You best believe I was watching the Super Bowl all afternoon (with a few flips back and forth from AnimalPlanet to catch the Puppy Bowl) and though I was supporting the Patriots here all week in our very own Slashfood Bowl, it's the New York Giants who won today!
And since the Giants have won Super Bowl XLII, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino lost his bet with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Mayor Menino will send a package of Boston foods to New York: New England Clam Chowder, Dunkin' Donuts coffee, Boston cream pies, chicken sausages and Brigham's ice cream. The food will be donated to local food charities in New York.
I certainly had fun during Super Bowl Week here at Slashfood, but an entire week is nothing compared to the actual Game Day. It's here! It's today! I have been waiting all month year for this day!
Slashfood friends, if there is one course I love to eat, one way of eating that I prefer above all else, it's snacking on teeny tiny bites and appetizers. Even if I weren't going to be on the West Coast watching the Super Bowl this afternoon as opposed to evening, I'd still serve appetizers all-event long, making "courses" out of each of the different types of appetizers. Here is my Ultimate Game Day Menu, and if it happens to read like the Appetizer section of a sports bar or any of those large chain restaurants, well, now you know a little bit more about the foods I love.
So this is the Super Bowl. You don't need to spend all those unearned bets on Wagyu or Kobe or whatever fancy beef for burgers, and you definitely don't have to go and make full-size burgers, either. First of all, a full-size burger suffers the same syndrome as Buffalo wings. They are messy, and if you and your guests eat burgers the way me and my guests eat burgers -- rare -- they'll be dripping bloody greasy juice everywhere. Secondly, with all that food being served all afternoon (or evening), a small taste of a great burger in the form of a slider is better than trying to force down an entire burger. It lets people taste everything else on the table.
Not only does chili have a high taste return on the fairly low preparation investment, especially if you prepare the day before in a slow cooker, but chili is something that can be perfectly adjusted to your and your guests' particular tastes. I like offering two kinds of chili to accommodate both carnivorous guests (though there always seems to be an argument about whether beef chili should be made with ground beef or steak) as well as vegetarians. Chili can be served as a dish by itself, or as an accompaniment to hot dogs, hamburgers, on French fries, or nachos.
I love greasy, spicy, messy Buffalo wings as much as the next girl, but the operative word in this sentence is "messy." Buffalo wings -- or any type of wings, for that matter -- are messy, with a capital Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and that's okay if you're sitting at a table in someone else's bar with a stack of wetnaps. However, if you're hosting your own Super Bowl party, some of Frank's Red Hot stain sauce will end up on your couch or carpet. Let's not even talk about how appetizing a pile of chicken bones look on the table.
Boneless wings are the way to go here. You can basically take any recipe for chicken wings, make a slight adjustment for strips of chicken breast, and get a similar taste experience that's just a hell of a lot cleaner. Naturally, my preference is for spicy Buffalo-style boneless wings served with a super thick Blue cheese dip. Celery is just a garnish.
Inevitably, there will be at least one person -- maybe you -- at a Super Bowl party who's going to be looking for "healthy," or at least healthier, options. Luckily, hummus doesn't taste healthy, and serving it with vegetables ups the health factor quite a bit. Of course, I serve hummus with pita chips which, deep-fried, can't be any better than potato chips. Sure, there is some fat in it the garbanzo bean puree, but it's in the form of olive oil. If you make hummus at home, make extra so you can make yourself pita-chos during the post-game.
Hummus Drain and rinse 3 cans of garbanzo beans.
Throw a peeled clove of garlic into a food processor and let it go until the garlic is fairly well chopped. Throw in the garbanzo beans and puree. For some reason, I have this weird thing about the translucent "skin" on the outside of each garbanzo bean, so I actually spend the two hours it takes to slip all those suckers off before pureeing.
Add 2 Tbsp tahini, 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice and begin drizzling about ¼ to ½ c extra virgin olive oil while the food processor is running until the hummus is the consistency you want.
Naturally, I'm going to have nachos while watching the Super Bowl, but before the guests arrive, it's a good idea to set out what is basically "nachos light" because it doesn't have to be served hot: tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole and maybe a bean and cheese dip on which to snack all day.
Roasted nuts (along with chips/dips and vegetables/dip) are a good thing to set out at a Super Bowl Party just before the event starts. That way, if guests show up early, or you happened to have underestimated how long you would need in the kitchen, your guests will have something to snack on while you run around the kitchen like a chicken with its Buffalo wings cut off. I like to put out little trios on different tables around my house of roasted peanuts (a standard), roasted pistachios in shells (with a small bowl for the discarded shells), and these ridiculously, deliciously addictive Rosemary Marcona Almonds from Trader Joe's that I ate by the bagful over the Holidays. You can also make these yourself, using a recipe that Bob posted a few weeks, substituting Marcona almonds for the cashews.
