Cheap Healthy Party Food

With the big Giants/Pats showdown only four days away, it’s time to start thinking about food. What should you bring to a get-together? What will you serve at your own shindig? How can you keep from gaining 14 pounds in a single afternoon?

That’s where Cheap Healthy Party Food comes in. Gathered from five prominent websites, the following 60 recipes are less expensive, healthier alternatives to the chips/dips/wings combo typical of Super Bowl Sunday. Plus, as it’s a football game (THE football game), all the dishes are party-friendly. There is no spa food, and nary a spinach salad or fat-free flaxseed muffin to be found. Instead, the list is chock full of chicken, chili, pizza, and pie, just in lower-calorie incarnations.

To everything, there is a process, and my first step in compiling this list was narrowing down my source websites. (It’s a big internet out there, man.) I decided each one had to have A) lots of health-minded options, B) an easy search function, and C) reliable recipe reviews. After some consideration, I settled on All Recipes, Cooking Light, Eating Well, Epicurious and Food Network. (Oh, and Cheap Healthy Good. Hooray for self-promotion!)

Still, I was left with a ton of possibilities. So next, I had to come up with food criteria. It wasn’t easy, and unlike the Beef/Pork/Fish posts, my methods weren’t exactly scientific. But I eventually settled on the following:

• Each dish had to contain at least four servings.
• Recipes could not incorporate more than one semi-pricy ingredient. (A frequent issue with Epicurious.)
• Fat and calorie content had to be healthy relative to serving size. An 800-calorie stuffed mushroom recipe looks great until you realize is it only makes six mushrooms. (A frequent issue with Cooking Light.)
• The food couldn’t look repulsive in pictures. (A frequent issue with All Recipe.)
• Recipes had to have at least an 87% review rating (3.5 forks on Eating Well, 5 stars on Food Network, etc).
• Dishes had to be appropriate for parties where huge, hairy fathers of three paint their bare chests with Tedy Bruschi’s jersey number.

With all that in mind, I commenced searching. And the results? Are pretty sweet. John Madden would approve.

(As always, read the reviews for cooking and serving suggestions.)

APPETIZERS
All Recipes: Chicken Satay
All Recipes: Pita Chips
All Recipes: Garden Veggie Pizza Squares
All Recipes: Savory Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
CHG: Lightened Seven Layer Taco Dip
Cooking Light: Adobo Chips with Warm Goat Cheese and Cilantro Salsa
Cooking Light: Cheddar with Sauteed Apples and Brown Bread
Cooking Light: Goat Cheese Crostini
Cooking Light: Pinto Bean Nachos
Cooking Light: Starry Snack Mix
Eating Well: Boneless Buffalo Wings
Food Network: Chili Chips
Food Network: Parmesan Pita Toast Strips

DIPS, SALSAS, DRESSINGS and SPREADS
All Recipes: Avocado Mango Salsa (use gloves when working with habaneros)
All Recipes: Black Bean Hummus
All Recipes: Fresh Salsa 1
All Recipes: Spicy Bean Salsa (use low-fat dressing)
All Recipes: Sweet and Sour Sauce
All Recipes: Tequila Cocktail Sauce
CHG: Lemony Light Hummus
Cooking Light: Creamy Artichoke Dip
Cooking Light: Spicy Roasted Red Pepper and Bean Dip
Eating Well: Hot Artichoke Dip
Epicurious: Habanero Chile Salsa (use gloves when working with habaneros)
Food Network: Ranch Dressing
Food Network: White Bean Dip

MEAT MAINS
All Recipes: Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs
All Recipes: Pineapple Chicken Tenders
All Recipes: Yummy Honey Chicken Kebabs
Cooking Light: Ancho, Beef, and Kidney Bean Chili
Cooking Light: Mexican Black Bean Chili
Cooking Light: Real Texas Chili
Eating Well: Chicken Chili with Hominy
Eating Well: Pulled Pork
Eating Well: Thai Chicken Pizza
Food Network: Buffalo Chicken Salad
Food Network: Chicken Chili
Food Network: Chili on Rice
Food Network: Mambo Chicken with Mango Salsa
Food Network: Middle Eastern Chicken Burgers
Food Network: Oven Fried Chicken
Food Network: Sloppy Joes
Food Network: Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Food Network: Three Bean and Beef Chili

SIDES
Cooking Light: Apple Slaw
Cooking Light: Beer Battered Onion Rings
Cooking Light: Cheese Fries
Cooking Light: Classic Potato Salad
Eating Well: Wholesome Corn Bread
Epicurious: Roasted Sweet Potato Slices
Food Network: Grilled Red Onions
Food Network: Black Bean Salad
Food Network: Baked Smoked Chili Fries

DESSERTS
Cooking Light: Frozen Butterfinger Pie
Cooking Light: Fudgy Sheet Cake
Cooking Light: Oatmeal Spice Cookies
Epicurious: Apple Pie
Epicurious: Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Food Network: Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Pound Cake
Food Network: Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Food Network: Coffee Angel Food Cake

CHG’s Super Bowl Week isn’t over yet, so tune in tomorrow for Favorites of the Week, and then again on Friday for A Tale of Two Salsas. (Mmm … Dickensian.)