Seahawks Superbowl Sunday...

Some quick Superbowl ideas:

Team colors popcorn from Our Best Bites.

Crockpot ribs from Your Homebased Mom.

As a Seahawks fan I had to grab some skittles and make my own Seattle Skittles mix *short story of this tradition is on the Our Best Bites link above*  I used the Wildberry Skittles since they have blue and green.  Plus the left over pink, red, and purple skittles are perfect for Valentine's Day which is rapidly approaching.  I found a 12th man logo online and embellished it with a green sticky gem from my scrapbook stash.  I used mini versions of the logos to make cupcake toppers for the green and blue cupcakes I grabbed from Costco.

Taco Soup and other game day treats

Big football game yesterday...  The Holy War for Utah and my Aggies playing a big game as well.  Something easy and delicious for this time of year that can feed a crowd is, Taco Soup!

2 lb ground beef sautéed with onion (if onion desired)
2 cans corn (do not drain)
2 cans kidney beans (do not drain)
1 BIG can tomato juice (46 oz...which is a little over 1 quart)
1 pint Salsa
1 pkg Taco seasoning

Brown beef and then add other ingredients.  Mix and heat in a large pot on the stove. Top with Fritos, sour cream, and shredded cheddar. Also great to make in a crockpot after browning beef.  This is a large recipe but I would imagine it would be easy to freeze for later as well.

Another treat we made was Pumpkin Spice Chex Mix.  Pumpkin is all the rage and so Chex came out with a little spice packet to make the chex mix.  It was fine as is after following the directions on the packet but I would change it up a bit for next time.  Chex has a similar recipe not using the new spice packet that can be found here.

My version for next time...

3 cups cinnamon chex
2 cups corn or rice chex
1 cup honey teddy grahams
 mini chocolate chips
chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter
spice packet

In a large bowl toss chex, teddy grahams, chocolate chips, and pecans. Melt butter and mix with spice packet.  Stir over chex mix, until coated.

At this point the direction called for microwaving chex mix for 3 minutes, stirring every minute, to glaze...my bowl was too big so I spread onto baking sheet and baked at 350 for a few minutes until glazed, stirring it around.  This process takes a bit longer.

For an extra pumpkin kick I would melt some of Hershey Kisses, pumpkin spice kisses and drizzle over mix.  Allow to cool then break apart and enjoy!

Quick Caramel Popcorn

2 qts popped popcorn (1/4 cup unpopped)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup karo syrup
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda

1.  Pop popcorn and pour into a large brown paper bag.
2.  Place butter, brown sugar, karo, and salt in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave 2-3 minutes, stop when bubbly.
3.  Pour over popcorn in bag, roll top of bag down and microwave for 1 minute and 20 seconds. 
4.  Remove from microwave and shake bag well.
5.  Pour onto wax paper or a wax-paper lined baking sheet to cool.

Sprinkle with salt and mixed with cashews if desired.  You could also drizzle it with melted chocolate for variation.

Berry Peach Crumble

I had peaches and some blueberries I coun't eat fast enough so I threw together this yummy dessert.

2 cups berries (I used 1 cup blueberries and 1 cup frozen raspberries)
1 cup fresh peaches, peeled and sliced (I used 2 large White peaches)
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. Lemon juice

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup oats
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Cook together berries, peaches, lemon juice and 2 Tbsp flour stirring constantly over medium heat in a sauce pan, until mixture boils and thickens.
* because I used raspberries this mixture was super tart so after I took it off the burner I stirred in 2 Tbsp powdered sugar.

*I read somewhere that is substituting frozen fruit for fresh to use 12 oz frozen berries per 2 cups of fresh and 8-10 oz frozen peaches to 1 cup of fresh.

Spread berries into an 8x8 pan. In a seperate bowl stir together brown sugar, flour, oats. Season with cinnamon and salt. With a fork toss mixture with melted butter to make a crumbly mixture.

Sprinkle topping over fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

A tasty fall treat!

Ghost Chili with Spiders

It was a football watching afternoon yesterday with the Aggies on TV, at the same time as the Utes and the BYU to follow. So I decided to turn on the TV and make some White Bean Chili. (Ps. The Aggies won!! the Utes barely won is OT, and BYU lost so overall it was a great Football day).

This White Chili recipe is one I altered slightly from on in the new World wide Ward Christmas cookbook (which I LOVE).

Ghostly Fall White Chili

4-5 chicken breasts cooked et diced. (I just boiled mine up to cook them).

4 (15oz) cans white beans. (I left mine whole but some people recommend puree-ing one can for thickness)

1 & 1/2 cups Chicken broth

1 (4oz) can green chilies chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

4 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 Tbsp minced garlic mixed in some olive oil

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp ground red pepper (only 1/2 if you want less spicy)

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and simmer for up to 1 hour. Add some Monterey Jack cheese before serving if desired.

I served the Chili with rolls I had shaped as spiders for fun.

mmmmm sounds like a party

i love parties, especially themed parties. 2 that are occuring right now: chinese new year and the superbowl.

thought this looked overly delectable : Chinese dinner and you can never have enough fortune cookies. maybe i'll make a pinata of the animal this year...year of the Ox. Martha posted this cute and easy Chinese place setting idea for your party, and a how to for making a paper dragon.

For Superbowl Sunday nachos are a must, as well as lil smokies (i heart lil smokies). Another idea i've been wanting to try is this cute football sandwiches. Plus a game of "touchdown" is always fun. Just create a construction paper goal post, then a paper football for each person. It's like pin the tail on the donkey except you are aiming to tack the football in the center of the goalpost.