Game Day Eats: Create a Baked Potato Bar

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Happy Monday friends! How are you? How was your weekend? Shaun and I spent the weekend in Lewes, Delaware with my sister Kimberly and her boyfriend Nick. We spent time beaching, riding bikes, eating and enjoying the sunset from a rooftop.

It was glorious.

So today I want to talk a little bit about football.

When Shaun and I first got married, I not only made it my mission to become a domestic goddess (still working on that one), but to also try and share his love of football. I knew that Sundays in the fall and winter would be dominated by football, so why fight it? I figured it would be more fun to try and share this interest with him, rather than either sit on the couch filled with boredness or make other plans for about 18 Sundays in a row. I chose to get on the bandwagon.

 

I think it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. Not only do we now share a love of football, but we relish lazy Sundays on the couch, eating food, drinking beer and talking. We both dress up in our respective team jerseys and settle in for the day. In case you weren't around last season to read about it, Shaun is a Jets fan while I love the Giants (but we both root for both teams as long as they aren't playing each other ;)).

For the opening game on Thursday night, I wanted to do something easy, filling, and not entirely unhealthy. After loving the mashed potato bar at my brother-in-law's wedding, I realized that I had most of the ingredients on hand to create a mini baked potato bar for the two of us. Easy? Check. Filling? Check. Semi-healthy? check checkity check check.

What's that? You want to make a baked potato bar too? Well let me tell you how I set it all up. It's very difficult and time consuming.

There's really no wrong way to do this. Start with a basic baked potato and add whatever toppings you'd like! We went standard with Greek yogurt, turkey bacon and chives, but I also went a little out of the box and concocted a buffalo baked potato...a potato topped with blue cheese crumbles and a few dashes of hot sauce. Now that's my kind of potato! And truly perfect for game day, no?

What You'll Need:
potatoes, baked (amount & variety of your choice)
sour cream or Greek yogurt
cheese (I had mozzarella and blue cheese crumbles on hand)
turkey bacon, cooked through and crumbled
fresh chives, minced
hot sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot)
butter
kosher salt
any other toppings ya like!

Shaun and I simply layered on whatever toppings we wanted and enjoyed them on the couch while watching the Saints-Packers game. It was so fun to kick off the season with homemade eats that were a bit out of the ordinary and a bit more fun to boot.

I really love this because there are a million other ideas for this too! Shaun already has ideas for Mexican-themed baked potatoes by adding some green chiles, beans, sharp cheddar cheese and a drizzle of enchilada sauce! Or how about a scoop of turkey chili and a sprinkling of cheese? We're also brainstorming other cuisine themes and I can't wait to try them out! Such a filling and easy dish for game day or an any day dinner too.

So that's how we kicked off the season. I can't wait to share other great game day ideas with you as the season goes along. If you're looking for more ideas, check out some of my favorites:

Pizza Dip

Spinach Pinwheels

Garlic & Goat Cheese Crostini

Toasted Sweet Corn & Avocado Salsa

Banana Cupcakes + Nutella Frosting

Questions of the Day:

Have you ever taken on the interests of your significant other, best friend or family members?

Did you make anything for football - or for any reason at all! - this weekend?

psst...I put together a fall mood board that I'm more than mildly obsessed with over on The Peach & The Pit...I hope you'll check out the drool-fest!

Game Day in the Humiston House

Fall Sundays are undoubtedly Shaun's and my favorite day of the week. Not only do we get a double dose of football (S is a lifetime, devout Jets fan while I'm a born 'n bred Giants kind of girl), but we often make it our mission to come up with tasty dishes to enjoy while watching the game. Typically we each pick a game day dish, cook together in our avid kitchen and then settle in for a solid 7+ hours of football (Shaun also likes to watch the 8 o'clock game, though at that point I usually retreat to the bedroom to catch up on my girly shows which include but are not limited to Parenthood and Kardashians). Anyhow, I thought it would be fun to give you a little snapshot of our Sunday game day fun!

