Gameday Food

Kelly caught mention of my buffalo chicken dip, and requested the recipe. As such, I thought I would dedicate a post to our gameday foods -- that which we make on the rare occasion when we actually have people over to watch football. You see, as you all know, I bleed black and gold for the Pittsburgh Steelers. My husband, on the other hand, is a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Unfortunately, we reside in Redskins Nation. Easy solution, you say -- get the Dish Network and the NFL Sunday Ticket! Ah yes, my dream come true. Every single NFL game brought directly into my living room every Sunday.... what more could a football-loving girl possibly want?

But, you see, my condo made a deal with the devil (aka Comcast), and we automatically get Comcast cable and pay for it through our Condo Association fees. As my husband is over $250,000 in debt from medical school, no matter how much we really really wanted it, we just could not justify paying for BOTH Comcast AND the Dish Network, and alas, no NFL Sunday Ticket for us. As such, we are at the mercy of the local networks to decide which games we see each week.

Last Sunday, however, all the planets and stars must have been properly aligned, because at 1:00, we were able to watch the Eagles tie (TIE?!? TIE!?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS DID TO MY SUICIDE POOL?!?!?!?) the Bengals, and at 4:15, we saw the Steelers beat the Chargers. Since the opportunity to watch both games, back-to-back, is so rare indeed, we held a football open house and invited over all our football watching friends for a whole day of football and food. And this is a sampling of what I served.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 bricks of cream cheese
• 1 large bag of shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 large bottle of hot sauce (Crystal or Frank's Red Hot)

Directions:

1. Boil chicken breasts in a large pot of water. The water used for boiling makes excellent chicken stock for soup, FYI, should you be of the chicken-soup consuming variety.
2. Shred boiled chicken breasts, easily done by hand, but I toss mine in the food processor to speed up the process.
3. Combine chicken, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and hot sauce in a large bowl and mix as well as possible.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 5 minutes. Stir well and return to microwave until completely melted
5. Serve with sliced baguette or crackers.

Layered Taco Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of refried beans (plain, onion, garlic... any flavor of choice)
• 3 cans of chili (I make my own vegetarian chili instead using soy crumbles and homemade seasoning)
• large bag shredded mexican blend cheese
• large container sour cream
• package of taco seasoning
• lettuce, shredded
• toppings of choice -- onions, tomatoes, salsa, jalapenos, olives, guacamole, etc.

Directions:

1. Build layers in a deep baking dish designed for roasts or casseroles.
2. Spread cans of refried beans across bottom of dish.
3. Next, spread chili across bottom (chili can be heated first to make it easier to spread).
4. Sprinkle half a bag of cheese on top of chili.
5. Add the taco seasoning to the container of sour cream, and spread the mixture across the layer of cheese. Keep the layer as thick as possible to avoid dragging the layer of cheese.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the sour cream.
7. Add the shredded lettuce.
8. Any toppings of choice.
9. Serve with Tostitos Scoops.

Husband's Favorite Cream Cheese Bean Dip

Ingredients:

• 1.5 - 2 bricks cream cheese
• 2 cans chili beans
• several square Velveeta slices
• sliced jalapenos

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spread room-temperature cream cheese in the bottom of a 9" baking dish.
3. Spread chili beans on top of cream cheese.
4. Cover mixture with one layer of Velveeta slices.
5. Top with scattered jalapeno slices.
6. Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese melts and just starts to bubble.

Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained
• 1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1/3 cup nonfat half and half
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I use nonfat)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13" baking dish.
2. In a blender or food processor, pulse artichoke hearts, Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese, and garlic until chopped, but not ground. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together spinach, heavy cream, sour cream, and mozzarella cheese. Stir in artichoke mixture. Spoon into prepared baking dish.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.