Fit n Busy Mama's 6 Tips for a Healthier Cookout!

If you're like us, you have lots of cookouts during the Spring and Summer months.  As a matter of fact, we had one today for my brother's birthday!  Cookouts are usually notorious for junk food: chips, dips, potato salad, etc.  But, with a little planning, it can be a lot healthier!  Here is a couple ways to make your next cookout a success without the processed foods. 

1.  Make your own dips. 
Have you ever read the ingredient list of that canned dip?  It is LOADED with calories, fat, added chemicals, salt and preservatives.  It is SUPER EASY to make your own and tastes better!  Here are a couple examples:

• Guacamole (3 ripe avocados mashed, 1 t garlic powder, juice of 2 lemon wedges, 1/2 t sea salt)

• Hummus (15 oz can garbanzo beans, 1/2 t sea salt, 2 cloves garlic minced, juice of 2 lemons, 1/3 c tahini, 1/3 c water - processed in blender or food processor)

•  Salsa
• Taco Dip - the beauty of this is you can add a variety of real ingredients, such as:  can organic refried beans, black beans, salsa, avocado, tomatoes, black olives, and spice it up with some cilantro, garlic powder and onion powder!  Just stack all the ingredients up and make it look pretty.  

2.  Chop some veggies.
Veggies are great for dipping.  I personally love dipping veggies in hummus and prefer them over chips of pita bread.

3.  Chop some fruit.

 Choose some seasonal fruit and chop it up.  I usually do organic strawberries and grapes but I didn't make it out to Whole Foods to get the organic strawberries and grapes aren't in season yet.  So, I opted for pineapple & cantaloupe. 

4.  Make healthy side dishes. 
Forget the potato salad, make skinny au gratin potatoes!

Here is the recipe for the potatoes. 
And/or make a healthy salad.  My new favorite spring/summer salad is the strawberry pecan salad. 

It is very low-cal and absolutely delicious.  Find the recipe here.  I had full intentions on putting this salad together today too but I got so busy last week and didn't collect all the ingredients I needed for it, namely the organic strawberries from WF. 

5.  Choose your meat wisely. 

• If you are making burgers, choose organic/grass-fed beef and shape it/season it yourself.  
• If grilling chicken, choose organic/antibiotic free chicken breasts.
• If grilling hot dogs, make sure they are nitrite/nitrate free, with no preservatives or fillers.  

 6.  Choose healthy buns and condiments.

• If using buns, choose whole wheat, not white bread.  Read the ingredient list, make sure there is no high fructose corn syrup and they are 100% whole wheat.
• Organic yellow mustard
• Organic ketchup, no sugar added
• Make lettuce, tomatoes, and onions available for hamburgers.
• Or forget the bun all together.  It really is just added calories that don't add any nutrition.  I personally enjoy my hamburger or hot dog without the bun or with just half.

Hopefully this helps if you're planning a cookout soon.  Just a little planning goes a long way.  Prepare the veggies, fruit, and dips the day before so that you don't have to be busy cooking on the day of the cookout.

Thanks for reading!!