Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers – February 6, 2011 – kickoff 6:25pm
Are you planning on having a super bowl party? Whether the group is large or small – the name of the game is casual! Everyone’s wearing their favorite team jersey, watching TV, drinking, eating, cheering – so don’t let the idea of a super bowl party fluster you! Here are some easy tips and tricks for a successful party.
- Try to make food that is easy to eat in front of the television
- Set up the food as a buffet
- Don’t go all out on the decorations, most people are going to be focused on the game!
- Ask people to bring something with them, such as : ice, drinks, dips, dessert
- If you can’t afford alcoholic beverages for everyone – tell them in advance BYOB (bring your own beer) or whatever they drink. Most people understand in today’s times, not everyone can afford to support the drinking habits of their friends, family and neighbors. And this way, people are ensured that they will have something they like to drink on hand.
- Come up with some easy and fun games to entertain your guests during commercials/halftime
Some common super bowl foods are:
- Chili
- Chicken wings
- Dips
- Desserts
- Pizza
- Chips
- Fruit
- Nachos
- Meatballs
- Sandwiches
Now, don’t go thinking that you have to make everything! Our usual rule of thumb is, the host(ess) makes the more complicated to transport/can be quiet messy things, and guests make the more transportable items. For instance, we will make the chili, meatballs, pizza and nachos – while asking others to bring a dip, a dessert, a bag of chips, etc. with them.
Some easy and fun games to enjoy are:
- Football charades – try to guess common football words such as: cheerleader, touchdown, football, coach, etc.
- Football bean bag toss and/or a light game of touch football
- Don’t say “football” game – a game common at baby showers, everyone gets a football themed sticker…and they try not to say football, but when they do – the person who hears it has the right to take their football sticker. Whoever collects the most sticker’s wins!
- Beer Pong (suggested for adult parties)
- Team Match-Ups – type up a list of teams with blanks next to them, and tell people they have to fill in the city each team is from – the person with the most amount of right answers win!
- Football Trivia – you can make the cards yourself, or hand out a sheet with questions on them, or you can buy a football trivia game set
If you have children, or you’re crafty – make the decorations yourself. No need to go out and buy something fancy and expensive, when you can use cardboard, felt, glitter, scissors, construction paper, etc.
If you want to build a collection of football related dishes/ceramic decorations – cruise your local yard sales and flea markets. You’ll probably be able to find them all year long, and don’t pay too much for them! If you do it right, you’ll probably have a substantial collection that you only paid $5 - $10 for!
So let us know – who are hoping will win? What are your favorite tips/tricks/recipes?
Various onion soup recipes have been found in English, American, Roman and French cookbooks/collections for hundreds of years. Onions have pretty much always been cheap and relatively easy to grow and gather for cooking. For hundreds of years, onions were considered a food for the poorer classes, but in the 1960's french food grew in popularity here in America. Along with that popularity came the resurgence of the french onion soup. I have a very, very easy recipe for french onion soup - and you can make all kinds of changes to it, depending on what ingredients you have on hand. The only ingredient that cannot be changed is, of course, the onion.
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Simple French Onion Soup
6 large onions - I use yellow onions, but chefs such as Alton Brown say that you can use yellow and purple; you can also use vidalias, they would be delicious in this soup
3 tablespoons of butter - or you can use vegetable oil, if that's what you have
3-6 teaspoons of sugar - this is based on how sweet your onions are, if you use yellow, use more sugar, but if you use vidalia, use less
6 squares of beef bouillon & 6 cups of water - or 6 cups of beef broth, or even 4-5 cups beef and 1-2 cups chicken broth
splashes of: worcestershire sauce, and either red wine, sherry, vermouth (I use Port more often than not because that's what I have on hand)
salt and pepper to taste
1. Peel and thinly slice onions into half moon shapes
2. Melt butter, or heat oil, add onions and start sauteing
3. When the onions are soft, but not brown (should be translucent), sprinkle the sugar on the onions (this will help the carmelization start moving along)
4. After the onions are carmelized, add your bouillon and water or broth and bring to a boil
5. add in the worcestershire, red wine/sherry/vermouth/port, and salt and pepper
6. simmer for 10-15 minutes
As you see, there are many things that you can add or subtract from this recipe. Use what you have! If you have bay leaf and/or thyme - use them! If you have white wine instead of red, use it! This particular recipe is very easy and relatively fast (some people like to cook their soups for hours, and you definitely can if you have the time!).
Now onto the BREAD!
Most of the time, you would add crunchy french bread, such as baguette or croutons and gruyere cheese to the top of the soup (after you've put it in a ramekin or oven safe bowl) and put it under the broiler to melt the cheese. With my recipe, I don't have any ramekins and am really too clumsy to try to get hot steaming bowls of soup out of the oven so I do this:
- take a baguette, cut it into 1/2" slices
- spread butter on top
- sprinkle granulated garlic and fresh ground rock salt (or you can use garlic salt)
- top with cheese, we usually use swiss because that's what we have on hand - but you can use gruyere, cheddar, or any cheese you like - home cooked food is about what you like, not necessarily what the recipe says you should like
- place under the broiler for a couple of minutes
- put on a plate for every one to grab one, or two, or three to dunk in their soup!
Cooking doesn't have to be hard - just use your imagination and use what you already have. If you are living on a budget like we do, you don't always have the money to buy the fancier/pricier cheeses and wines, etc. but you still want a good meal. Look around you, think about what you have, think about what you like - and you can find a way to make it work for you!
We hope that you enjoy this recipe!
Sending you wishes for happy and adventurous cooking from our humble kitchen to yours!
