Eating Healthy on Game Day: Baked Buffalo Veggies

Baked Buffalo Veggies

Superbowl Sunday is always a big food challenge for me.  I LOVE entertaining big groups of friends and family on game day, but when everyone leaves, I find myself wondering if I ate more than all my guests.  Good food is a really big deal at my house on game day.  It's more important to me than the game.  So, this year...I'm going to someone else's house! 

But for all of you weekend warriors who have signed up once again to do countless hours of volunteer kitchen duty, I salute you.  I salute you, and I'm giving you a healthy appetizer recipe that will hopefully help you decrease the amount of Multi-Symptom Rolaids you must consume between Superbowl commercials this year.

This recipe is exactly like my Baked Buffalo Chicken Tenders, but I used eggplant and zucchini instead.  You could really use any veggie you like, just make sure you adjust the baking time for the more solid veggies like carrots and potatoes.

Baked Buffalo Veggies

Prep Time: 20 minutes / Cook Time: 20 minutes / Servings: 8

Baked Buffalo Veggies

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 4 medium zucchini
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup egg substitute or egg whites
  7 oz. Panko bread crumbs
• 4 tbsp. Frank's RedHot Sauce (can be more or less to your taste)
  1 tsp. garlic powder
  salt and pepper
  cooking spray

Steps:

1. Spray a cookie sheet or glass baking dish with cooking spray and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Peel and chop the veggies and cut into 1" thick by 4" long sticks.  Pat them dry with a paper towel.
3. Make three different stations with three plates.  Spread the flour onto one plate.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine the egg substitute or egg whites and 2 tbsp. RedHot Sauce.  Whisk until combined.  Transfer to the second plate.
5. In a second mixing bowl, combine the Panko bread crumbs, garlic powder and 2 tbsp. RedHot Sauce.  Season with salt and pepper and stir until combined.  Transfer to the third plate.
6. Dredge the veggie sticks through the flour and shake off the excess.  Dip into the egg mixture and then coat in the bread crumbs.  Transfer to the cookie sheet or baking dish. 
7. Spray both sides of all the vegetables liberally with cooking spray.  Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and serve with raw veggies and additional RedHot Sauce.