Cinco De Mayo Skewers
How on earth are you supposed to be healthy on one of the most festive party days of the calendar year? Good health-out da window, right? Not necessarily. I remember the days when I would get so dang drunk from holidays like Cinco de Mayo, which by the way falls on a school night this year, and I would be completely worthless for work the next day. Sound familiar?
That is why I have grown to realize over the years that there are ways of preserving your health while still having a great time. It’s sorta like Superbowl Sunday. While everyone is eating the chips and dip and getting drunk off of beer, I am eating veggie sticks with a light yogurt dip and drinking lots of water. Am I boring? Not really. Will I drink? Maybe I will have one-it all depends. But it’s ok not to drink too.
So if you are completely rolling your eyes to the thought of making your Cinco de Mayo a bit more optimal, I say good luck to you the next day. While I am feeling like a million bucks, you will feel a million swirls in your head from a treacherous Margarita hangover. No es bueno!
So let me propose to you this: a Cinco de Mayo that provides your company and yourself with healthier options so you can still enjoy your fiesta but not feel like you are dragging outta the party after.
Here you go:
Appetizers:
Hummus dip
BBQ Mini Tri-colored Peppers: simply grill them for 10 minutes after carving the tops off of them and removing the seeds. Trader Joes also has a fabulous yogurt dip with kale in it. Amazing.
Baby Carrots
Celery Sticks
Guacamole: Make your own-avocados, lime juice, pepper, garlic, kosher salt, diced red onion, dash of cayenne pepper, diced heirloom tomatoes
Grilled Shrimp or Shrimp Cocktail: If you do the shrimp cocktail, simply buy a tray of cooked shrimp and a cocktail sauce. Otherwise, get jumbo shrimp and marinade them in a low sugar orange juice (that you can use for beverages too) and grill the shrimp on the BBQ.
Main Dish:
Chicken and Pineapple Skewers: buy white chicken breasts and cut into squares. Season the heck out of this chicken with Season 21 spice from TJ’s. Any spice will work-avoid sauces. Cut up a pineapple into small squares (I know-if you read my book, pineapple is not a low GI fruit, however, it’s your cinco de mayo treat..or feel free to sub with mango, choice is yours), heirloom cherry tomatoes, chopped red onion. Make the skewers and BBQ them. Make enough for many people
Cinco de Salad: This colorful salad is amazing. Get mixed greens and add to it chopped up cucumber, raspberries, garbanzo beans, cherry tomatoes, jicama pieces, and toss with reduced fat cilantro dressing from TJ’s. Yum!
Desert:
Chocolate Chip Almond Cake: I understand that Chocolate Torte is usually on the menu, but guess what: there is something better and better for you. Super easy! Take a bag of almond flour. Toss it into a glass casserole pan. Add some baking powder, 1/4 cup egg whites, 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil (pure such as Nutiva), vanilla, cinnamon, unsweetened cocoa, Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips (oops) on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on your stove. Amazing.
You can even get plain nonfat Greek Yogurt and crumble some into the yogurt or you can put whipped cream on top. (heavy whipped cream if they have it).
Am I supposed to tell you what alcohol is better? Read my tool #19 in my Book and you will know what to do! Just remember this, added sugar from juices is the worst option, always. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
