super bowl -

by Emily

Super Bowl Snack Zone: Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

One of our favorite eating holidays of the year is here! Well, almost here. The Super Bowl is THIS SUNDAY! If you’re a dedicated snacker like the rest of the ES team, you’ve probably been making some extreme Super Bowl party eating plans, so I respect the fact that your football food may already be decided. But but BUT! You should make a little bit of time to include this buffalo cauliflower in your Sunday Funday.

I’m not telling you to make this recipe because it’s healthy, I’m telling you to make it because it’s GOOD. So good it could replace the wings in your menu. There, I said it. I think the trick to making this particular kind of buffalo cauliflower especially amazing is the double-baking method. You coat the cauliflower bake it once, baste it in delicious sauce, then bake it again to seal in the flavor and texture. The result? Seriously binge-able finger food that everyone will be raving about the whole game. Trust me on this one.

**Note: these cauliflower bites are pictured with another absolutely delicious football app we recently made: baked almond chicken nuggets. I can’t claim any credit for the chicken recipe, but those lil’ guys are perfect for serving alongside your cauliflower and I highly recommend adding them to your snack spread as well!

Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Bites

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by Emily

Party with Homemade Pretzels!

The best part about football is the FOOD. Don’t get me wrong, I like watching the game as much as the next person (possibly even more, when the Seahawks are playing) but the snacks at tailgates, stadiums, and watch parties are the most exciting part besides the event itself. Every year I like to challenge myself to make new and exhilarating Super Bowl snacks for everyone to enjoy, and this year is no different. Of course, the football cooking extravaganza has been going on all month… and last week it was all about the pretzel.

Pretzels are always good, but pretzels with cheese sauce are better. Last weekend my lovely friend Holly had the brilliant idea to make our own pretzels (yes, with cheese sauce!) so for the first time in my life, I learned how to make homemade pretzels! It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, especially because we followed Alton Brown’s pretzel guide, which of course was hella thorough. The finished pretzels were so, so good. I definitely recommend serving them warm and don’t skimp on the salt! Mmm… salt. Perfect paired with a frosty beer during the game.

If for some reason you don’t want to make the cheese sauce included in this recipe (why not though?!) I recommend serving with dijon mustard or spicy mustard.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

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by Emily

Endless Super Bowl: Top 10 Recipes for Your Football Party

Yeah yeah YEAH SONS!!!!! This Sunday is the Super Bowl and the Seahawks are BACK, BABY! Loyal ES readers may remember that I am from Seattle and loooove me some Hawks and made this ultra-handy Super Bowl Snacks for Seahawks Fans last year, and that post still stands because OBVIOUSLY THE SEAHAWKS ARE BACK IN THE ‘BOWL.

(If you want me to stop typing in all caps, SORRY NOT SORRY I CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP because I LOVE THE SUPER BOWLLL)

This year, though, to add to my Seahawks-centric list, I thought I’d share a Top 10 list of general football recipes guaranteed to please any Super Bowl partiers. There is NO shortage of Super Bowl recipes online but these are the tried-and-true snacks we’ve successfully made in the past, and/or new (to us) recipes I’m excited to try this weekend. Need even more inspiration? Take a gander at our Endless Super Bowl Pinterest board.

Big Popper Hot Buffalo Chicken and Bacon Grilled Cheese from Half Baked Harvest

What… even… ARE YOU? Once again, one of my personal favorite food blogs, HBH, comes through with an amazing recipe and gorgeously mouth-watering photos. I want, no, NEED this sandwich in my life.

Baked Garlic & Swiss Dip from Endless Simmer

I developed this recipe two years ago and it is GOOD. Your breath might smell, but so will everyone else’s, so you’ll be just fine.

Buffalo and Blue Cheese Lil’ Smokies from Inspired by Charm

Lil’ smokies are one of Rob’s favorite football snacks (and one of mine, and one of probably most of America, let’s be real…) so obv they’re a Super Bowl staple. The addition of creamy buffalo dipping sauce and blue cheese inside the “blanket” ?! A stroke of genius.

by Emily

Bacon, Spinach, Swiss & Caramelized Onion Dip

I know the Super Bowl is over (GO HAWKS OMG!) but I see no reason why I can’t share my latest dip recipe with you. I mean, DIP! Who doesn’t love it? It’s not like you can’t eat dip just because football season is over (*sob*). After all, we still have basketball, Oscars, random Saturday nights when you feel like staying on the couch with a box of wine, Costco-size bag of chips, and bucket of dip all night, etc… So here we go.

