Super Bowl Party Food = Amazeballs.

Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl...here we go! Sadly, not this year, but you know where my allegiances always lie. Plus this Pennsylvania girl may have been a bit jealous of the snow up north, hence breaking out the best piece of head gear I own.

So once my hopes for an extensive post-season were as deflated as New England's balls, I started to think about not only where I would watch and hope for a Patriots loss, but what I would make. A request came in to make something healthy for a party, so I will post what I decided on in a future blog post. But in the meantime, here are some great options for those of you who want to keep your bellies fat and happy with all the awesome that comes with meat and cheesy goodness.

Katie's Super Bowl Top Five Dishes

Buffalo Cheese Bread: This post has received the most page views of anything I've blogged about over the last several years. I think it is a testament to how awesome my friend Nick's blog is. (see below for another reference and link). It takes everything that is awesome about buffalo wings and substitutes the meat for bread.

Janet's (meat)BALLS: Sweet, sweet meat.  Balls. 'Nuff said.

Sticky Wings: These are my favorite wings and they are the creation of my buddy Nick at http://www.macheesmo.com. I've made them several times and they are always a crowd-pleaser. If you like an Asian-style wing and love that Rooster sauce, these wings are for you.

Stuffed Jalapenos: These little pillows of meat and cheesy goodness are stuffed with chorizo and smoked gouda. And boy is it gouda.

Tomatillo Peach Salsa: This beats any jarred fruit salsa variety. Hands down and worth the extra effort.

And to give a quick shout-out to a former work colleague of mine who had a role in this little bit of amazing...don't forget about food safety this Super Bowl Sunday!

Parties with Food Themes

I am a firm believer that a good theme party is only as good as its food. Of course, a great theme helps, but if you just half-heartedly throw a bunch of party food out there, it can be disappointing to your guests. I've hosted or attended various theme parties in the past that had great food. From Oscars parties to Super Bowl parties, there is an expectation to bring it with appropriate munchies.

I had the great pleasure of attending a World Cup party this past weekend. I had received the invite several weeks ago once the matches had started. The concept was that they would make food from the two remaining competitors. So in addition to rooting for teams that I wanted to win solely on their attractive competitors (yep, that was one of my judging criteria), I was also cheering for good food!

As we all know now, Germany beat Argentina to win in extra time. But all the food put out by Elisa and Doug were winners in my book. And all homemade. For Germany we had homemade pretzels, bratwursts on the grill, potato salad, and bee sting cake. For Argentina, we had steak with chimichurri sauce, vegetable empanadas, and alfajores. I think overall I preferred the German food, however, these alfajores were to die for.

The moral of the story is that everyone wins at a theme party with great food. Now it's really time for me to get back in the kitchen, so I'll be back to sharing recipes next week!

Easy Stuffed Jalapenos

A few weeks ago, I cooked dinner for my regular True Blood Family Dinner crowd. Usually, we are treated to the fine cooking of my friend from Louisiana who whips up gumbos, po boys, and other Southern specialities better than anyone I've ever met. But for this particular Sunday, I made fish tacos and stuffed jalapenos. The fish tacos I've made several times already and they are always a hit. These jalapenos were a new, quick dish. The hardest part was cutting a dozen jalapenos. These must have been the most potent peppers I've ever worked with as I could not stop the burning sensation in my eyes for a solid 30 minutes while I cut and gutted these. Once you get past that part, these are a piece of cake.

Stuffed Jalapenos (makes 24 poppers)

Ingredients:

• 12 jalapeno peppers
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese
• 2-3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut peppers in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and membranes. Combine cheeses and bacon, spoon into the pepper halves and sprinkle with a couple drops of hot sauce, if you want a little extra heat. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Sticky Wings-Super Bowl Sunday Part Deux

I'm a happy camper this week. First off, the Patriots did not win the Super Bowl. Secondly, I tested the capacity of my tiny condo and discovered that I can seat 10 people around a TV for a sporting event. Lastly, my Super Bowl party was a great success! With great food and company (and some very tasty jalapeno margaritas courtesy of my favorite bartender) a good time was had by all. I've made these wings a few times before and they are always a hit. As an added bonus, someone from Buffalo who knows her chicken wings, admitted she was impressed by these sweet and spicy wings. My friend Nick who has an awesome food blog (http://www.macheesmo.com/) is where I found this recipe initially. Check out his site for some awesome recipes. I know I do on a regular basis!


Sticky Wings

Ingredients

3-4 pounds chicken wings, about 3 dozen

Dry Rub:

• 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
• 2 TB chili powder
• 2 TB finely ground coffee
• 1 1/2 TB Kosher salt
• 1 TB hot paprika
• 1 TB onion powder
• 1 TB garlic powder
• 1 TB fresh ground pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme, crumble it up

 Sticky Sauce:

• 1/2 Cup rice vinegar
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 2 TB fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/4 Cup sugar
• 1-3 TB Sriracha hot chili sauce (depending on your spicy tastes)
• 6 TB canola or vegetable oil
• 1/4 Cup cilantro, chopped for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Combine all of the dry rub ingredients in a bowl and dip each chicken wing into the rub. No need to be shy when it comes to piling the rub on, just make sure there is enough to cover all of the wings.

Bake the wings for 40 minutes, turning at the 20 minute mark with a pair of tongs.

In the meantime, combine the sticky sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk until mixed. When the wings are almost done baking, heat the sauce in a large sauce pan over high heat for 5 minutes until sauce starts to thicken slightly. Then, place the wings into the pan, coating the wings with the sauce. Keep in heat for a minute or two and then remove. Place chopped cilantro on top for serving.