Game Day Favorites, Part I

Sunday has really crept up as my favorite day of the week, mainly due to my love of couch surfing and my new love of football. Is there anything better than settling in on the couch for a full day (and evening) of football or a string of great TBS Classics? And let's face it, the day just wouldn't be complete without game day eats. Though I have a long list of dips, spreads, and other appetizers in my Sunday repetoire, sometimes the offering can get a bit stale...and a bit heavy on the caloric intake. The cream cheese/sour cream/heavy cream based dips (noticing a theme here?) sometimes just don't fly with my stomach (or my reflection in the mirror). And though I love a good pizza dip or queso dip as much as the next game day eater, this week, perhaps due to my Halloween candy bar overload this past weekend, I just couldn't stomach a heavy spread. Instead, I whipped up two semi-healthy, light options for this week's game day eats.

Spinach Bean Dip / Spread
Shaun calls it a spread, I'm sticking with dip (a topic that has resulted in many, many discussions during which we've both plead our cases to each other...I'll let you decide). This hearty spinach dip is made healthy by substituting a cream-based substance with white canellini beans. Perfect with Tostitos, carrots, pita chips or baked bread, this dip is totally guilt-free. Inspired by Giada DeLaurentis' Spinach and Cannelini Bean Dip Recipe, I've changed it up a bit to not only add more flavor, but to only use ingredients one might generally have around the house (I, for one, do not ever have fresh baby spinach on hand...frozen chopped all the way and going strong! Anyone disagree? Is this a staple I should be carrying?).

Instructions:
Heat/defrost one package of chopped, frozen spinach. I like to just put the brick in a bowl in the microwave - hence cutting out having to remember the night before to defrost.

Once defrosted, drain well. I repeat, Drain Well. This is not the time for watery vegetables. I put mine in a strainer and with my own two hands, push all the water out. I find soggy paper towel squeezing and scrunching works best.

In a skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 clove of garlic (I use the jarred kind for ease), and drained spinach. Cook for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse and drain 1 15oz can of white canellini beans. Again, get as much water out of 'em as you can.

Combine beans and spinach mixture in food processor. Add 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, juice of 1/2 lemon, and salt & pepper to taste. I also like to add 1oz of herb goat cheese (this is about 1/4 of a small package of goat cheese). Add more for more taste, but use a light hand as goat cheese, while delicious, packs a lot of punch in a small amount.

Blend all together until smooth...and looks like this:

Serve with chips, veggies, pita chips, or bread, serve on a pretty platter, and voila!

Isn't she pretty? 

Creamy Fruity Salsa
A versatile, virtually calorie-free dip, salsa is often a staple at Mexican restaurants and game day spreads alike. For this version, easily combined with sour cream, I turned up the volume by using a fabulous fruit salsa, rather than the regular, spicy kind.

Mix one cup fruit salsa with 1 tbsp light sour cream. Serve with Tostitos, vegetables, whatever you have around the house.

Tips:
I like Target's Archer Farms Pineapple Peach Salsa for an extra flavor boost. It's inexpensive, comes in multiple sized jars and has delightful bits of pineapple and peach in it. As for the sour cream, I use reduced fat - this is a great instance of cutting out calories since the salsa overpowers the sour cream taste anyway, but you don't lose any of the creamy texture. One more thing...I like mine with just a teeny bit of sour cream. Want yours super creamy? Add sour cream to taste, and enjoy! Sour cream is also a great way to lighten up the heat on some spicier salsa varieties - don't limit to just fruit salsa!

What do you guys think? What do you eat on game day? Or any other Sunday TV viewing? TBS Classics anyone?

Better Butternut Squash Soup: A Recipe That'll Knock Your Wool Socks Off

The cold, rainy, dreary, and overall stay-home-in-your-wool-socks weather we've been having here on the East Coast has left me longing for comfort food. And what's more comforting than curling up on the couch with a bowl of soup and an episode of Dexter? Ok so maybe Dexter isn't the most comforting show, but foodwise, it doesn't get much better. My full-'o-Fall-flavor butternut squash soup recipe will keep you nice and toasty warm on any chilly (or wet and miserable) evening. Inspired by almost-Top Chef Master Michael Chiarello, it's sweet, savory, healthy and easy to boot. Break out the wool socks people, because we're getting ready for a cold night in.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Extra virgin olive oil
1/3 C diced onion
1/3 C diced celery
1/3 C diced carrots
1-2 cinnamon sticks (Not the cinnamon-type? Use just 1 for plenty of Fall flavor)
Salt & pepper, to taste
4 C Low sodium chicken stock
1 butternut squash, peeled & diced
1/4 C half and half (for thickness & richness...want to keep it healthier? Skip it!)
2 Tbsp brown sugar

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Peel and dice butternut squash. (Since this tends to require a very steady hand and a lot of elbow grease, I highly recommend picking up the precut, prepackaged butternut squash. For just a little more money, you'll save time and lessen your chance for lacerated fingers.) If using prepackaged squash, just do a little extra chopping to make sure the pieces are equal size.
- Coat squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper and place on foil-lined baking sheet (will save you eons of time in cleanup!)

