Cocktail Hacker

As you may have gathered from this week’s other food posts I firmly believe that no matter how healthy you eat the rest of the year, a Super Bowl party is no place for salads and rice cakes.  That said, there is one key category I haven’t touched on as yet, sweets.  I can say with near absolute certainty that if a dessert is present to me I’m going to love it.  That’s just how I am.  What about your party though?  What are your guests going to want and like?  Not surprisingly I have some thoughts on that.

Think homemade.  Even if its something dirt simple I think it always has a bigger impact if you put some effort in to it.  Like the other foods this week, I’d stick with something fairly simple and quick, unless you can make it the day before.  If that’s the case, go nuts.  Some quick, easy options:

Cupcakes - Tiny cakes are always good.  Get a good quality mix, or make them completely from scratch.  For the frosting I’d highly recommend whipping up a batch of your own as it will always taste better than the tubs of frosting you can buy.  My personal favorite is carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  So good.

Brownies - Another one you could buy at the store but will be much better made at home, even from a mix.  I usually reach for the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate brownie mix and throw in about 1/2 – 1 cup of walnuts.

Cookies - You name it and they’re going to be awesome.  Were I coming to your house for a party I’d vote for some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that are still a little moist in the middle, but that’s just me.  Colton suggested some sugar cookies iced to look like tiny footballs.  Although they do sound good, it sounds like a lot more work than I’d be willing to put in to sugar cookies.

Chocolate Fondue - This is Lucas’ choice for this year.  He’ll be serving it with fruit and cookies for dipping.  Some other tasty dipping options are pound cake and marshmallows.  If you’re wanting to booze this one up you could also add a bit of a flavorful liqueur to your dipping chocolate.  Amaretto and Kalhua spring to mind as winners.

Those are all great options but I have one final suggestion that ties in to the theme of a Super Bowl in Florida.  Make up a homemade key lime pie or two.  If you’ve never had real key lime pie made from scratch you are missing out on some serious deliciousness.  Below is the recipe I was given via a food newsgroup back in the mid 90’s when the internet was just getting rolling.  It’s always come out fantastic and I’ve never felt the need to change it up.

Key Lime Pie

4 Egg Yolks
1 14 oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Key Lime Juice (I use Nelly and Joe's)
Zest of One Lime
8" or 9" Graham Cracker Crust
Fresh Whipped Cream

1) Preheat oven to 350F
2) Combine yolks, condensed milk, lime juice and zest with a mixer.
3) Pour the filling in to the crust and smooth with a spatula.
4) Bake for 15-20 minutes to firm filling.
5) Chill for at least an hour.
6) Top with fresh whipped cream.

Some quick comments on this recipe.  The filling that results from this recipe will only fill about 1/2 of the pie shell, the other 1/2 can be filled with whipped cream.  However, what I usually do is double the recipe so that it fills the crust completely and bake for 30-40 minutes.  Then still top the slices with fresh whipped cream.  Another twist is you can chiffonade mint and add it to the whipped cream once you’ve gotten to firm peaks.  This adds another layer of flavor and works well with the lime.

Not surprisingly most of my work for the Super Bowl has been alcoholic.  When hosting a large party though you always need to consider the needs of those who don’t drink.  There are quite a few options.  I’ve offed a few here for your perusal.

The Classics: There are a ton of classics that fill this role.  Most usually soda of some kind.  I offer this as an alternative.  Either buy some specialty sodas (eg Jones, Izze, etc) to offer a bit of spice.  Or, even more creative.  Get some flavored syrups, you can usually get these from a local coffee shop, and create a make your own Italian soda bar.  Flavored syrup, soda water and optionally half and half.  I assure you party goers won’t be expecting that.

Sparkling Cider: Although this is kind of a classic I think it deserves a category of its own.  There are quite a lot of things you can do with sparkling cider.  For example try adding a touch more flavor with a couple dashes of bitters.  This is obviously not suggested for those who drink *no* alcohol as bitters contain some.

Mocktails: There is an entire class of cocktails that have no alcohol at all.  I think the reigning queen of these is definitely Natalie Bovis-Nelsen AKA “The Liquie Muse” who has recently released a book of mocktails called Preggatinis.  If you’d like to sample a couple of the recipes Natalie has a blog for the book.  I think these are a great option for kids especially as it lets them have an adult drink in a cocktail glass, if you dare.

