My gals pals and I had our Fantasy Football draft the other night.
Three years ago, we thought “heck, wouldn’t it be fun to make our own Fantasy Football team and pick all of our players based on 1) cuteness 2) level of hot body’ness?” Well, let’s just say that this strategy didn’t get us too far in terms of winning anything. But, it was a great excuse to sit by the T.V. every Sunday hooting and hollering alongside the men – although we were hooting and hollering at tight camera shots of bums and other body parts vs. touchdowns and field goals.
Last year, it got a little more competitive – my friend Erin took over the roll of commissioner. By day, Erin is this cute little CPA who works for the IRS – on Sunday’s during football season though, she’s a crazed, football-jersey-wearing maniac that screams at the television and sits with her legs open staring intently at the television holding her breath to see what the next play brings (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating at the sitting w/ her legs wide open part – everything else is 100% true!). With Erin as commissioner, we started to take things a little more seriously, and really started to care about more than how long Tom Brady’s hair had gotten or if the camera’s shot to our favorite celebs in the stands during games. We actually like, paid attention – and made changes in our roster every week – and like, kind of knew what was going on!
And this year’s draft was a nail biter, probs the most stressful hour and a half that I’ve had in a while. While we may be ladies Monday through Saturday, on Sundays, the claws will be out. But we need sustenance to keep ourselves going during hours and hours of football watching.
Delicious food goes hand in hand with football season – chilli – wings – dips of all kinds – which is what we have today! I’m a huge Spinach dip lover, so this is a Skinny version of a great Sunday Funday snack, made with Kale and Feta Cheese (you could easily use spinach too, I just wanted to shake things up a bit) and homemade pita chips! I am OBSESSED with the Josephs© line of sandwich wraps. They have pita bread, wraps and lavash that are all only 2 WW points each! And, they made amazing home made pita chips!
Kale & Feta Dip with Homemade Pita Chips
INGREDIENTS
*yields about 1 cup of dip and 16 pita chips – serving size is 1/4 cup of dip and 4 pita chips
For Kale & Feta Dip:
4 cups chopped kale
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup fat-free cream cheese
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup fat-free feta cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp. grated parmesean cheese
salt and pepper to taste
For Pita Chips:
Non-stick cooking spray
2 whole Josephs Pita Breads
(the large size, not the smaller sandwich size ones)
Salt and Pepper
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) In a medium sauce pan, sautee minced garlic and chopped kale over medium heat until it shrinks to about 1/2 it’s original size.
3) Place cooked kale in a large mixing bowl and add cream cheese, sour cream, feta and lemon juice and mix until combined. Add salt and pepper as needed.
4) Place in an oven-safe baking dish and sprinkle grated parmesean cheese on the top. Cook for about 10 minues, or until bubbly.
5) Slice the pita breads into 8 triangles (16 total). Spray with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in oven about 5 minutes on each side, until chips reach desired level of crunchiness.
TOUCHDOWN! A delicious dip, that can be served hot or cold, that is only 3.5 WW points per serving. So if you were so preoccupied with the action and ate the whole thing by mistake, it wouldn’t be so bad!
Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone 🙂
It seems like ice cream sandwiches have been around since the dawn of time – other frozen novelties have come and gone from the shelves of your local grocery store, but the simple combination if vanilla ice cream perfectly sandwiched between two soft and chewy chocolate cookies has been a crowd pleaser for generations.
I like ice cream – I actually love it. And biting into an ice cream sandwich might be one of the best tastes of summer – especially when the soft cookie gets stuck to the roof of your mouth – love that.
So how can you fake out your taste buds and save yourself a few cellulite dimples?
See below 🙂
Skinny “Ice Cream” Sandwiches
INGREDIENTS
*yields 4 sammies
4 full Chocolate Graham Cracker sheets
8 tbsp. Fat-Free Cool Whip
Rainbow Nonpareils
1) Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
2) Snap each full graham cracker sheet in half and lay out on the wax paper.
3) Place 2 tbsp. of fat-free cool whip on one of the 2 graham crackers and then top with the other.
4) Sprinkle with rainbow nonpareils (or any ‘decoration’ of your choice – nuts, chocolate chips, the options are endless!)
5) Place in the freezer for about an hour in order for cool whip to freeze.
Once frozen, the cool whip takes on a soft, chewy texture that takes you to your Ice Cream happy place, without all the guilt. And for only 2 WW points per sammie, well, you could even have two 🙂
It’s the last week of summer (I know – sniff, sniff). That means there is one week left to:
1) Strut around in your bikini (or one-piece with conservative coverup) while the weather is still nice
2) Capitalize on the freshest produce of the year!
And these next recipes will be nothing but bikini friendly. In only a couple short weeks, it’ll be time to stuff ourselves in sweaters and shovel in the chilli w/ cheese, sour cream and fritos while watching Sunday football. HOWEVER, until then, let’s keep it on the skinny, shall we?
This Summer Bruschetta is SOO freaking delish, a take-off on that delightful Tomato, Cucumber & Feta Salad. I think I’ve made it about 7596943 times this summer. It’s easy – it’s healthy – and there’s no better way to showcase one of summer’s star veggie-fruits than with bruschetta.
Summer Bruschetta
INGREDIENTS
1 large package of heirloom tomatoes, chopped or pulsed a few times in the food processor (about 2 cups)
(I like to use the different colored ones, but all red would do too)
1 tbsp. lite italian dressing
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup fat-free feta cheese
8-10 large basil leaves, chopped
1) Chop tomatoes into small pieces or pulse in the food processor a few times until they reach your desired size. Place in a mixing bowl and set aside.
2) In a small mixing bowl, whisk together italian dressing, balsamic vinegar and minced garlic. Pour mixture over the chopped tomatoes and fold with a spatula.
3) Add fat-free feta cheese and chopped basil and fold into tomato/dressing mixture.
4) Let the mix sit for at least 1/2 hour. I personally like letting it sit at room temperature (cold tomatoes = yucka) but you could also chill it in the refridgerator.
5) Serve on sliced french bread or crackers!
You can adjust this recipe as you see fit, adding more/less basil & feta cheese, but the ENTIRE bowl of bruschetta (minus the bread/crackers) is only 3 WW points – 3. Whole thing. Chilli can wait!
And They Cooked Happily Ever After 