Healthy Barbeque recipe Ideas
Healthy side dish ideas and a recipe that will create a healthier
barbeque.
Who doesn’t love a great family barbeque, or a barbeque with long time
friends? Pretty much everyone does, and a lot of people these days are
opting for a healthier, fitter lifestyle as well. So the question
remains, how do I make a barbeque healthier with side dishes?
The Side Dishes
Most barbeques consist of three main side dishes: salad, baked beans,
and potato salad. The salad is normally alright in the taste department.
I mean, who doesn’t like bland iceberg lettuce mixed with random
vegetables that may have little to no flavor at all, and that very weird
feeling it leaves in your mouth after eating a bite?
Of course no barbeque would be complete without a heaping helping of
baked beans with greasy fatback, or a carbohydrate and calorie filled
scoop of Aunt Sally’s famous potato salad. Your close friends and
family, even though they may be health conscious, will sample a taste in
order not to offend the host and/or hostess. Or they may politely
decline, claiming they want to save room for dessert, and you notice
they always skip dessert as well. Fear not, barbeque hoster, help is on
the way! For starters, let’s begin with the bland salad. You can spice
things up in a variety of ways with salad! Look at it as a chance to be
creative, blending lots of colors in a garden variety. Use many kinds of
lettuce. While Iceberg lettuce is the standard, add some Romaine or
Leafy green lettuce.
Fresh baby spinach is ideal because it has a very dense nutritional
value and tastes great. Other colorful vegetables you can add to give
this salad real zest are yellow and red bell pepper, summer squash,
zucchini, carrots, and cauliflower. Sweeten your salad with a variety of
different fruits including mandarin oranges, tomatoes, olives, and
pineapple. Add more nutrition and a crunchy twist by adding nuts or
seeds.
Sunflower seed kernels, pecans, walnuts, and cashews are great
options. Put a dairy twist on your salad and add a variety of cheeses.
Nowadays, you can buy different mixes of shredded cheeses ranging from
two to four cheeses. Lightly sprinkled on salad, it gives it that extra
zing! Baked beans, especially the variety cooked with fatback, is very
high in fat, sodium, calories, and carbohydrates. The only good thing
about baked beans is the protein count. There are many options when it
comes to legumes. Opt for a healthier bean like lima beans or chickpeas.
The potato salad…How can we make this taste good and still be
nutritious? What are some good substitutions? For starters, if
mayonnaise is used, you can choose a healthier mayonnaise or salad
dressing. For instance, on the market, there are the low fat content
dressings, the made with olive oil dressings, and the fat free
dressings. You can also add vegetables to the potato salad to cut down
on the potato content. You can add onions, bell peppers, pretty much any
vegetable with a crunch. Now, some great substitutions are steamed
veggies on the grill. Here is a sample recipe: Steamed Veggies on
the Grill
Ingredients:
- 2 Summer Squash
- 2 Zucchini
- 1 Medium onion in chunks (like for kabobs)
- 2 Bunches of broccoli
- 1 Head of Cauliflower
- 1 Small bag of baby carrots
Directions:
Slice squash and zucchini into circles or cut into strips. Cut
broccoli to florets or leave a bit of stem. Cut cauliflower into
chunks. Make a bag out of aluminum foil, put all veggies in. Cut
four to five pats of butter and lay them across the veggies, spice
as desired with salt and pepper. Put two to three ice cubes in the
bag, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the middle. Close
up the bag and toss on the grill until veggies are soft, about 30-45
min. Serves - six.
Try these tips at your next barbeque and see if you don’t wow
your guests and give them not only nutritional value in their food,
but impress them with the colorful display of vegetables and salads. |
