Great Eats for Super Bowl 2016

A collection of 10 snacks, dips, and meals for your Super Bowl party.

Go Panthers!  I'm originally from North Carolina so guess who I'm pulling for this year?  Besides the football, my favorite thing about the Super Bowl (or any sporting event) is the food.  So here is a collection of great recipes to serve at your Super Bowl party (or any get-together).

10 Great #recipes for your #SuperBowlParty  [Tweet this]

First, let's start with relatively healthy and delicious finger foods.  Finger foods are great to serve during the big game.  You don't need utensils and don't even need to take your eyes off the action while you stuff your face.

Keep your eyes on the game w/ #fingerfood #SuperBowl2016  [Tweet this]

Spicy Edamame     -

Cucumber Bites      -

Sun-dried Tomato Spread

Now come the dips.  Again no need for utensils just grab a chip or a vegetable and dip away while watching the game.

Grab a chip or veggie and dip away w/ these #dips for #SuperBowl2016  [Tweet this]

Blue Cheese Buffalo Chicken Dip

Beer Cheese Nacho Sauce

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

Hummus

Finally, I give you meals.  These meals are simple, easy to prepare, and even easier to eat.  Everyone loves chili and you can't go wrong with it (in Hawaii it's often served over rice).  My last two meals (Kimchi Fried Rice and Loco Moco) are local style grinds and they are absolutely delicious.  All of these meals can be prepared in big batches ahead of time and kept warm until everyone is ready to eat.

Enjoy local style grinds for #SuperBowl2016  [Tweet this]

Chili con Carne

Kimchi Fried Rice

Loco Moco

I hope this collection gives you some delicious ideas for what to serve during Super Bowl 2016.

Enjoy.

linked to:  Full Plate, Freedom, Foodie Friends, Pretty Pintastic,Best of the Weekend, 2 Cup, Tickle my Tastebuds, Whimsy, Wonderful

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Spicy Edamame

Young soybeans, in the pod, sauteed in ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sriracha.  A spicy, salty, and nutritious snack.

This is my new favorite game day snack.  I love having salty and spicy snacks/munchies when I'm drinking (alcohol) and I do a bit of that while watching my favorite teams play.  Even when not drinking these beans are a great snack.  The recipe is very customizable to your individual tastes add more or less of any ingredient as you prefer.  Use any hot sauce, minced chilis, or none at all.  It always turns out great. Spicy Edamame also makes an excellent side dish.

Spicy Edamame is my new favorite #gamedaysnack  [Tweet this]

If you've never eaten soybeans like these you should definitely give them a try.  You only eat the beans inside the pods (the pods are tough).  So what you do is put the whole pod in your mouth and kind of suck/squeeze the beans out of the pod.  The beans are tender and buttery and you suck the spicy salty oil off the pod with the beans.  Just 1/2 of a cup is considered a serving but I've been known to eat it all by myself.

You gotta try this Spicy #Edamame #snack  [Tweet this]

Best of all, this is a nutritious snack.  There are 5 grams of fiber and 10 grams of protein in just 1/2 a cup.  As well as many other health benefits of soybeans, ginger, and garlic (they are all on The World's Healthiest Foods site click to check them out).

Spicy Edamame is a #healthysnack  [Tweet this]

Spicy Edamame

Servings:  2-4
Cook time:  about 10 minutes

2 cups frozen edamame (in pods)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1-2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sriracha

Boil the edamame, in enough water to cover them, for 5-8 minutes then drain.

While the edamame is boiling, simmer the garlic, and ginger in the oil over low heat.  Then add the drained edamame stirring and tossing to coat with the oil mixture.

Pour in the soy sauce and sriracha and turn up the heat so that the liquid boils off while mixing to coat well.

Turn off the heat and remove edamame to serving dish (with an empty trash bowl on the side).

To eat you just suck the tender beans out of the spicy coated pods (make sure you suck all that spice and oil off the pods and don't forget to lick your fingers too--it's so good) and discard the pod.

Enjoy.

For more healthy snacks check out:

Hummus           -

Cucumber Bites      -

Sun-dried Tomato Spread

Linked to:  Pretty Pintastic, Show off, Best of the Weekend, 2 Cup, Lou Lou Girls, TicklemyTastebuds, Wake Up, Full Plate, Freedom, Foodie Friends

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Crispy Pizza Sticks

Crispy cheesy bread sticks with garlic and salami dipped in marinara sauce.  A great finger food for gameday or a snack any day.

