both hungry and uninspired.  All we had were a couple random vegetables and a bunch of dry beans that no one wanted to put the effort into boiling.  Then while looking through the oddities of my cupboard I found one can of white beans neither of us could remember buying.  Not one to look down upon random dinner providing beans, I whipped them into a dip I remembered seeing in my food blog browsing earlier in the day.  And tada we had protein and an almost balanced meal.

Im not a fan of raw garlic (its not a fan of me either I found out in my elimination dieting so at least the feeling is mutual) so I cooked mine before adding it.  But if youre a the garlicky-er the better type and loss in a few cloves raw, this is the easiest dip imaginable.  Its like hummus for when youre all hummus-ed out or not in the mood to plan ahead for soaking chickpeas.  Especially on the forbidden corn chips this dip was extraordinary. 

White Bean Dip

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups (or 1 15-ounce can) cooked white beans

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 a lemon, juiced 
salt and pepper, to taste


If you decide to cook the garlic, saute it briefly in the olive oil over medium heat just until it is no longer raw before tossing in the food processor.


If using canned beans, drain and rinse them, then place in food processor.  If using dried beans, cook 1 cup of white beans of your choice using your preferred method and put in food processor when cooked through.


Put all of the remaining ingredients in the food processor with the garlic and beans and pulse a few times until the mixture is very smooth.  Check the seasoning to see if more salt, pepper or thyme is needed.  Also add additional liquid at this point if you would like the dip to be thinner.  Blend again until well combined. 

Modified from an original recipe at Affairs of Living blog.

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