- Roast squash about 40 minutes until tender
- Separately, heat olive oil in stock pot, adding carrots, celery, onion, and cinnamon stick. Saute on medium heat until softened, about 10 minutes (I like to use my giant pasta pot so as not to worry about hot liquid splatters!)

- Add chicken stock, bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer
- Add roasted squash and simmer all together for 10 minutes

- Remove cinnamon stick and puree soup altogether* (see below for instructions)
- Once pureed, add half and half and brown sugar, stir until smooth
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste
- For extra points, garnish with chopped pecans, or serve with a slice of delicious toasted bread

*To puree soup, I highly recommend using an immersion blender. This recent purchase has become one of my favorite kitchen tools for it's amazing power to transform food as well as its ease of use. I use it for various soup recipes and Shaun even uses it to mix his whey protein shakes after the gym! It's a wonderful item. Seriously guys, I picked up this one from Bed Bath and Beyond for $24 with a 20% off coupon. A minute of subversive blending and voila! If you are not so much into investing in a new kitchen tool, you can puree the soup in batches in a regular blender or food processor - but be careful (!!!!) Hot liquid + blending = hot liquid splattering.

Got any other butternut squash recipes or additions that have made your own creations uber delicious? Anyone planning to try this? Anyone else with an immersion blender obsession???

Fall Treats: Apple Surprise Muffins

This past weekend, K and I braved the rain and snow for a long-awaited reunion with C out in State College, PA at her new Penn State home. Though the weather left much to be desired...and by much, I mean all to be desired...and wasn't quite the Fall foliage weekend I had counted on, one road trip, a football game, many red bulls, and lots of Domino's cheesy bread later, there's nothing quite like a girls only weekend with my sisters. Since C is in her first year at Penn State and living in the germ-infested, underfed dorms really leaves much to be desired, I thought a tasty, homemade autumn treat was in order to let my baby sister know how much I miss her. Though autumn is my favorite baking season due to the heightened pumpkin usage, I recognized that not all people are quite as obsessed as me. Keeping in mind K's penchant for chocolate and everyone's love of apple, I chose a chocolate-apple muffin as the ticket to filling everyone's tummies with Fall cheer.

This recipe was adapted from the cookbook Muffins: Sweet & Savory Comfort Food by Cyndi Duncan & Georgie Patrick. A gift from one of my bestests, this cookbook is fabulous for both dessert and dinner muffins. With options like bran, jalepeno corn, pb & j, rum raisin, frosted pumpkin, and chocolate chip banana to name a few, you basically can't go wrong.

2 medium apples, peeled, cored, diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp sugar + 1/2 C sugar
1/4 C chopped nuts (I used pecans...yum!)
1/4 C melted butter
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
3/4 C applesauce
1 1/4 C flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. Combine apples, cinnamon, 1 tbsp sugar and nuts in small bowl; mix well and set aside. Thoroughly combine butter and cocoa; then add applesauce. In large bowl, combine flour, 1/2C sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in cocoa mixture and egg just until moistened. Place 1 tbsp batter in each of the 12 muffin cups; spoon 1 heaping tbsp aple mixture into each cup, pressing into batter. Cover each cup with 1tbsp batter.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

My adjustments:
1) Since I was bringing this to a dorm full of hungry ladies (and left a few home for S and I wanted to be able to snack on one or two on the trip up) I doubled the recipe exactly.
2) I also left out the 'surprise'. In my haste to get all 24 muffins complete on a Thursday night, I simply folded the apple mixture into the wet ingredients, then filled the muffin cups with the mixture all combined.
3) I used muffin cups, not just the bare muffin tin
4) I also made a quick maple glaze for the top.*

Beware: These muffins are extremely moist. Between the applesauce and fresh apples, it makes for quite a wet muffin. I didn't mind as eating a dry muffin might as well be eating a cement brick.

Bottom Line: A great fall treat! Not quite as sweet as a cupcake, but more substantial than a cookie, these were a great weekend comfort food and a nice treat for C.

*Maple Glaze:
Combine 3 tbsp confectioner's sugar and 1 tbsp maple syrup. Whisk together and adjust ingredients to desired thickness. Drizzle on muffins.

The Cannon Girls take Penn State!