So there you go.  You should be all set for your up-coming Super Bowl party.

If you’ve read the week’s previous posts and found nothing that sounds delicious I offer one final alcoholic option.  Some cocktails can be pre-mixed and chilled for later service.  Gary Regan makes pre-mixed drinks an entire category in The Joy of Mixology and I’ll be taking my recipes from there as I don’t have much experience with cocktails of the pre-mixed variety.  I will present one warning about full strength cocktails for a long duration party.  They’re powerful mojo and some of them are very easy to drink.  There is a distinct possibility of over-imbibing which can lead to badness, so be careful with these.

There are any number of cocktails that could be pre-mixed but there are some things to consider when doing so.  If your drink requires anything bubbly (soda, tonic, champagne, etc) it probably isn’t a good choice for a pre-mix.  Fresh fruit juices change flavor in a short amount of time so pre-mix drinks made with them often taste different than you’d expect.  Finally you’ll want to add some water to a normal drink recipe to make it a pre-mix recipe.  This addition is to account for the shaking or stirring which melts ice in to the drink.  Since your pre-mix drink will be chilled before serving the shaking/stirring step is not necessary.

Now for some recipes:

Cosmopolitan (Bottled) - Joy of Mixology

10 oz Citrus Vodka
4 oz Triple Sec
2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1 oz Cranberry Juice
5 oz Bottled Water

Manhattan (Bottled) - Joy of Mixology

12 oz Bourbon
4 oz Sweet Vermouth
5 oz Bottled Water
1 tsp Angostura Bitters
Maraschino Cherries for Garnish

Margarita (Bottled) - Joy of Mixology

8 oz White Tequila
6 oz Triple Sec
3 oz Fresh Lime Juice
5 oz Bottled Water
Lime Wedges for Garnish

Sidecar Deluxe (Bottled) - Joy of Mixology

12 oz Cognac
3 oz Grand Marnier
3 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
6 oz Bottled Water
Lemon Twists for Garnish

For all of the above cocktails all you need do is mix them up and let them chill for a while.  For the ones with fresh juice I’d suggest making them in the morning of the game.  That way the juice doesnt’ change flavor too much before service.  For each person I’d recommend a 4-5 oz cocktail poured from the above.  That will make them about even with a standard cocktail for those keeping track.

Take a moment to look at the picture below, what do you see?  A white castle?  Good.  Now let’s do some word association.  What’s the first thing that pops in to your head when you hear the words “White Castle”?  If you immediately said sliders then allow us to continue on.  If not, please take a moment to bring yourself up to speed.  White Castle’s signature food is the slyder, a diminutive hamburger meant to be consumed in multiples (like 6 or 47, if you’re bold).  I claim sliders (the other spelling being trademarked) are a perfect Super Bowl party food and can easily be made at home.

Sliders are great for a party.  The ingredients are pretty cheap, they’re quick to make, go down easy and you can spice them up in a zillion different ways.  Viola! Great party food.  The first thing you’re going to want to consider when making your slider shopping list is the buns.  Keeping in mind that a standard slider is much smaller than your typical hamburger, standard hamburger buns are going to be much too large.  A couple ready options do exist.  You could go with premade (or bake yourself) dinner rolls which are tasty, but I think there is a better solution, Hawaiian rolls.  King’s Hawaiian makes rolls that are light, fluffy and lightly sweet.  A perfect pairing for the beefiness to come.

Next on the shopping list is meat.  The default is beef, but you could easily use pork, lamb, turkey, chicken or some combination of your own design.  My preference is beef though.  I’d recommend going with something on the fattier side as it will make your final burgers juicier and more flavorful.  My choice would be something like 80/20 or 85/15.  If you wanted to get really in to the meat you could even ask your butcher to grind a special cut for you.

Like other foods we’ve talked about this week there are numerous recipes for how to flavor and form the patties.  Being a huge Good Eats fan my recomendation would be Alton’s recipe.  If you’d like more info on exactly how he makes and cooks his sliders check out the Man Food Episode here and here.  Alton cooks his on a griddle, but you could just as well use a frying pan or even broil them.  I wouldn’t suggest grilling them since they’re so thin, probably have too much break up.

Finally you have to think about toppings.  As you well know there are nearly unlimited options on how to top a burger.  Some suggestions and links to recipes are below.

