Tailgate options?

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terri1020
terri1020 Posts: 38
in Recipes
Saturday begins our college football season (Let's go RU!) and tailgating is a big part of our experience. Even when the team is away, we have an indoor tailgate of sorts to watch the game. This year, I want to do it right.

Please share some healthy tailgate recipes.

Thanks!
Terri

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  • DeTaart
    DeTaart Posts: 93 Member
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    Let's go RU! ....but what's a tailgate?!
  • jcjsjones
    jcjsjones Posts: 571 Member
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    Let's go RU! ....but what's a tailgate?!

    My first instinct was to say, "Really?", but then I looked at your profile and noticed that you are from England. Forgive me :blushing: . "Tailgating" is something we Americans do before football games. It's like a big cookout. Lines of cars park and grill lots of food, drink alcohol, and have fun before the game starts.

    terri1020: My suggestions to you would be things like turkey dogs, chicken breast, or turkey burgers. Ooohh...maybe BBQ shrimp (now I'm getting hungry..lol!) Also, maybe also some grilled veggies (YUMMY!).

    Editied to say: When I say "football", I mean American football. Trying to be respectful to my friends across the pond! :flowerforyou:
  • tubaman58
    tubaman58 Posts: 151
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    Grilled meat is generally not too bad.......
    It's the chips and potato salad (and buns) that get ya....
  • DeTaart
    DeTaart Posts: 93 Member
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    A tailgate sounds like a good time. Thanks for the explanation, it's nice to have some cross cultural understanding! :flowerforyou:
    We don't have anything comparable in the UK, I've heard of pep rallies but only recently discovered what they are!

    Grilled chicken and shrimp. Fill up on these. Lots of salad. Set yourself a target - if you manage the whole day without a burger/bread roll/potato chip that's a WIN for you. And hopefully a win for RU! (Whatever that is,.....)
  • jcpmoore
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 Member
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    Aha! My fav thing to do this time of year- modify the cookout menu!

    Main dish- Shrimp on the barbie! (Yes, I love saying that.) Or other fish. Or lean steak. Skip the cheap stuff, IMO. That's just a preference 'cause I like this stuff better.

    Side dishes:

    Stuffed veggies-shrooms, grape tomatoes and such. Stuff 'em using low-fat cheeses, whole grain breadcrumbs, lean meats, herbs and spices.

    Deviled eggs if you can keep 'em cold.
    Skip the baked beans and bring a three bean salad- red kidney beans, wax beans, garbonzo beans, olives, onion, and a low-fat, low sugar, italian-style dressing.


    Grilled asparagus. If your buddies look at you funny, wrap it in bacon.
    Really lots of veggies are good on the grill-corn, asparagus, even tomatoes.

    Kabobs are another option-Meat and veggie kabobs are fantastic on a grill.

    Skip the brownies and bring a watermelon-everybody LOVES a watermelon-trust me.

    HTH
  • TrimAnew
    TrimAnew Posts: 127 Member
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    A tailgate sounds like a good time. Thanks for the explanation, it's nice to have some cross cultural understanding! :flowerforyou:
    We don't have anything comparable in the UK, I've heard of pep rallies but only recently discovered what they are!

    Grilled chicken and shrimp. Fill up on these. Lots of salad. Set yourself a target - if you manage the whole day without a burger/bread roll/potato chip that's a WIN for you. And hopefully a win for RU! (Whatever that is,.....)

    Hah, I didn't think about it being an American thing that would be new to someone in another country. :)

    Specifically, as a noun, the tailgate is the gate or hatch ("boot") at the back of a vehicle, especially a pick up truck. As a verb, you can "tailgate" by driving too closely to the car in front you on the highway, for example.

    As for a tailgate party, oh man those are fun. I went to a college of about 15,000 in a small town. The football stadium, seats over 90,000. So on game day, or even the night before the game, tailgaters seem to pop out of the ground like overnight mushrooms. Any place there was green grass or a hint of open pavement, there would be a car, truck or SUV, often with a canopy set up nearby. I remember walking out of my dorm on the way to an early rehearsal for marching band for the 1st game of the year and being literally stunned by the sight of them on the front lawn. One was kind enough to jolt me out of my open mouthed stupor, with "First game day, huh? Have fun!" He then noticed my instrument case, smiled even bigger and added that I was really in for surprise. That was my first big shock of the day--the mass of people.

    The second as what the field sounded like at pregame. I was standing right next to the air cannon and never heard it go off, even though I saw the smoke. I only heard the drums some of the time. Couldn't hear my instrument either even though I was playing as loud as possible. Just pure crowd roar. I had to watch the drum major and pay attention to the other members' feet to make sure that I was in the right spot of the music! Do you know how hard it is to ignore the sound of 90,000 screaming fans? And you have to at least tune out part of it because if you listen to the crowd, you'll get off. By the time the sound travels from the band to the crowd in the stands, they yell/chant with the beat, and their sound comes back to the band on the field, the band is already a measure ahead. The crowd sounds like it's permanently slow and off beat thanks to the speed of sound over a considerable distance of air. It's a heck of a lot of fun though.

    You can make nachos healthy depending on what you put on them and how many you devour. My favorite way to do them is to line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then a single layer of chips. From there you can evenly distribute whatever toppings you want. Pop the sheet in the oven to get it warm and then you've got chips with guaranteed toppings on each (no naked chips) and no soggy buried chips either. You can measure your toppings ahead of time this way too, so you don't over dip into things like cheese or salsa.

    Popcorn, fruit, and veggies are also good and easy.

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