Ok, so, this past weekend was a big BBQ holiday and I'm wondering how much of this stuff you ate: Hot dogs. Hamburgers. Potato Chips. Potato Salad. Jello Salad. Beer. C'mon, be honest. Well I spent this Americana holiday in Mexico and ate lots of south-of-the-border food! My guy and I drove down to Rosarito - he surfed at K38, I read and did some cooking. Here are SKINNY, HEALTHY foods that we ate this past weekend instead of jello salads, potato chips doused in onion dip, and processed meats that will give you cancer and make you chubby. Sorry to be a downer, but It’s true. Back to my point – for future reference bring some of the following skinny foods to your parties or picnics this summer. Let the others eat all the stuff that makes you sick and soft in the middle. Raw veggies and dip. Yeah, so, ok raw veggies can be boring and trite. But what if you tried some veggies other than the standard broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrots that come in the veggie plate? Bell peppers, mini-sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, pea pods, mini corn (out of a can – rinse off the salt), endive, jicima, mushrooms, asparagus, or green beans. Interesting and yum. For the dip, get some plain hummus and jazz it up with chopped olives or capers. Or add some fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley.Another quick, easy dip is to mix greek yogurt and pesto. So. good. Cucumber boats! I did this! Cut 1″ slices of cucumbers and use a spoon to kind of scoop out each slice to create a little bowl. Then mix up diced shrimp, finely diced red onion, a bit of greek yogurt, thyme (fresh is the best), salt and pepper. Put the shrimp mix into your little cucumber bowls. Ceviche. This is an AWESOME, healthy snack. Sautee white fish (I like tilapia for this) in a pan with water ’til cooked. Flake apart and cool in the ‘fridge. Chop tomatoes, onions, jalepeno (if you like it hot) and cilantro. You could also add in cucumber. Add the veggies to the fish. Add salt and pepper. And give it a good dosage of lime juice. It’s better after it has sat for a day. You can also add diced avocado before you serve it. YUMMY. And such a skinny food! But only if you don’t eat a TON of fried tortilla chips with it. I like to just eat this plain with a fork. OR you can make healthy chips by baking plain old corn tortillas in the oven ’til they start to brown. Let’s talk booze – cuz you know you’re going to be sipping cocktails this summer. While I’m a huge fan of red wine as the alcohol of choice when you’re trying to lose weight, red wine is not all that great when it’s hot out and you’re sitting around a pool. So I go for a skinny greyhound. Mmmmmmm! Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice is the key here. Don’t you dare buy that sugary, processed, fake stuff. Either squeeze it yourself or make sure you read the label and only buy the 100% grapefruit juice. No “cocktails” of juice which are actually just high fructose corn syrup water. When I don’t make my own juice, I get this stuff called Simply Grapefruit. It’s not from concentrate and 100% pure grapefruit juice. It’s in the refrigerated section.So to make the drink, you mix vanilla vodka (plain is ok, but vanilla is dreamy), grapefruit juice, and club soda. I have to say after a long weekend away, it's awesome to come back home to Encinitas and talk to the people I missed the most (LIKE YOU)! Keep it slim and healthy, today! Enjoy!
