Super Bowl Sunday!

Disclaimer: I don’t like sports. I don’t mind the occasional live game but I don’t enjoy watching sports on TV. I know, I know, I’m a bad little Canadian who doesn’t like hockey but… *shrug emoji*. With that said, Jeff wanted to invite my folks over for the game so I agreed and told my mom to bring her crochet. I also wore the only sports apparel I own – a Blue Jays tank top, just to elicit an eye roll from my stepdad (mission accomplished). This was one of the rare occasions when I looked forward to making food and I had a couple ideas in mind. The Awkward Yeti has a comic that brilliantly sums up how I feel about the Super Bowl:

Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip

Jeff’s sister-in-law makes this every time the family gets together. She gave me the recipe some time ago but it took me forever to make it. I’ve made it twice in the last three weeks even though it has one of the worst steps I’ve ever performed when cooking.

The recipe
– 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
– 1/2 cup Ranch dressing
– 3/4 cup Franks Read Hot sauce
– 2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
– 2 8oz packages cream cheese

Boil chicken until fully cooked. When finished, shred chicken into small bits (Don’t chop. I used a cheese grater or a fork and knife). Soften cream cheese. Add Ranch dressing, hot sauce, shredded cheese, and chicken. Mix well. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes. Serve with Tostitos Scoops.

Ingredient changes
This dip is easy to eat a lot of so I used reduced sodium old cheddar cheese and light cream cheese.

Ease (or not) of prep
Remember how I mentioned this dip has one horrible step? That would be shredding chicken. What the crap is that?! Either you stand there with a knife and fork pulling it apart or you use a cheese grater, which works faster but not necessarily better. It took me at least half an hour to do this! Jeff’s sister-in-law has started using a KitchenAid standing mixer but I found that made the chicken too fine so I guess I can’t complain when I do it the hard way. Regardless, shredding chicken is for the birds *smug emoji*.

Boyfriend Test and Picky Eater Test: SCORE!
Jeff said the dip turned out just like Stacey’s and he ate a quarter of the dish himself so he’ll never go hungry when I make it. I am not a fan of spice so it took me a couple tries to get used to this dip but I really like it. The predominant flavours are chicken and cheese so the spice is not overpowering. The fact that I have to shred chicken by hand means I won’t make this terribly often but I’ll gladly make a meal of it when it’s on the menu at Stacey’s house.

Mozarella Sticks

The recipe
Homemade Mozzarella Sticks from allrecipes.com.

Ingredient changes
Jeff and I were the only ones eating these so I made less than the recipe called for. I used 6 cheese sticks (cut in half), 1 egg, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup bread crumbs to make 12 mozzarella sticks.

Ease (or not) of prep
Put bread crumbs in a baggie? Easy. Mix egg and milk? Simple. Wrap cheese in egg rolls wrappers? Piece of cake. Deep fry? Good thing my mom was here!

I don’t have a deep fryer so we used an old pot. My mom my pretty nervous about not having a deep fryer so when the oil crackled loudly, she removed it from the heat to calm it down. In the end, we and the kitchen survived unscathed so we must have done something right.

The Boyfriend Test: Pass (the ball!)
Jeff enjoyed these quite a bit. He said the were cooked perfectly. Really though, you can’t offend Jeff with breading and cheese.

Picky Eater Test: Soft pass
I found the egg roll wrapper a genius way to stop the cheese from exploding but I also found there to be a bit too much of it once it’s rolled up. The outside was crunchy and the inside was soft but not unpleasantly so. Next time I make these, I’ll fuss with them a bit and try to cut away the excess. I’ll also go a little overboard on the breading because I didn’t find them to be overly flavourful. My next mission will be to find a good dip to accompany them.

Taquitos (sort of?)

My mom threw some ingredients together and this is what came out. I use the term ‘taquitos’ loosely because I’m not sure how they’re actually made since this and the ones Jeff gets from 7 Eleven are my only experiences with them (and those 7 Eleven ones are dubious at best).

The recipe
– 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
– 1/2 cup finely chopped assorted peppers
– 1/2 cup cooked chicken
– 1 tbsp scallions
– 2 cloves fresh garlic
– Joseph’s Lavash wraps (or whatever wraps you prefer)
– shredded cheese, whatever kind and amount you prefer

Sautée ingredients in frying pan on medium heat, greased with your choice of olive oil or cooking spray. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Roll mixture into wraps with cheese. Stick rolls with toothpicks to keep them closed. Dribble tops with tomato sauce or salsa and sprinkle with a bit of cheese. Bake at 400º for 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

Ease (or not) of prep
Of all the things we made, this was probably the easiest, even though it had the most steps. No shredded chicken or threat of burning down the kitchen so that’s a win.

The Boyfriend Test: GOAL!
Jeff actually likes the taquitos that sit on those spinning heat trays at 7 Eleven so he loved the superior homemade version. I like recipes like this where I can easily kick up Jeff’s with spicy salsa or sriracha while leaving mine nice, plain, and pain-free.

Picky Eater Test: Pass
I only tried a bite because I was pretty full of dip by this point, but they were quite good. They were flavourful and, as with all the dishes we made, cheesy, so I was happy.

My mom also brought a veggie platter but, as you can see in the picture, most of that foolishness is still on the table. For dessert, we had a fruit plate. There’s still a lot of dip left over but Jeff and I will make short work of that. Don’t ask me what teams were playing or who won, but feel free to ask me about any of these recipes!

What are your favourite party foods? Any recipes out there I should try next time?