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.