• Pepper Jack Cheese – Chipotle Mayonnaise – Carmelized Onions
• Pepper Jack Cheese – Swiss Cheese – Cheddar Cheese
• Teriyaki Sauce – Grilled Pineapple – Wasabi Mayonnaise
• Wing Sauce – Blue Cheese – Pickled Jalapenos
• Pepper Jack Cheese – Guacamole – Roasted Green Chiles
• Cheddar Cheese – Bacon – Carmelized Onions
• Goat Cheese – Sun Dried Tomato Pesto – Roasted Red Peppers
• American Cheese – Dill Pickles – Ketchup + Mustard [The Classic]

I could probably go on for another 5 pages, but I think you get the picture.

Finally, you’re going to want some sides.  There are of course the classics: potato salad, baked beans, pasta salad, potato salad, etc.  But, I’d say if you’re going to the effort to make sliders and have some cool toppings then change up the sides as well.  If you like chips try a chip you’ve not had like taro, plantain, lotus root or sweet potato.  If you’re in to potato or pasta salad cruise around the web and find an interesting recipe you’ve not had before.  Or, say to hell with all this fancy crap, make the classic recipes and enjoy the hell out of them.  Whatever you decide to do I’m sure you and your guests won’t be disappointed with these.

One of the cocktail variations I have yet to cover in great detail, but would be perfect for this application, is the highball.  A highball is most simply defined as a cocktail composed of a base spirit and a mixer.  Although you may not recognize the name immediately I’m sure you know the cocktails that make up this group.  Well known among the highballs are the Gin & Tonic, Seven & Seven, Jack & Coke, and even the Screwdriver.

This class of cocktails works especially well for a party because you can buy the spirits, mixers and garnishes and let your guests mix their own drinks however they like.  To get you started I’ve come up with a list of base ingredients (and my suggestions for each) and the drinks you can make given a bar composed of only these few ingredients.  My goal in creating this guide was to keep costs on the low side while keeping quality high.

Spirits:

• Vodka (Tito’s Handmade)
• Gin (Plymouth or Bombay Sapphire)
• Rum (Dark – Goslings Black Seal)
• Whiskey (Jack Daniels or Knob Creek)

Mixers:

• Cola and/or Diet
• Tonic Water (Canada Dry)
• Soda Water
• Ginger Ale
• Lemon/Lime Soda
• Red Bull
• Fruit Juice (Orange and/or Cranberry Cocktail)

Garnishes:

• Lemon Wedges
• Lime Wedges

Recipes:

• Gin & Tonic (2oz Gin, Top with Tonic, Garnish with Lime)
• Vodka Tonic (2oz Vodka, Top with Tonic, Garnish with Lemon)
• Jack & Coke (2oz Whiskey, Top with Cola)
• Rum & Coke (2oz Rum, Top with Cola)
• Cuba Libre (2oz Rum, Top with Cola, Garnish with Lime)
• Dark & Stormy (2oz Rum, Top with Ginger Ale, Garnish with Lime)
• Cape Codder (2oz Vodka, Top with Cranberry Cocktail, Garnish with Lime)
• Whiskey & Ginger Ale (2oz Whiskey, Top with Ginger Ale)
• Seven & Seven [Sorta] (2oz Whiskey, Top with Lemon/Lime Soda)
• Bourbon & Water (2oz Whiskey, Top with Water)

That covers the basics.  There are of course many other high balls that can be made.  I’ve tried to cover all the classics and best loved ones here.  If there are some I’ve missed, let me know I’ll add them to the list.

Generally when I think Super Bowl party I’m not thinking so much about a big meal so much as a bunch of tiny snack foods throughout the game.  Snacks are great because you can make a range of different items and people can munch to their hearts content.  Clearly it would be impossible for me to go over all the possible finger foods you could make so I’ll touch on some of the ones I like best and some of the tried and true favorites.

Little Smokies - These are an absolute classic.  The general plan is to dump some Little Smokies into a pot, toss in some flavorful sauce and cook them on low until you’re ready to eat.  There are about 14 hojillion recipes for the sauce, but of them all this one sounds the best to me.  One of the recipes calls for chili sauce and grape jelly.  If anyone has an idea what chili sauce is, let me know. I have no idea.  Another classic use for the Smokies is tiny Pigs in a Blanket, always tasty.

