Every year without fail, Maryland football ends up with a couple of games that start at noon. Those days our tailgates start at 6 a.m.


Yes we tailgate before the sun comes up.

Getting to campus that early is rough, but our breakfast tailgates are always a hit. It's impressive the number of breakfast foods that you can cook on a grill.

To fit last week's breakfast theme, I whipped up a batch of delicious granola bars, loosely based on this recipe.

Ingredients:



3/4 c rolled oats
1/2 c rice cereal
1/4 c pumpkin seeds
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c chocolate chips
1/2 c honey
1/3 c creamy peanut butter
Splash of vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Mix and set aside.

2. Combine the honey, peanut butter and vanilla and warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds. This will make it easier to spread.

3. Pour the warm ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until everything is well coated.

4. Add the chocolate chips and mix well.

5. Spread the mixture into a 13 x 9 pan and refrigerate.

6. Once the bars are set, cut them into individual serving sizes and enjoy.



These bars ended up turning out great. I wasn't sure how the peanut butter and honey mixture would work, but everyone loved the peanut butter flavor and the honey added just a touch of sweetness. These were the perfect early morning treat.

My family is coming into town for this weekend's tailgate so I'm taking the week off from cooking since they are bringing down delicious Philly pretzels. We play Temple on Saturday and so of course our tailgate is Philly themed. We'll be grilling up lots of cheesesteaks. I can't wait!

I know I've talked before about how much I absolutely love tailgate season. Nothing is better than hanging out with friends in a parking lot, grilling up food and playing tailgates games.


But tailgating for hours on end every weekend also means I eat some really not-good-for-you food. Your typical tailgate staples include chips and dip, burgers and hot dogs, cookies, brownies, etc.

Since I spend so much time at tailgates and I try to be mindful of what I'm eating, especially when I'm training, I've decided that at each tailgate this season, I'm going to bring a healthy, vegetarian dish to the party that fits in with the tailgate theme.

Last week's theme was seafood because we were playing Miami and because crabcakes and football is what Maryland does. So of course the star ingredient in my recipe was Old Bay.



For last week's dish, I created a recipe for an Old Bay Couscous Salad.

Ingredients:

2 c couscous
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 red onion
4 celery stalks chopped thin
1 can chickpeas
Old Bay
1 individual container of fat free plain Greek yogurt
1 c Italian dressing

Directions:

1. Prepare couscous according to the packages instructions. Add a generous shake of Old Bay to mix.

2. Chop all your veggies and in a large bowl toss them with the couscous.

3. In a separate container, mix the Greek yogurt and Italian dressing. Add about 4 teaspoons of Old Bay (depending on how strong you like the flavor). Mix well and then toss with the salad.

4. Chill for several hours before serving and feel free to add more Old Bay before eating.



This was a hit with everyone at the tailgate, even my skeptical friends who didn't think healthy food of any sort belongs at a tailgate.

I'm hoping I can keep surprising my friends this season with yummy and healthy tailgate food. Maybe by the end of the season I'll have convinced a bunch of skeptics that healthy food can still be good tailgate food.