As you know, last Sunday was Super Bowl 50, with the Panthers taking on the Broncos. As you also know, the Broncos quite handily won the game, giving Peyton Manning another ring and leaving the sports world ranting over Cam Newton's behaviour.
Whatever. We didn't have a dog in that hunt, and while we love football we are ALL about the food!
You know what I didn't do? Take a picture of the entire spread. You know why? Because some of it was on the stove, some of it was on the kitchen counter, and some of it was on the dining room table. We made a LOT of food this year. Not that we don't usually make a ton of food, but we invited a whole one extra person to the party, so of course we had to at least double what we made, right? Made perfect sense to us.
I also didn't manage to get a picture of the nacho bar my niece made, mostly because I didn't make it and it didn't occur to me. But the recipe she uses comes from The Magical Slow Cooker, and it is AMAZING! This year in addition to the cheese (which has my mouth watering all over again just thinking about it a week later), she did ground beef (with beans), her homemade Cowboy Candy (for which I need the recipe), salsa, sour cream, and sliced black olives. Hopefully next year I'll remember to get a picture...or maybe I'll have to make it another time so I can get one.
Then we get to the things I made. See, I had a plan of what I was making, and then the kids requested a couple of things I hadn't planned. Logically, that meant I should just add them rather than substituting, right? I mean, we did have that one extra person coming after all!
First thing was Doritos Crusted Chicken Strips from Dude Foods. They sounded easy, they sounded tasty, and they sounded like something I needed to eat. Turns out they're all of the above! Simply slice boneless, skinless chicken breast (or get really lazy and spring the money for chicken tenders), dredge in flour, dip in egg beaten with milk, and dredge in Doritos crumbs. Then into the oven and what comes out is chicken nirvana! This time I just used standard nacho cheese flavoured Doritos, but you can be sure I'll experiment with other flavours in the future.
They're even pretty tasty the next day, heated up in the microwave! The crust isn't crunchy if you microwave them, but it still tastes good. Kids and adults alike gave positive reviews on these.
If you're going to have chicken strips, you need dipping sauce, right? Anybody can just open some salad dressing, but I decided to get a little more involved. This happens to be Blue Cheese Dip, which was posted by QueenBea at Recipezazz. I made it as directed, and then realized as written it was more of a dip for vegetables or other sturdy items. I wasn't sure how well that would work with the chicken strips, so I added a little milk to thin it out. Perfection! The blue cheese flavour wasn't too strong, but it was definitely there.
We ended up spooning it onto the chicken rather than dipping because I forgot to buy small plastic cups to put it in, but it still worked well. And I'm sure it would be fabulous on vegetables or for pita chips as well!
For those who aren't fans of blue cheese, I also made Buttermilk Peppercorn Dip, another Recipezazz recipe (this one posted by Luvcookn). This one is a much thinner dip, and was perfectly suited to our needs. I used fresh-ground black pepper, and set the grinder to coarse. The Romano cheese adds something special to this one!
This is a little thin for something like vegetables, although it would still work. It does thicken somewhat in the refrigerator, but not a whole lot. I made it about six hours before I wanted to serve it and it was still pretty thin.
Next up is a recipe I'd had saved for quite a while, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make it. Pepperoni Pizza Bread posted at Recipe.com, which gives credit to Family Circle Magazine. How can you go wrong with bread that incorporates the ingredients of pepperoni pizza?
Turns out you can. I added more pepperoni than it called for, and it crumbled when I cut it. What we ended up with is some sort-of large pieces of bread, along with piles of additional bread to eat. Doesn't matter... It was fabulous! The combination of pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes, and cheese with what didn't seem like enough Italian seasoning (but really was) is amazing! I couldn't find pizza blend cheese, but I went with a five-cheese Italian blend that worked well. Don't pass this one by!
Before I found out the bread was going to be so crumbly, I wanted to make spreads for it. This one happens to be Garlic Herb and Parmesan Butter, also posted at Recipe.com and with credit given to the Food Channel. Definitely easy to make, although I had to buy fresh herbs since it's winter. Adding the Parmesan cheese was a twist I hadn't thought of before, and I'll be doing it again!
I got lazy and bought a tub of shaved Parmesan, but fresh-grated would have been better. Live and learn, and all that. It was still Parmesan, and it was definitely tasty. Just remember to take it out and let it soften well before you want to serve it. I didn't, so I popped it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Which melted it. So I stuck it in the freezer. It was a roller coaster ride! But eventually we got it to the right viscosity, and I loved it!
Also for the bread was Olive Cheese Spread, posted at Recipe.com with credit given to Keebler. Originally it was a recipe to be served with crackers, but I made it for the bread. Because olives and cheese sounded like the perfect accompaniment to pepperoni pizza bread!
The bonus is that not only was it good on the bread, but it was equally amazing on crackers. And I would imagine toast. Or English muffins. Or virtually any other bread-like thing you can imagine. Or just out of a spoon. Basically, if you like olives, this is the spread for you. I doubled it thinking 4 ounces of cream cheese didn't sound like very much. It's way more than you think! Luckily we loved it, but even after six people eating it for two days there was still more than a cup left over.
This is last year's picture, but I made them again at the request of my niece's 7-year-old daughter. These are Doritos Cheese Ball Bites from Oh Bite It!, and they are fantastic! They're ridiculously simple to make, can be done up somewhat ahead, and can be eaten either on their own or on crackers. With just four ingredients and a food processor, you can be 15 minutes from cheesy snacking goodness whenever you want.
I made more this year than last year. I used the same tray, but it was so full I had put about a dozen of them in a second layer. They're way yummy!
Another one from Oh Bite It! These are Caramel Snickerdoodles, and to call them amazing is to not do them justice. Three ingredients, minimal effort, and ohmygod tasty goodness! The hardest part about this recipe is unwrapping the caramels, if that gives you any indication. I even cut the crescent dough into too many pieces so it was smaller and they still worked fabulously!
We did have a few of these left, but 15 or so seconds in the microwave warmed them up about perfectly the next day. These would be a lovely go-to treat for unexpected guests, since everything in them is easy enough to keep on-hand.
I'm posting a recipe link for this one from Recipezazz, although the recipe is mine. Well, sort of mine. The one in the link is how an old friend (who has since passed away) wrote it, but since then I've adapted it slightly. It will be posting on my Facebook page in its new incarnation this coming Wednesday, but I still need to write the blog post for it.
Everything But the Kitchen Sink Chocolate Chip Cookies pretty much do have everything but the kitchen sink in them! My version has even more things and the quantities change, but the link is to Neal's original recipe. Not only do they make my tastebuds sing, I smile every time I eat one because they make me think of him.
And there you have it! Super Bowl 50 might not have been the best game ever, but we certainly ate well. And ate. And ate. And ate. And still ended up tossing some leftovers, because there is a limit as to how much you can really eat, especially of what is all essentially junk.
All of the recipes you see here have either been posted on my Facebook page or will be soon, as always separated into photo albums with recipes attached.
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