It seems like football has always been a part of my life in some way or another. My mother and father both loved the sport as well as all my aunts and uncles. It did not help that we had relatives who were professional football players and when it was football time we had to watch them on TV or if they were down for a visit, play football in the yard at my dad or aunt’s house.

Football was always a part of my life. Even as I got older and my brother would throw Sunday football parties where i served as the chef and the bartender. They loved my chili by the way

Now my 17 year old plays and although my sport is basketball, I enjoy football somewhat. Most of all I love supporting him in any way I can.

So imagine my surprise when I was contacted to join in on a tailgating contest. Frito Lay wants you to enjoy football season and the cool thing is that they want you to do it with healthier recipes.

This will be a fun contest where you can tell us about your healthy recipe using a Frito Lay product. You don’t have to have made the recipe yet. Just share one with us that we can vote on. You can even post pictures if you want to.

For example I made a seven layer dip made with fat free sour cream and cream cheese along with 2% shredded cheese and fat free bean dip. Of course it had fresh veggies too….tomatoes, lettuce, green onions and olives (wait I think that olives are fruit because they have seeds…ahh well). I served the dip on game day with a bag of Tostitos and a bag of Fritos!

At any rate if your recipe is chosen you will win a cool Tailgating Party Kit that includes Yummy Frito Lay chips, a cool Football Dip and Chip mix and a $25 American Express gift card that you can use to buy the ingredients for your recipe. Pretty cool huh!

Here a pic of the Tailgating Kit:

Here are the contest rules:

• Share a recipe on your blog with either a video or written post (do both and get an extra entry).
• Recipes must include a Frito Lay product like chips used for dipping, Tostitos used as a base for a Taco Salad or even a Frito Pie.
• Special Notice: If you do not have a blog, that is ok. Just tell me about your favorite Frito Lay product and you will get an entry into the contest.
• Make the recipe as healthy as possible as we are focusing on healthier choices.
• Come back here and share the URL to your post so that we can see them.
• Tweet for extra points with the hashtag #tailgatingfun

Contest ends Friday October 23 and the winner will be announced on game day October 25. Prizes are shipped directly from Frito Lay.

**Note: I received a part kit as well but I was not paid and additional fee to host this giveaway.