I came up with this recipe on the fly when I was home alone so it only makes one serving...maybe two if you aren't too hungry.  I had one pizza dough leftover from making Spinach Artichoke Pizzas (I'll post about it soon) and wanted an easy, crunchy snack.  Have I mentioned that crunchy/crispy is my favorite (food) texture? Does anyone else have a favorite texture or am I just weird like that?  Anyway, I made these pizza sticks crunchy by baking the crust twice.

Do you have a favorite food texture? Mine's crunchy  [Tweet this]

I prefer to bake most things in my toaster oven and love that it's big enough to fit a frozen pizza.  When you bake frozen pizzas it always says to bake it directly on the rack for a crispier crust.  You can't bake dough directly on the rack though so I spread the dough on a baking sheet and baked it until it was light golden brown and sturdy enough to re-bake (with toppings) directly on the rack.  This worked great for a crispy crunchy pizza snack. And if you don't care if the crust is crispy just bake it all only once in the pan.

Crispy Pizza Sticks are perfect #snack for the #toasteroven  [Tweet this]

Crispy Pizza Sticks

Cook time:  20 minutes
Servings:  1-2 (use more dough and a bigger pan to serve more people)

Ingredients:

200g pizza dough, at room temperature (store-bought or your favorite recipe)
Butter
Garlic powder
Mozzarella
Salami (optional)
Easy Marinara Sauce

Spread pizza dough into an 8-inch pizza pan (I used an 8x8 inch square baking sheet which is close enough).  The dough should be about 1/4 inch thin.

Bake the dough (I used my toaster oven) at 450 for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown.  If you have a pizza stone you can skip these first two steps, proceed with the rest of the instructions, and bake the pizza directly on the stone...or if you don't care if the crust is crispy, just skip this first bake, top the dough as below, and bake in the pan.

Allow the baked dough (crust) to cool slightly and remove from pan (you can even do this ahead of time and freeze the pizza crust for later use--just thaw before continuing).

Spread the crust all over with butter, sprinkle on garlic powder (garlic butter made with roasted garlic would be even better if you have it), and as much cheese as you like.  Then top with salami.

Place the crust back in the oven, directly on the rack, and bake at 450F for about 10 minutes more or until cheese is melted and browned around the edges.

Remove from oven, let cool slightly and cut into sticks.

Serve Pizza Sticks with Easy Marinara Sauce for dipping.

Enjoy.

If you love pizza check out these recipes:

Focaccia Pizza       -

Meatball Calzones     -

Cheese Steak Stromboli

Linked to:  Pretty Pintastic, Show Off, Tickle My Tastebuds, Full Plate

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Sun-dried Tomato Spread

A zesty two-ingredient spread made with pureed sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil.  A great appetizer for a party, a gameday snack, or anytime.

Wow.  Sun-dried tomatoes are so rich in flavor.  They add an extra pop of flavor to anything they are added to.  I often just much them right out of the jar.  I love keeping a jar of these little beauties in the fridge for easy addition to pastas, pizzas, and antipasti.  Sun-dried Tomato Spread is simple (just a puree of sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil), packed with lycopene, versatile, and delicious.

Add rich flavor w/ Sundried Tomato Spread  [Tweet this]

This spread is so easy and quick to prepare and it's so delicious it will impress everyone.  It's perfect for a fancy dinner party or even a simple gameday snack.  I also love that it is healthy (packed with fiber and lycopene) in kind of a sneaky way.  Sundried tomatoes are just so delicious you don't even consider their nutrition, but it's there.

Snack healthy w/o realizing it w/ Sundried Tomato Spread  [Tweet this]

Sun-dried Tomato Spread

Prep time: under 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Sundried tomatoes in Italian seasoned oil
Olive oil
Fresh basil (optional)
Parmesan (optional)

This is super simple.

In the bowl of a food processor, fitted with the chopping blade,  add about 20-30 sundried tomatoes.

Turn the processor on and let chop/puree until the tomatoes are finely chopped.  Add optional ingredients (if using) and continue to chop.

Add oil 1 tablespoon at a time while processing until spread is to your desired consistency.  You may not need any extra oil if you use oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes ...if it looks dry add some oil (remember it's easy to add more oil but you can't really take it away so err on the less oil side).

The spread is ready to serve immediately.  Serve with your favorite bread, meats, and cheese.  It's great on sandwiches or paninis and as a pizza sauce too.

Refrigerate any leftover spread.  I've kept it for up to a week...it would probably last longer (maybe not as long if you add fresh basil), but I always eat it all right away.

Enjoy.

For more dips and spreads check out:

Bacon Jam          -

Quick & Easy Guacamole

Hummus          -

Linked to:  Best of the Weekend, Pretty Pintastic, Tickle my Tastebuds, Wake up, Whimsy,  Wonderful, Full Plate, Freedom

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