Water Chestnuts and Bacon - A coworker recommended this recipe.  Although I’ve never had it, I am a huge fan of bacon, so I’m in.  Buy some whole water chestnuts (3 cans) and some lean bacon (2 packages, turkey works good).  Wrap each water chestnuts in a half slice of bacon, secure with a tooth pick.  Bake chestnuts on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes at 400, turn after 30 minutes.  Mix up 1 1/2 cups of white sugar and 1 1/2 cups of ketchup.  Place chestnuts in a baking dish, cover with sauce.  Bake at 350F for an additional 15 minutes.

Chicken Wings - Okay, so yeah, hot wings are a whole new level of awesome.  The classic sauce is mixture of butter and Frank’s Red Hot.  There are however a lot of other sauces you can choose from.  I just saw an episode of Good Eats that had a great method for cooking the wings without a deep fryer.  Here is Alton’s recipe and you can watch the video here and here if you like.

Baked Havarti - This is another old family favorite and its dirt simple to make.  Buy two tubes of crecent roll dough and a block of havarti cheese (I like havarti with dill for this).  Slice the cheese in to four equal slices (should be about 2″x3.5″x.5″).  Unroll one package of rolls and place the full sheet on a baking sheet.  Place the cheese in the middle, side to side, cap with the other sheet of dough.  Bake at 350F until golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Slice and enjoy.

Guacamole - No party is truly complete without guac.  This is another favorite that has many many recipes.  Here is one recipe that is good.  The recipe calls for either lemon or lime juice.  I’d go with lime, more of a classic flavor that way.  Another option is to buy the prepackaged guac in the produce section of your grocery store.  Side note, it’s good I’m not a food blogger or I might get strung up for that one.

Salsa - This goes hand in hand with guac.  If you’re going to buy premade get the stuff in the refrigerated cases.  Since these haven’t gone through the canning (jarring) process they don’t have to be cooked.  This will result in a fresher tasting salsa.  Seriously though, salsa is another one of those items that is really quite easy to make once you get the hang of it.  Here is a good basic salsa recipe.  From this you can branch off in any number of directions.  Add some fruit perhaps, other veggies, more chiles (yes please!), anything you like.

Cheese Dip - Or as Ted always called it, Spicy Chez.  This is another one that would get my foodie card taken away were I food blogger, but hey, it works for me.  Take a small loaf of Velveeta or a half of a large loaf and chop in to 1/2 inch cubes.  Place in a sauce pan with one can of Rotel tomatoes, your choice on the heat (go hot).  Melt over medium heat until creamy and combined.  If you want to make this a little more interest consider adding some cooked chorizo, ground beef or pork, or other sausage.

Popcorn - Don’t over look this simple snack.  The great part about popcorn is that it’s relatively healthy.  Since your guests are likely to be snacking for quite some time with popcorn they can eat a bunch and not consume a huge amount of calories.  If you’re looking to spice things up a bit try sprinkling some spices (chili powder or cayenne would be tasty) over the top of the freshly popped popcorn.  The small bit of oil (assuming you’re using microwave popcorn) on the corn should help the spices stick.

Clearly there are a lot that I’ve missed and I’ve really only glossed over those that I have suggested.  As with the other posts, if you have suggestions, by all means send them my way.

Think of all the parties you’ve been to in your time.  I would imagine that at a minimum one of those parties had a large cut glass bowl filled with a an alcoholic concoction.  Floating in this deliciousness was likely a ring of ice and some fruit slices.  What was this wonderful elixir you ponder, punch of course.  Punch, originating from the Hindi word Panch, was originally a drink made from a base spirit, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices.  The word became anglicized to punch in the early 1600’s and has been used as such since.

There are nearly as many punch recipes as there are people alive today and I can’t claim that I have a lot of experience with any of them.  Thankfully there are people on these here interwebs that can offer some suggestions.  In looking at the recipes they vary in difficulty from very easy (Rocky Mountain Punch) to quite involved (David Wondrich’s Regent’s Punch).  There are even non-alcoholic recipes, but that’s for another post.

Pretty much any punch is going to be perfect for your party so long as you have enough for the crowd.  The recipes range in alcohol content so you could easily make one that could be consumed all day.  Some of the recipes even have caffeine in them (David Wondrich’s Rum Punch), so once you’ve gorged yourself on tasty food you’ll be able to stay awake for the remainder of the game.  My thoughts?

