Super Sunday

About this time last year, I remember hearing a statistic that the most commonly sold and consumed food on Super bowl Sunday is pizza. You probably aren’t too surprised to hear that though, because pizza commercials seem to double in on-air time the week leading up to the Super bowl, and then of course, they all know we’re watching and waiting to order at halftime anyway, so they really beef it up for the actual Super bowl Commercial (as every advertiser does). But just because Pizza Hut and Domino’s are vying for your thirty bucks this last weekend in January (first weekend of February?), doesn’t mean that’s what you necessarily have to serve your guests.

Now let me just say it right now. I do not host Super Bowl parties. Why, you ask? Well truthfully, I really just don’t care or get into the Super bowl. We are SEC people through and through. Don’t get me wrong. We always have the Super bowl on and if an invitation is extended, we do attend a party. But I myself do not care enough about the Super bowl to warrant throwing a party for it. But that being said, I know many of you are big Super bowl fans and are looking for some fresh ideas. So here goes.

Super Bowl Sundae instead of making burgers or pizza the half-time event on Sunday, why not create a Sundae bar complete with everything your guests need to make the ideal Super Bowl sundae? Make sure you pick up different types of candy bars (chopped up of course), cookies, brownies, toppings and fruit galore, and since everyone is already in the competitive sprit, have a Sundae Souper Bowl competition of your own, complete with prizes for the winners of the best and most creative sundaes!

Baked not Fried one of my favorite casual entertaining appetizers is blue cheese chips. Now, you can go all out and make homemade potato chips in the oven yourself, which is what I like to do a lot, or you can save yourself the trouble and pick up a few bags of regular Cape Cod Potato Chips (no funky flavors for this). Lay a nice full layer on large Pyrex, corning ware, or any large platter than can go in the oven. Then liberally put blue cheese all over. Then another layer of chips, another layer of cheese, and so on and so on until you’re at the top and it essentially looks like nachos. You then want to take Marie's Blue Cheese Dressing, and without saturating, cover the chips w/ the dressing (you could add some to each layer with the bleu cheese if you prefer as well). Pop in the oven at about 350 degrees until all the bleu cheese is nice and melted. Take out, and voila! An instant crowd pleaser!

It’s Chili Outside Setting up a chili buffet is one of my favorite fall and winter things to do when entertaining. It is so simple and so fun for everyone. It’s also easy to eat because everything is contained in a bowl so it makes for great football food. I myself, do not like beans, so I always make beanless chili, and then have a warm pot of beans on the side. This is a great option for any vegetarians too, because while they may not care to partake in the chili, they can still have fun with the buffet with a bowl of beans. When you put your buffet together, don’t forget things like baked potato’s (warm in the tin foil), sour cream, chives, bacon, different types of cheese, jalapeno’s, various hot sauces, Frito’s (yes, some people like to put Frito’s in their chili too!), and onions.

Dip Tip I know I know. You like dips on Super bowl Sunday. And that’s fine. Who doesn’t? But make it a little more special and fun on the table by hollowing out veggies such as red cabbage and artichokes. You can even hollow out bell peppers and use them to hold taller veggies such as asparagus!

Chinese New Year Keep celebrating the Chinese New Year and have a Chinese buffet for your guests. Put all those take-out menus to good use! The best part is, you don’t even have to worry about plates or dishes! Instead, hit up your local party store or ask your favorite Chinese restaurant if you can purchase extra Chinese take-out containers. Your guests can use those as their bowls for their food and it makes standing and eating so much easier because everything is self contained.

Okay, so now you hopefully have one or two new possibilities you hadn’t considered for your Super bowl Sunday bash. I have no idea what Mr. Monogram and I will be doing. Most likely it will be laundry for me, but here’s hoping you have a Super Sunday!