Super Bowl XLV

I am still full. The Househusband was not messing around when it came to Super Bowl food. We had a group of ten for the Super Bowl and had a great time! The Keeven's will definitely be annual Super Bowl party holders. There are those whose Super Bowl revolves around football and then there are those of us whose Super Bowl revolves around food. Since it is such a food event, I put most of the efforts into what we would be serving. I spent a total of $5.00 on decorations. I went to the fabric store and bought enough green felt to cover my table. We then taped off lines to paint white so it looked like a football field. I also dressed the beer bottles up a bit with the teams' logos on them. There was a friendly competition on which team would have the most beers drank :)

I feel that when you are hosting a party it is important to keep the guests entertained throughout the party. With this in mind, we decided to feature a different food every quarter and at halftime. I wish I could take credit for this idea but I got it from Doug Heffernan on King of Queens when he featured a different chip in every quarter of his Super Bowl Party. (Who says watching tv is a waste of time?)

For the First Quarter and as the guests arrived, we had tortilla chips and dips. Our dips included queso, buffalo chicken dip (okay it was actually wild turkey and it was awesome), black bean dip, and guacamole. I got the black bean dip from Allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Black-Bean-Dip/Detail.aspx. I loved it but next time I make it I will reduce the apple cider vinegar to 1/8 tsp. The guacamole came from Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/guacamole-recipe/index.html I'm not a fan of cilantro so I really liked this guac recipe. It had a citrus taste to it.

For the Second Quarter we had a mini burger bar. We served venison burgers we had ground a few weeks back and of course they were served on homemade buns because that's how the Househusband rolls. For toppings we had ketchup, mustard, pickles, sauteed mushrooms and onions, Swiss cheese, and American cheese.

For Halftime we had homemade soft pretzels. YUM! I also got this recipe from Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html I couldn't find pretzel salt so I used coarse sea salt which worked just as well. We made these the night before and I put them in the oven for a few minutes before we served them. They went great with the queso and mustard. Katie, please note the use of the pasta drying rack you gave me for Christmas :)

Third quarter was buffalo chicken pizza. Okay, again not chicken but wild turkey. It was excellent! The Houshusband made a ranch and buffalo sauce that he spread on top of the dough, followed by the turkey that had been soaked in buffalo sauce, and provolone cheese.

For the Fourth Quarter (drum roll please) we had an ice cream bar. I made chocolate and vanilla ice cream and had asked everyone to bring their favorite topping. The toppings included apple crisp, bananas in a brown sugar sauce, marshmallow cream, Heath Bar, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate chip cookies, crushed Oreos, chocolate syrup, and caramel. It was truly a glorious display. It was so glorious that our friend who is lactose intolerant ran to Walgreens to get lactose pills so he could indulge. He was lucky there was any left when he got back!

Before we all were in a total food coma, we did a couple of betting games. We had made two sheets, one for first quarter and one for second quarter, with questions on them about the game. Ex. Who would challenge first? How many total points at the end of the first half? Who will win the coin toss? etc. It cost $1.00 for each sheet and there was a winner for each half. I was so proud of Tarah who beat the boys and got an almost perfect score! She is proudly displaying her winning sheet below.

So even though I am still full, we are not known to miss a meal. We made great use of the leftover guacamole and black bean dip on fish tacos tonight. If you haven't noticed, we love taking pictures of food. When we bring something out of the oven it's like the paparazzi surrounds it.

So excited that I get to spend this week working on my Valentine's Day Brunch. Blog to you soon!