 

For this particular week, Shaun assembled a 7-layer taco dip, complete with roasted and subsequently shredded chicken that was lightly baked to melt the cheese.

 

I went with an old favorite and penultimate crowd pleaser, pizza dip! I often make this for football Sunday since we both love it so much. Though I do try to branch out to other things, it's hard to cast this aside...

 

Oh and Shaun also got his Alton Brown on with his famous homemade tortilla chips, warm and salted right out of the fryer (hey, who said game day was healthy?)

Here's my favorite Jets fan digging into the goods...

 

And here I am loading up one (of many) chips.

 

So that's how we spend our Sundays. Though today I'm feeling under the weather and sleepy from a dinner party at our place last night, I'm rallying to at the very least change out of my pajamas rock my Bradshaw tee and feast on some leftovers. On the menu for today? Leftover buffalo wing dip (Shaun's delectable creation) and mini hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls! What do you have on tap for today?

Psst...looking for more game day inspiration? Check out the Recipes page under Starters & Dips!

The Suite Life

A few weeks ago, Shaun and I had the very, very fortunate opportunity to attend the Giants game in style. With some (free!) tickets from his office, we got to watch the game from a luxury suite! Though Shaun is Jets/Mets fan, and my heart belongs to the Giants/Yankees, we try to support each others’ teams as much as possible. You know, as long as they aren’t playing each other. So when Shaun scored this rockin’, once in a lifetime tix, you know he couldn’t wait to go and cheer on the Giants with his Big Blue-lovin’ lady.

And since I have yet to get him into a Giants tee (I have been known to rock Shaun’s vintage Jets jersey...once. At a Jets game. When the Giants weren't playing.), he did at least wear the appropriate colors. Meanwhile, I broke out my red #44 Ahmad Bradshaw t-shirt, gifted to me by a one Shaun Humiston. Doesn’t it look super chic with my black blazer? Classy, no? Here's the inside of the suite (yep, that's a waiter walking down the stairs near the seats):

Our truly fab leather seats afforded us this amazing view. Not only were we able to lounge out with merely a few others in this private box, but unlimited food and drink was located just a few feet away. The view was uncompromised by the exclusion of rowdy, beer-drinking brutes and the lack of anyone needing to pass by you multiple times during the game for a potty break. Not bad, eh? It's really the only way to watch a football game in my opinion.

And you know I couldn't resist snapping just a few photos of a small sampling of the goods. The buffet consisted of Caesar salad, sub sandwiches, potato salad coated in cheese, tomatoes, chives and bacon bits, chicken wings, mozzarella sticks and hot dogs.

For starters, I kicked off the game with some salad, chicken fingers and an oversized mozzarella stick. Yum.

And no football game (or any sporting event for that matter) could ever be complete without a hot dog, so that made it onto full plate #2. You know, along with another mozzarella stick and some of the aforementioned potato salad.

And just when we were in the midst of thanking our lucky stars for such good fortune (there may have been a happy dance involved), someone unexpected showed up in our suite.

Since I had to do about 100 takes to mentally confirm it was her - and was still unconvinced - Shaun suggested that I, in that moment, download U.N.I.T.Y. as my ring tone. You know, so he could proceed to call it and see what her reaction would be when she heard it. Like it was a totally normal coincidence. (Oh, my husband...) Luckily, it didn't come to that. Upon a closer look, we decided that it was in fact Queen Latifah. And when she didn't give me a 'you have two heads' look when I requested a photo with her (like the dork that I am), I was then fairly certain it was her. She just stopped by to catch some of the game. You know, in the suite we just so happened to take up residence in. Oh and did I mention that the back up quarterback's family also set up shop in the same suite? We so obviously belonged there.

So there you have it. The perfect way to watch a football game. Well, almost. The Giants suffered a terrible loss to the Titans...but I kinda forgot about that part in all the other awesomeness that ensued.

So what do you think? Are you a sports fan? Have you ever gone all out for a game? What's your favorite part? Dish it!

Psst...want to see more football fun? Check out last year's Giants game and all of its tailgating glory! And for even more game day eats, check out some fun recipe ideas!