I don’t think you can go wrong with either of the recipes by David Wondrich.  Wondrich is the author of Imbibe! and generally wise cocktail dude.  If neither of those sound particularly tasty then take a peek at some of the recipes listed on the Saveur site.  There are quite a few and the recipes have a wide range of ingredients and flavors.  Still want more?  You could always get historical and go with Martha Washington’s recipe for Rum Punch.  Or, if you’re still needing more, Jerry Thomas lists 59 recipes in How to Mix Drinks.  I’m betting you can find one there that you like.  Me?  I think I’d go Winter Berry Punch.  Just sounds really tasty.

One final thing to keep in mind.  Toss a container full of water in the freezer the night before.  Rings are pretty traditional but you could go with a simple bowl full of water or get all kinds of crazy and go with a platonic solid.  I recommend a icosahedron for super bonus points.  You can even embed some flowers or fruit in the ice if you’d like a touch more decorative.  However, since this is for a Super Bowl party I’m guessing decorative isn’t super high on your list of priorities.

When I hear someone mention the Super Bowl the first thing that springs to mind is cold.  Seems to make logical sense since the game is played in the middle of the winter.  Now, this year certainly isn’t the best example seeing as the game is being played in Tampa, FL where the temperature on game day is supposed to be in the high 60’s.  Not exactly wintery.  But, I’m guessing that a large portion of the viewers will be somewhere wintery.  So this post goes out to you.

On a cold day there is nothing tastier than a well prepared bowl of chili.  To be clear, I’m not talking about Chili Verde or Texas beef chili here.  I’m talking all American chili with beans, meat and sauce.  This dish fits our criteria perfectly since the initial prep is very minimal, it can cook all day on the stove or in a crock pot and is ready whenever folks are ready to eat.

Where to begin though?  There are so many options.  If I can be perfectly honest with you all, I generally wing it when I’m making chili.  I buy some meat (beef, pork, turkey, chorizo, you name it), some beans (pinto usually) and some tomato sauce.  I sautee up an onion, a couple peppers and some garlic.  Add that mixture to my crock pot and add all the remaining ingredients.  Then I start adding herbs and spices; chili powder, cayenne, cumin, oregano, and salt to name a few.  Lid it up and let the whole deal cook for a while tasting it about once an hour and adjusting my seasoning appropriately.  If it needs to be a bit thinner I’ll add some chicken stock, thicker, some tomato paste.

I’m guessing however, that my method isn’t going to help you make chili for the first time so here are a few recipes that I think look good.

Halftime Chili

Boilermaker Tailgate Chili

Smokin’ Scovilles Turkey Chili

There are tons of ways to make this dish all your own.  Change up the meat; beef, pork, chicken, sausage, even faux meat, the sky truly is the limit on that one.  Vary your beans; nearly any beans can make a good chili.  Finally the most closely guarded secret of the chili masters is the spice blend.  Add what you like, make it scorching hot, or mild but super flavorful.

Another take away from this post is that Chili isn’t the key here, its the class of food, stew/soup.  There are a nearly endless number of recipes that you could make for the big game that would be just as easy to prep as this one.  Maybe a beef stew, chicken chowder, seafood chowder, jambalaya, you name it.  Hope this has inspired you to get your crock pot fired up.

Drop a comment below if you’ve got some awesome recipes I should know about.  I’m always up for fantastic food.

I imagine that were I to ask 10 people randomly what alcoholic beverage I should get for a Super Bowl party 9.5 of those people would say beer.  For the record, one guy was kinda on the fence between beer and green tea, but I think he might have problems.  All kidding aside, beer is the most popular beverage consumed during the Super Bowl, and I’m willing to go out on a limb and include all football games in that statistic.  It makes sense too.  Beer is relatively cheap, there are a zillion different types to choose from, and it tastes good, or so they claim.

Thing is, the Super Bowl is a long event.  If you figure in some pre-game and post-game TV you’re looking at a possible six hours of football.  You and your buddies clearly can’t be hammering back a beer with an ABV of 9% for that amount of time.  No one would be able to get home, even if they’re walking.  You also don’t want a beer that has a huge or exotic flavor to it.  You’d end up drinking a couple and be done for the day.  Again, not going to work.  The solution?  Session beers.

