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!

Double Feature Party Eats: Scallion Pancakes + Crunchy Chicken Nuggets

Happy Friday! I'm psyched for a weekend of birthday parties, Superbowl parties and hopefully a good movie somewhere in there. After thoroughly enjoying The Fighter last weekend, I have True Grit and The King's Speech in my sights. What are your weekend plans?

So with yesterday’s Snickerdoodle Dip, I promised you some more football recipes. And since time is running out, I’m bringing you 2 recipes today. First up are my scallion pancakes which I made for Shaun last week.

With a bunch of scallions in my fridge, I knew this would be the perfect way to use ‘em. Albeit not the healthiest. This is a natural party food since it can easily be cut into wedges and served on a nice platter with your not-so-fancy-but-people-will-think-it-is dipping sauce. Oh and though I haven’t tried it, I’m fairly sure that you could easily make these in advance and simply reheat them at your gathering.

Scallion Pancakes + Ginger Sauce
*Adapted from Ming Tsai
For the scallion pancake:
2 C all purpose flour + more for dusting
1 C boiling water
1/2 C scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup canola oil
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
For the ginger sauce:
⅓ C soy sauce
1 tbsp candied ginger, minced (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1 tsp scallions, finely chopped

Place flour in food processor.* With the motor running, slowly stream in the boiling water and process until a ball of dough comes together. Remove the dough ball and place in a mixing bowl, covered with a damp paper towel. Let rest for 30 minutes. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Brush with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle the scallions, salt and pepper on top.

Roll it up (just like in my spinach pinwheels).

Slice the roll into 4 sections.

This is where it gets tricky and isn’t quite and exact science. Take each piece and carefully roll/stretch in your hands until it’s long enough to fold the ends into itself. At this point, simply form into a patty.

It’s not an exact science, but you’d like to get about a 6 inch pancake out of this without spilling scallions everywhere. Once all the pieces are rolled, pan sear in a heated and oiled skillet until each side is golden brown. I did 2 at a time. To keep them from getting soggy, I let them rest on a wire rack when finished.

Cut each pancake into 4 wedges and place on a platter. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, ginger and scallions.

Serve in a small dip bowl or cup alongside the scallion pancakes.

*If you don't have a food processor, you can do this in a giant mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. But be careful while handling the hot water!

And since I love you guys, I’m giving you yet another finger food recipe that’s perfect for a party. It’s not all that different than when I shared the buffalo tenders with blue cheese sauce, but this time, we’re going nuggets and an easier dredging process.

Crunchy Chicken Nuggets, 2 Ways
*Adapted from Rocco DiSpirito's Now Eat This!
1 lb chicken breast
2 C panko breadcrumbs (I could only find regular, not whole wheat)
2/3 C Greek yogurt, 0%
1 lb chicken tenders
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 C Rocco's blue cheese dressing
1/3 C Franks' Red Hot
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the chicken breasts into strips and then into nuggets. Dredge in Greek yogurt (trust me, you will never look back) and coat with panko. On a wire rack (placed over a foil-lined baking sheet), sprinkle with kosher salt & pepper and spray with cooking spray. Bake until cooked through, about 14 minutes.

 

Serve on a small platter and make the buffalo sauce. In a saucepan, heat the Frank's Red Hot with the butter until melted. Serve in a small bowl along with the blue cheese dressing.

To change these up again, simply make the nuggets and serve with honey mustard or any other dipping sauces!

So there you have it. 2 simple recipes that will have your Superbowl-cheering friends loving you and your cooking prowess. What are your favorite party foods? Will you be celebrating the American tradition on Sunday?

Psst...looking for more Superbowl recipe ideas? Try these on for size:

Pizza Dip

Queso Dip

Roasted Garlic & Goat Cheese Crostini

Sundried Tomato & Olive Tapenade

Carmelized Potato & Parsnip Tart

Three Bean Chili

Gorgonzola Fig Crostini

...and lots more that I'll share in a full roundup tomorrow!

Snickerdoodle Dip

This week has been a stressful one. Yesterday I developed an eye twitch. I overslept my alarm. I barely wore make up. It's been a long one.

I really wish that I was one of those people whose stomach, when stressed, just shut right down and refused to accept food. Instead, I got the kind of stomach that becomes a bottomless pit that can never be filled. And it doesn't discriminate either. Any food is up for grabs...that is, any unhealthy food is up for grabs. Somehow I don't think broccoli would cut it at a time like this.

So after seeing the hubs in quite a bit of pain, cleaning up blood (and an extremity) spattered all over my kitchen, taking a trip to the emergency room, refusing to ignore that we got a major wake up call on how quickly an accident (albeit even a relatively minor one like this) can strike at a moments notice...I'm spent. And so I was in dire need of an easy, sweet treat following Mandolingate (as my boss has deemed it). You know, a sweet treat that could double as dinner.

A few days before, I saw that Snickerdoodle Dip was making the rounds on the blogosphere and I just had to give it a whirl. And once I did, I profoundly declared it a perfectly delicious emotional edible. Not to mention its promise as a party food. Yes, I also realized that in the chaos of the week, I have failed to provide you with any football party foods in advance of the upcoming Superbowl. No worries, I've got you covered with this crowd-pleaser, along with a few others in the coming days.

Snickerdoodle Dip
*Adapted from The Wannabe Chef
1 15 oz can cannelini beans, drained & rinsed
1/4 C peanut butter
1/4 C maple syrup
1 tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend (or real brown sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon + more for garnish
honey, drizzled in to taste
graham crackers (my fave), apple & banana slices and any other dippers ya like!

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.

Blend until creamy and smooth, adding more honey if desired for extra sweetness. Feel free to do lots of taste testing at this point in the process ;)

Scoop into a serving dish, garnish with ground cinnamon and enjoy with your dippers! I ate mine on some low-fat graham crackers and never felt happier :)

It may not have cured my anxiety or stress (sometimes I think medication is my only hope), it did a pretty delicious job of curing my sweet tooth over the last few nights :) So what do you think? Are you an emotional eater? Or do you lose your appetite when stress hits? And bonus question: Do you like sweet dips? Any more to share with me?