As part of American Heart Month, we're sharing our favorite Heart Healthy
recipes, provided by Lindsie Miles, Wellness Dietician for Catawba Valley
Medical's HealthFirst Center. These appetizer recipes include small
modifications to include ingredients that support overall heart health.
Try one of these at your upcoming Super Bowl party!
Homemade Guacamole
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4 servings
Avocados are actually a fruit very high in the good fats (poly and monounsaturated
fats). Moderate consumption of these fats has been linked to reduced inflammation,
lower risk of heart disease and anticancer effects. A study published in the
Journal of the American Heart Association found that eating 1 avocado a day, while following a heart healthy diet,
lowered LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol).
Effect of a Moderate Fat Diet With and Without Avocados on Lipoprotein
Particle Number, Size and Subclasses in Overweight and Obese Adults: A
Randomized, Controlled Trial | Journal of the American Heart Association
(ahajournals.org)
Ingredients
3 Avocados (peeled, pitted, and mashed)
1 Lime or Lemon (juiced)
2-3 T Greek yogurt (can add more or less depending on desired consistency)
1 small Onion (diced)
3 T Fresh Cilantro (finely chopped)
1 Tomato (diced)
1 t Garlic (minced)
1 Serrano Peppers (finely chopped)
Salt, to taste
The benefit of creating your own guacamole at home is the ability to customize
the recipe to your liking. Feel free to play with recipe and add/take
away ingredients that may/may not be appealing to you!
Chicken Wings
Choose healthy cooking methods when preparing party foods such as baking,
broiling, grilling, air-frying, roasting. Deep fried foods are typically
very high in saturated fats because they are cooked in unhealthy oils.
The breading is often time very high in sodium as well. Choose herbs,
seasonings, and/or salt substitutes and limit salting your wings to help
with your sodium intake.
Popular Seasonings
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Parsley
Pepper
Oils
Spray (choose an olive oil or avocado oil spray)
Directions
Gather your ingredients. Pat your wings dry of any moisture with a paper towel.
In a large bowl, toss your wings with desired seasonings.
Spray your air fryer basket with a generous coating of cooking spray. This
prevents sticking and burning.
Place chicken wings in a single layer in the air fryer tray. Bake them
at 380 degrees for 15 minutes.
Toss the wings. Set heat to 400 degrees and bake them for an additional
5 minutes.
** note: cooking times may vary. Make sure the internal temperature reaches
a minimum of 165 degrees.
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Recipe provided by
Best Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip | The Clean Eating Couple
Making healthy swaps in recipes is one of the easiest ways to cut back
on sodium and saturated fats. In this recipe, you will find ranch is replaced
with Greek yogurt and cream cheese is replaced with cottage cheese. Both
substitutions will provide more protein and less saturated fats.
Ingredients
2 cups Chicken (cooked, shredded)
½ cup Franks Red Hot sauce
1 cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt
½ cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
1 ½ cups Cheddar Cheese (can also sub half crumbled blue cheese)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl mix all ingredients besides ½ cup of cheddar cheese until
thoroughly combined.
Pour dip into glass 8x8 pan. Top with remaining ½ cup of cheese
and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Serve with chips or veggies of choice.