Lew Bryson of Seen Through a Glass has a series of posts on his site called the Session Beer Project.  In his outline of the project he details what he considers to be the qualities of a session beer.  In summary:

1. Alcohol under 4.5%
2. A flavor that doesn’t overpower
3. The beer doesn’t overpower the conversation
4. Reasonable price

Basically, the beer should be inexpensive, flavorful but not overly powerful or so interesting that it takes the focus away from the activity at hand and fairly low in alcohol.  The benefits of going with a beer like this?  Well, for one, you can drink them all day and not get exceedingly drunk.  Second, the beer isn’t all that pricey so you don’t feel bad buying a bunch for when your mooch friends show up empty handed.  Third, the beer has a good flavor that isn’t overly powerful.  You can drink them for the duration of the game and not get “beered out” as it were.  Finally, the flavor isn’t so off the wall that it causes you all to stop watching the game and discuss the subtle nuances of the brew.

So what do you choose?  Well, since I’m not much of a beer guy I can’t give too much input on this one so I turned to my friends first.  Chris, who generously offered his input for the beer tasting, had this to say “Why on god’s green earth would you want low alcohol beer?”  Which, although a valid point, doesn’t help much.  Being from the great state of Arizona he did profer one suggestion that might be worth checking out if you’re a Cardinals fan, namely 8th Street Ale from Four Peaks Brewing Company.  Which at 4.5% ABV comes in at the top end of our scale.

Next I turned to my cousin Tara and her husband Steve, both natives of Pittsburgh and huge Steelers fans (Yes, they even have a drawer full of “Terrible Towels“.)  Steve’s initial suggestion is Iron City Light (4.15% ABV) which is still consumed regularly among locals.  Although Iron City Lager (4.5% ABV) fits our rules and is claimed to be “the ‘Burgh’s signature beer” my local sources are telling me to avoid it.  The exact review was “It’s terrible.”  Good enough for me.  If you’re wanting to go with a microbrew instead, Penn Pilsner (4.0% ABV) from the Penn Brewing Company comes highly recommended.

That should at least get you started and you’re looking for some other suggestions, take a peek at the Top Session Beers list put together by BeerAdvocate.  Lew also has reviews on his site of each of the beers he’s tried in the Session Beer Project.  Definitely worth taking a look if you’re wanting to try something new.

When I’m thinking about food that will work good for the Super Bowl I have a few criteria.  The food in question should:

• Be easy to prepare
• Appeal to a wide group of people
• Require a short final prep during a break
• Scale to various group sizes

There are lots of foods that fit in to these categories, but first I’d like to share one with you that has been a favorite of my family for years.  Whenever we’re planning a large family gathering where prep time will be minimal my mom makes up a batch of her lasagna.  I think there is little that speaks of classic Italian American food like the lasagna made here in the US.  The recipe you find below is what we use, but there are nearly endless variations that can be made.  Experiment, I’m certain you won’t be disappointed.

Easy Lasagna - Marie Gambon

[Ingredients]

[Sauce]

2 lbs Ground Beef
2 lbs Italian Sausage
3/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Oregano
2 cloves Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Minced Parsley
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp Tabasco
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 20oz can Tomatoes (Diced)
1 small Diced Onion
1 6oz can Tomato Paste

[Remaining Ingredients]

1 package Lasagna Noodles (No boil work fine)
1 cup Sour Cream
3 cups Grated Mozzarella Cheese
Grated Parmesan Cheese

[Directions]

1) Brown meat, onion and garlic.
2) Add tomato paste, tomatoes, herbs and spices.
3) Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
4) Cook noodles as directed on package (if needed).
5) Heat oven to 350F.
6) Alternate layers of meat sauce, noodles, sour cream, and cheese in
an 11x7 baking pan, beginning and ending with meat sauce.
7) Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
  Bake until top is bubbly and golden brown (~45 - 60 min).

This recipe will easily feed about 6-8 people.  I’d suggest making a small salad to go with it, assuming you’d like to pretend you’re being slighly healthy.  The nice thing about this recipe is that it can be scaled up easily to accomodate a large group.  Also, it can be made ahead of time and either refridgerated or frozen until you’re ready to cook it.  Although, if you decide to freeze it you’ll probably need some extra time in the oven.  I’d plan an extra 30 minutes or so.

Well, I hope this first installment has at least spurred you to start thinking about what you’ll cook for the big game.  Stay with us, we’ve got more coming as the week goes on.