In the few days left running up to the big game, you probably don't have a lot of extra time. Between everyday chores and getting ready for your super bowl get together, there just isn't enough time in the day. If only there were a way to save a little time somewhere. Well, that's where this cookbook can help.
Bowl Food: Comfort Food For People on the Go is an edited cookbook, a collection of recipes from many sources. It offers one bowl main dishes that are quick to prepare, satisfying and lower on cleanup. From what I've read, the book leans toward a lot of Asian style dishes. And one review estimates that 25% of the recipes are fully vegetarian, with many that can be adjusted to become vegetarian easily.
The reviews on this cookbook are mixed. Everyone agrees that the recipes are delicious. Some of the reviewers totally agree that the recipes are easy and quick. Others thought they included too many exotic ingredients that are hard to find, requiring a trip to specialty stores.
Amazon offered a look at some of the recipes and I thought they looked really good. If you're the kind of cook who can break away from recipes, or if you keep an extremely wide array of ingredients around, Bowl Food can become your best friend during the week. Or it could become your weekend or party cookbook. Either way, it looks interesting and tasty. I'm ordering my copy today.
The concept of a bread bowl is not new. People have been hollowing out round loaves of bread for soups for ages. And during the Middle Ages, people at from trenchers (plates made from stale loaves of bread). Now, an English company has added something new to the conversation.
The Butts Foods company, a bakery supplier in England, has introduced a line of ready to eat meals on edible plates and bowls called Breadies. The line is mainly soups and curries, but it does include breakfast bowls, salads, and hot dogs like the one pictured. The manufacturer has invented an industrial oven which forms a double crust by baking the inside and outside of the bread at the same time. This prevents sogginess without adding extra ingredients to the bread.
Though currently available only in the U.K., and only to food service outlets, Breadies would certainly be a great idea for a super bowl party. You could just throw them in the oven and serve them to our guests. No preparations and not much clean up. They are advertised as being the plate/bowl, but really, you would need to put them on something.
Desserts are the least of your worries if you're entertaining for the Super Bowl. Let's face it, most of your guests will be focused first on the game, and second on whatever meaty, cheesy foods you've put out. Just keep desserts to the simple stuff, like caramel corn. Garrett Popcorn out of Chicago, which Oprah named one of her Favorite Things, will send you a tin of flavored popcorn of your choice, in a tin that's decorated with your favorite team. There are four sizes of tins, and a dozen flavors.
Looking for a great super bowl snack? What about football shaped cookies? Most people love cookies. They are easy to put out and easy for guests to grab. Cookies make a yummy party snack for any occasion.
With these football shaped cookie cutters, you can easily adapt the treats to your football themed gathering. I found them on Cooking.com and you could probably find them at any store that sells baking supplies. Use this sugar cookie recipe and cut out the little footballs. Ice them either as footballs or decorate them with your teams colors.
One great thing about cookies is that you can make them up ahead of time. Make the dough up to a month in advance and freeze it until needed. Bake the cookies a couple days early, frost them the day before the party, and set them out for the party. One more great thing about cookies is that they go fast. You can make loads of them and you won't have to worry about any leftovers. However, if you're anything like me, you'll want to save couple cookies back for yourself!
For a Super Bowl party, or any party where people will be milling around, standing, sitting, and perhaps even jumping around and screaming at the TV, it's probably a good idea to serve desserts that don't require plates and utensils. Cupcakes are a natural choice, and these Football Field Cupcakes from Family Fun are perfect for the Super Bowl.
The recipe isn't for cupcakes, as it assumes you already have a cooled cupcake. The recipe is more for the decorated cupcake. You cut fruit leather into the shape of a pennant, attach it to a pretzel stick as a flagpole, and make footballs out of almonds dipped in chocolate. Of course, you can make chocolate-only footballs like me, but they require a little more sculpting work.
As if melting marshmallows, stirring them with cereal, and patting the mixture into a pan wasn't easy enough, now Kellogg's is making absolutely certain that you can have Rice Krispies Treats for your parties. No more having to buy the industrial sized box of individually cut Rice Krispies Treats snacks for lunch boxes, opening each package, and putting them all on a plate!
The Rice Krispies Treats sheet is 32 ounces of marshmallow-y, cereal-y convenience. All you have to do it cut them into bars! Of course, if you're ambitious, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes to match your party.
For the Super Bowl, footballs are a natural. Dip one flat side of a football shape in melted chocolate, let it cool, and decorate with melted white chocolate to create laces on the football.
I'm not going to lie to you. 
The concept of a 
Looking for a great super bowl snack? What about football shaped cookies? Most people love cookies. They are easy to put out and easy for guests to grab. Cookies make a yummy party snack for any occasion.
For a 
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