Super Bowl Sunday

This year's Super Bowl wasn't quite as exciting for me as last year's since the Bears weren't in it, but we still had fun having people over and eating a lot of food. This year we had about twenty people over, some of those being kids. I made way too much food, but now I have lots to eat this week. Next time I'm going to let other people bring more, and I'll scale back a bit. You know, the problem with preparing for a Super Bowl party is that there's no time to relax afterwards. You spend all weekend in the kitchen, have your party, clean up, and then it's back to work the next day. At least with Thanksgiving I had three days to recover!

All in all we had a great time. Here was the line-up:

Buffalo Wings
I made these last year, and they were so good that they deserved repeating. I made about six pounds of wings and made 1 1/2 times the sauce. These were eaten up and I only had about eight wings left at the end of the party. I served them with blue cheese dressing. Just like Hooters wings, but without the degradation of women.
Sweet Chili-Glazed Chicken Wings
I made these last year also, but this time I cooked them in my roasting pan with the wire rack so they didn't get soggy. I baked them for 30 minutes, then broiled them for a few minutes just to get them a little crispy. I left out the chili-garlic sauce and most of the crushed red pepper since kids would be eating them.
New England Clam Chowder
I was rooting for the Giants but I still liked the idea of making this to go along with the New England Patriots. This clam chowder was delicious - thinner than I'm used to, but what flavor! This was an excellent recipe, especially given that it calls for canned clams and bottled clam juice! Unfortunately, I discovered that chowder is just not a popular Super Bowl food. Most people went for the wings and other things that could be picked up and eaten with their hands. But I would definitely make this one again, for ourselves or for company. I used 1/2 cups of flour, and added the reserved clam juice at the end so that I could control how thin it would end up - otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.
Deviled Eggs
Same recipe as last year, always a crowd pleaser. No matter what fancy appetizers you make for a party, deviled eggs are always the first to go.
Guacamole
I stuck with Alton Brown's recipe that I used last year, but doubled it this time. We had a lot left over - we didn't have as many guacamole fans as we thought we would. My avocados were not the best, but this was still very good.
Hummus and Pita Chips
I've made this hummus before and blogged about it here. Very good, but didn't get eaten much at the party, likely because I had way too much food out there. Well, that just goes to show you that I'm a good Filipino. Better to have too much food at a party than not enough! That would be a Filipino host's worst nightmare.
Veggie Tray
I did the same as I did last year, and made my own tray of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and celery sticks. I made Ranch dip using a Hidden Valley ranch dressing packet and a 16 oz. tub of sour cream.
Grapes
Believe it or not, this may have been the most popular item on the buffet line. Kids love grapes. And when you are full but want to keep eating, a handful of grapes goes down pretty easy. I had a large bowl full of red and green grapes. My husband was sure to cut up the bunches so that guests could grab a handful easily.
Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch
I follow David Lebovitz's blog, and was excited to see this recipe this past week. His pictures on his blog just made it look so delicious! This was pretty good, but not knock-my-socks-off. I think it would be better if I had some sea salt sprinkled on top of them like he suggests. This is not very difficult to make, so if you happen to have matzoh crackers laying around, this is a good use for them.
Cinnamon-Scented Devil's Food Cupcakes
I think I have a standard rotation now for the Super Bowl - wings, guacamole, deviled eggs, and cupcakes. These are my building blocks. I made a different type of cupcake this year. I've had this one bookmarked for years, and finally tried it this weekend. I didn't want to use all of my precious Droste cocoa powder (that I had to buy in Wisconsin because they don't sell good cocoa powder in east Tennessee!), so I used half Nestle's and half Droste. I colored the frosting so that 1/3 of the cupcakes had white frosting, 1/3 had red, and 1/3 had blue (since those were the colors for both teams). I used regular cupcake liners instead of panettone molds, and ended up with about 45 cupcakes. These were excellent cupcakes - moist, rich cake, and the frosting has a subtle almond flavor. These were a lot of work, but I've realized that all cupcakes made from scratch are a lot of work. For special occasions they are worth it!

Some of my guests also brought a spinach dip with crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and another veggie tray. Needless to say, we all left with full bellies and happy hearts, celebrating the Giants win and enjoying some good party food.

Super Bowl Sunday

My team lost :( But at least we had good food. I was in the kitchen all Saturday and Sunday afternoon - it was kind of like Thanksgiving, but instead preparing a turkey with all the trimmings, it was a bunch of food that you could eat in front of the TV. There was a total of twelve of us at the party. Here was the lineup:


Buffalo Wings
These were awesome - they tasted just like the wings I used to buy in Chicago at Buffalo Joe's. All they call for is hot sauce and butter - who knew? I guess you can't go wrong with fried chicken and butter. Mmmm. This was the first time I have ever fried chicken - I usually prefer healthier things, but hey, it's the Super Bowl. I put these in our crockpot to keep them warm during the game, and served them with blue cheese dressing.
Sweet Chili-Glazed Chicken Wings
I've made these a few times before - good flavor (and better for you since they are not fried) but they aren't crispy, and I just don't dig soggy chicken skin. I tried broiling them for a few minutes but that didn't crisp them up much. Some of the liquid from the marinade pools in the bottom of the baking pan while cooking - I poured some of it off after 20 minutes but maybe I should have done that sooner. If I make these again, either I'll grill them or try using a roasting pan with a rack instead.
Guacamole
My husband couldn't stop eating this guacamole - it was delicious! I used 4 avocados instead of three and adjusted the spices accordingly (though kept the vegetables and the lime the same). I did decrease the cayenne a little bit, but next time I'll use the recommended amount. This will be my go-to guacamole recipe from now on.
Fresh Salsa
This is my aunt's recipe, though I liked it a lot better when she made it. I think it was probably because my tomatoes were mealy. Maybe I would try this again with Roma tomatoes - or wait until tomatoes are back in season.
Veggie Tray
Rather than buying an overpriced ready-made tray, I just bought a pint of cherry tomatoes, some baby carrots, and a bag of celery which I cut up. Same effect, but half the price! I made Hidden Valley Ranch dressing out of the packet as a dip.
Deviled Eggs
These are good, classic hors d'oeuvres. Nothing fancy, but tasty.
Caramel Popcorn
You cannot go wrong with this recipe. Make it, and your friends will love you and think you are the best cook ever. I have made this popcorn for several get togethers over the years and I always get comments on it. It is labor intensive but worth it! I used two bags of microwave popcorn, but could have used three (there was plenty of caramel left).
Cocunut Cupcakes
These were amazing cupcakes. I guess it's hard to mess up butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, but man were these good. They are very rich, though, so I would save this for after a light meal (i.e., not for Super Bowl Sunday when you are stuffed like a turkey). I colored the coconut with a little blue and orange food coloring to be festive. These are a good special occasion dessert.
Brownies
This was my husband's contribution to the buffet line. We had a box of Duncan Hines brownie mix at home, and then he shaved chocolate truffles onto the top (his idea. I think I'm rubbing off on him!). The truffles made these brownies delicious.
Spiced Nuts
I've blogged on these previously. They didn't get eaten quite as much because there were so many other good things to eat. But now we have a ton to snack on for the next week!
Hummus and Triscuits
Store bought. I like the Athenos hummus, and figured it's not expensive and it's not worth it to me to buy all the ingredients to make it.
Fresh Fruit
I had an assortment of red grapes, apples, bananas and clementines. When I felt stuffed I would get a small bunch of grapes to munch on. There's something about the Super Bowl that just makes you want to have food in your mouth at all times.

Special thanks to my husband for cleaning up most of my dishes and cleaning the house while I cooked!