Healthy Tailgate Recipe – Chicken Blue-Cheese Potato Skins
28 Sep
Go Dawgs! Beat the Vols!
Ask anyone who loves college football–especially SEC college football–and sooner or later you will end up talking tailgate recipes! (Of course, if you’re a Georgia Bulldog like me, that comes after you’ve talked about tailbacks, O-line, how awesome Jarvis Jones is, will Bacarri Rambo be back, etc.)
The problem with most of the best tailgate recipes is that they are usually not that healthy (lots of carbs and high fat.) Since no one wants to say “no” to everything–especially when you’re having an adult beverage and it’s a glorious fall day–take these healthy potato skins and you will be the hit of the pigskin party! For each serving (2 potato skins) there is only 330 calories, and boasts 23 grams of protein!
Ingredients
(Makes 6 servings)
- 6 small baking potatoes
- 3/4 lb boneless skinless breasts
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 6 oz. baby spinach
- 1/2 small red onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup Reduced fat blue cheese, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 4 oz Weight Watchers reduced fat whipped cream cheese
- Cut chicken breasts into bite-size pieces and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook until done (about 5-7 minutes) and golden brown. Remove from skillet and set aside. Add a little chicken broth to pan to loosen cooked on bits of chicken. Add onion and cook until starting to soften. Add spinach leaves. Cover (if necessary) to cause spinach to wilt. After it is done, remove from heat and cut spinach with knife/fork to make it more manageable.
Cut potatoes in half and scoop out potato meat into large mixing bowl. Mash potatoes with a masher and set aside. Place empty potato halves onto a sturdy baking sheet. (I discard half of the mashed potatoes because you don’t need it all for the final stuffing mixture and it just gets rid of some of the carbs to allow more room for chicken and spinach.)- In small bowl, mix whipped cream cheese, crumbled blue cheese and lemon juice with small wire whisk until thoroughly blended and fairly smooth consistency. (Dilute with a little chicken broth if needed).
- Season potatoes with a little salt and pepper and blend in cheese mixture until thoroughly blended. Fold in cooked spinach/onion mixture and cooked chicken pieces. Blend thoroughly until all ingredients are mixed evenly.
- Spoon mixture into potato shells, dividing evenly. (At this point, potato skins may be frozen until ready for use. When preparing, thaw potato skins to room temperature.) Bake at 400° for 10-15 minutes until light brown and thoroughly heated.
Here’s hoping your favorite football team wins this weekend…unless, of course, you are a Tennessee Volunteer! Go Dawgs!!