The holidays are upon us now and the season will bring many opportunities for eating various appetizers. Dips are usually around when it comes to holiday parties, so let’s take a look at lower calorie dip choices and what foods are best for dipping.
When we think of dipping foods, usually the first thing that comes to mind is snacks like potato chips or corn chips. You can find an array of choices at the store, including baked chips and multigrain chips, which are better than fried potato and corn chips. Fresh vegetables are another excellent choice for dipping, like raw carrots or green beans. Raw vegetables can be made more flavorful with the addition of dips and as a bonus, it may be easier to convince kids to eat vegetables if they can use a dip with them.
If you’re watching your weight, you should keep in mind that commercially prepared dips can be extremely high in saturated fat and not very high in nutrients. You will want to consider dips made from yogurt, instead of cream or mayonnaise. For example, guacamole dip is made from avocadoes, tomatoes, lemon juice, and salt. This dip is an excellent source of Vitamins E and C and it has no cholesterol. Hummus is another healthy dip which is made from chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. This dip is high in protein and has no cholesterol. Both of these dips do have some fat and average 50 calories per tablespoon so limit serving size to ¼ cup or about 4 tablespoons. Lastly, salsa is a very low calorie, fat-free dip with an average of 10 calories per tablespoon. Salsa is made from tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, olive oil, chili peppers, garlic, salt and pepper. (It also makes a great low calorie topping for salads and baked potatoes.)
The Spinach Artichoke Dip is a classic, but very high fat dip. Below is a lighter recipe, which has big calorie and fat savings, by using part-skim cheese, fat free cream cheese and reduced fat cream cheese. The labels below compare the original and light versions. The original recipe (¼ cup or 4 tablespoons) has 200+ calories and a whopping 18 grams of fat compared with just 148 calories and 5 grams of fat for the lighter alternative.
Spinach Artichoke Lighter Dip (from Cooking Light)
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Ingredients
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
½ cup fat-free sour cream
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
½ (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry 1 (13.5-ounce) package baked tortilla chips (about 16 cups) |
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, black pepper, garlic, artichoke hearts, both kinds of cream cheese and spinach in a large bowl; stir until well blended.
3. Spoon mixture into a 1 ½ quart baking dish.
4. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan.
5. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. 6. Serve with tortilla chips. |
Rebecca
