Super Bowl!

We had some folks over to watch the Super Bowl (followed by Glee's Thriller episode) last night... and by "some folks" I mean about 40 people. So there had to be a TON of food, particularly in the unhealthy and dip categories...

I went with some tried-and-true favorites:

- slow-cooked pulled pork sliders with kohlrabi/carrot slaw... a favorite with the boys
- black bean and sweet potato chili with all the fixings... a hearty veggie option
- roasted jalapeno popper dip... cheesy, creamy, spicy and AWESOME
- mocha cookies with white chocolate chips... my new favorite cookie
- pepperoni pizza rolls... Tim's childhood favorite/Hot Pocket substitute

But, I also tried a new recipe: chocolate-covered peanut butter and pretzel truffles. They were a BIG hit, especially for something that only has 3 ingredients... here's a shot of the inside, thanks to Chuck, who, along with Colleen, dug into dessert before they had even tried the dinner dishes:

Finally, my girls provided some seriously tasty dishes:

- Colleen made this awesome Greek/Middle Eastern version of a 7-layer dip. So good. Salty, fresh, creamy, hummus-y(?):- Chuck made "Heart Attack on a Plate," which is a layer of cream cheese, covered with a layer of chili, topped with a thick layer of shredded cheddar, then heated until creamy and totally addictive:- Chuck also made a delicious traditional 7-layer dip, based on this Rachael Ray recipe. Forgot to take a photo in my cream cheese dip-induced coma.

New Year's Nibbles

We had an awesome New Year's Eve: lots of delicious food, champagne and playing board games and Wii (Just Dance 2 = super fun!).
At Tim's request and to Meghan's delight, I made old-school cheese balls, one just cheddar, one blue cheese and cheddar, both rolled in walnuts, both pretty tasty. I used a recipe from my ancient Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Better Homes and Gardens is not responsible for the suggestive knife placement, however.I also made 2 types of cute puff pastry swirly things: one with prosciutto, Dijon and Romano, a riff off of Joy the Baker's recipe, and one with feta and spinach. Both tasted great (although the Romano may have been a tad salty, but it's what I had in the house), can be served hot or at room temperature, and the leftovers also reheated well in the oven the next day. Plus, as I said, they were pretty cute.Liz made these awesome mini-roast beef sandwiches with melty Havarti, peach preserves, and chopped walnuts- so good! Plus, they sounded fairly easy to put together, which is always a bonus.Chuck successfully remade a couple of the deviled egg recipes we tried a few months ago... the Sriracha eggs still kick ass, and the herbed deviled eggs are a step up from the usual eggs (although the recipe makes waaaay too much filling). We also had some cute mini-quiches, corn and bead salad, excellent pumpkin bread and other tasty delights...

Oven-roasted Tomatoes

The CSA has brought a bounty of tomatoes to 1346: This week I bought bulk Roma tomatoes (10 lbs!) to make sauce, like I did last year, but I still had a couple Romas and a pint of mixed cherry and grape tomatoes from last week. So clearly it's tomato eatin' time.
I thought these slow-roasted tomatoes from Smitten Kitchen would be a good solution for the smaller tomatoes... roasting the tomatoes really concentrated their sweetness and tomato-y flavors. I served them with an herbed goat cheese spread on crackers... awesome and easy appetizer that would look impressive at a party!

Mushroom and Chive Toasts

Deb from Smitten Kitchen raved about these creamy mushroom chive toasts so much that I had to give them a try. Simple ingredients (stuff you probably have in your pantry), easy preparation, but luxurious tasting. Like the gougeres, perfect for a cocktail party.

I only had regular button mushrooms and simple white bread, and that worked just fine.

Lobster Salad Stuffed Eggs

I was going to make lobster salad for dinner from leftovers from my THREE POUND b-day lobster...so I thought I would attempt an appetizer that went along with the seafood theme. I saw this recipe and it looked good. I left out the radishes after finding out that I couldn't really replace them with anything (thank you Meg) and I used langostino for the seafood portion of the recipe.

In the words of Calvin...BLECH! Martha liked them but they were icky in my opinion. Then again...I have texture issues. Not a fan of slimy items. The filling would be better on a cracker and not in an egg.