Super Bowl Recipe Ideas

Hey! So...um...the Super Bowl is this Sunday?!

Right?

...Yeah, thought so. I'll just be doing what I normally do, because at my house the Super Bowl isn't really a thang. But I'll sum up for you what I know about this year's big game: 

1. Seahawks (right?) are playing the Broncos. I know the Broncos because they're my brother's favorite team.
2. I think the game is going down in the general vicinity of where I am?  (just checked: yepp, Jersey tech.)
3. People have been making a lot of pot/ super bowl comments. I'm not super into em. Not into that kinda stuff sooo...yeah I dunno.
4. There's some sort of puppy bowl that goes on as well....involving...puppies. Dogs? Idk.

Yeahhh that's pretty much it. There IS one other thing I know, though: some GREAT ideas for food to serve. Oh yeah, consider this your one stop shop for the best recipes to serve (yourself, your S.O. your pals, your whole neighborhood, whateva) during the game:

(Recipes in order, top to bottom, left to right)

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

Parmesan Breadsticks (Pizza Hut Copy Cat)

Homemade Cheddar Cheese Crackers (Cheez-its)

Sour Cream, Spinach, and Onion Dip (Lightened Up)

Cheesy Chicken Dip

Garlic Cheese Bread

Lightened Up Spinach Artichoke Dip

Whole Wheat Garlic Knots

Spinach & Brie Puff Pastries

Guacamole and Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips

Swiss Bacon Crostini with Truffle Oil

Homemade, Baked, Tater Tots

Gravy Cheese Fries Poutine

Spinach, Onion, and Swiss Dip

GO {insert favorite team here}!

Mashed Potato Soup

It's been cooooolddddddd. My Ohio peeps had a -10 degree day yesterday. In NYC we don't usually get quite that cold, but back during the first polar vortex whatever, we did have a 10 degree day. Which is still pretty darned cold. That is the day I made this soup. And...finished this soup. I ate 3/4 of it by myself before Michael came home. I recommend doubling this recipe or you'll end up with a fiance heckling you for being a "hungry hungry hippo".

 This is my first time posting a soup recipe on the blog, and there are a couple reasons for this:

1. I don't eat a lot of soup. I like it, but not like A TON (with the exception of my grandma's chicken-endive AKA wedding soup. But I don't have the skills to make that yet. And also, this soup is a major exception. I think I'll be making it a lot.)
2. Before this recipe, my homemade soup attempts did NOT work out. I made a couple atrociously bland soups that poor Michael had to choke down and they sort of scarred me and made me scared of making soup.

Like...let's just wrap our minds around this concept: Mashed Potato SOUP. I loooove mashed potatoes, AND I like pierogies, and with the addition of onions and cheese to this soup, it's also kind of pierogi-like.

It is a luscious, creamy, hearty soup (Michael said he could imagine Ivan Denisovich eating this. He really liked that book from Senior English...anyway...). It tastes like you're eating soup-y mashed potatoes BUT kicked up a notch by the nearly caramelized onions, and cheese--cheese makes all things better.

Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Brownies

These brownies get the Michael stamp of approval.

When I first mentioned I was whipping brownies up he was like...not super excited....but then he ate one.

After eating the final brownie of the batch, Michael texted me: "These brownies were sooo good. I already miss them." Poor dear. #firstworldproblems #foodbloggerhubbyproblems

But for serious....they ARE really good. Just the right amount of firmness and fudginess in the texture. And a delightful crunch from the toffee and hunks of decadent chocolate...mmmm...

You wanna know a delicious AND dangerous fact? These are really quick and easy to whip up (quicker and easier if you don't brown the butter but...you should really brown the butter. Trust me.) So it'll be awfully easy to convince yourself, "Oh hey, maybe today I should just make some 'o' those yummy brownies..." and then you and your fiance are sitting there, trying to remember what it was like before you were fat. And telling yourself that when you have a fitness center, you guys are totally gonna work out there together...

...probably.

Whatever. You do whatcha gotta do to continue eating intensely chocolatey brownies that have the extra boost of yumminess given via browned butter & toffee. Priorities people.