This isn’t anything revolutionary, but it’s all of the best snacking kind of flavors combined into one. Salty bacon? Yep. Sweet caramelized onion? You know it. Refreshing spinach? Heck yes, you’re getting your iron, son! Savory, cheesy…cheese? YES! I tried to keep it kiiiinda light by incorporating some lowfat ingredients in my Creamy Dip Trinity (cream cheese, mayo, sour cream) but let’s be real. You’re eating bacon pulverized into a dairy base, so “light” is pretty relative in this case. But it’s worth it.

Bacon, Spinach, Swiss, & Caramelized Onion Dip

in Bacon / Cheese / Recipe 2 comments

by Emily

Top 5 Super Bowl Recipes for Seahawks Fans

OKAY. This Sunday is the Super Bowl to end all Super Bowls. Seahawks vs. Broncos. If we had a Denver writer on our staff, things might have turned out differently here on Endless Simmer today. But we don’t, we have ME, a ride-or-die West Coaster for 25/27 years of her life, most of those in Washington. This means we’re going to talk about Seattle-themed Superbowl recipes today, and you’re going to read it and you’re going to cook it and most importantly, you’re going to LIKE IT. Even if you aren’t a Seattle person, unless you’re a die-hard Broncos fan, your NFL team of choice is already out of the running so you might as well take this opportunity to embrace the glory of the Seahawks and just enjoy the ride.

Besides, Seattle has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to signature regional delicacies: salmon, shellfish, cherries, apples, craft beers, fine wines… need I go on?

For your Super Bowl XLVIII party, represent the great state of Washington with one (or all!) of these crowd-pleasing recipes, each showcasing one of the state’s beloved flavors. Even if you and your friends aren’t Seahawks fans, you’ll be fans of these snacks.

5. Duke’s Clam Chowder from Smashed Garlic (& originally from Duke’s, of course)

I know lots of people think that the East Coast runs the show when it comes to chowder, but I guarantee you the Pacific Northwest can give it a run for its money. Washington clam chowder is thick, creamy, and chock full of fresh clams. The two most well-known and beloved recipes are from Ivar’s and Duke’s chowderhouses. If you’re an Ivar’s fan, you can find their recipe online, too.

Anyway, most of the country is still cold and miserable, so a bowl of piping hot clam chowder (maybe even in a bread bowl?!) is sure to keep your party guests warm and happy.

4. Washington Apple Martinis from Santa Barbara Chic

Do people in other parts of the country know about the Washington Apple? When I moved to Austin, I was shocked to learn that most of my Texan friends had never heard of it. This was a staple of my college years—of course, back in those days, we drank it as a shot, not a cute little cocktail like this one. (I completely condone imbibing in either fashion!) While this boozy beverage isn’t exactly the same as a fresh, organic Honeycrisp apple plucked from a Washington orchard, it gets you much more drunk. And that’s important when watching sports.

3. Chipotle Cherry Chicken Wings from The Foodie Couple

Why this recipe? The reasons are threefold: 1. Wings are a quintessential sports-watchin’ food. Everyone can agree on a good wing. 2. Cherries are one of Washington’s top crops – have you ever had a Rainier cherry? Delicious. 3. There are lots of cherry BBQ wings recipes out there, but this one is from a blogging couple in Tacoma, and you KNOW these people are rooting for the Hawks on Sunday. Credit where credit is due.

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by snebbu

Slow Cookers Gone Wild! Top 10 Super Bowl Slow Cooker Dishes

The Super Bowl is almost upon us. People will gather around TVs, big and small, to complete the holiday feasting in one last hurrah. Snacks will be enjoyed on the couch while watching commercials and loyal fans will get up for refills when the game comes back for a few quick minutes before more commercials.

But I digress. What really matters during this year’s superbowl is the food. Of course, there are wings, chips, dips, and other salty snacks. But what else can we add to the spread this year? How about some chili to go on the hot dogs? Or pulled pork? Maybe some hearty soup. Get out your slow cooker and impress your guests with something more than 3D Doritos (don’t pretend that you don’t remember). Enough of the jibber jabber—here are ten ways to use that slow cooker to its full potential!

10. Mini Chicken Sausage Pineapple Appetizers

Regular cocktail weenies are for…well…weenies. While in the midst of winter, something a bit tropical may turn your mood around. If it were me, I would sandwhich a weenie between two pineapples. Or weenie, pineapple, weenie? I guess it depends on which way you swing? Weenie or chicken sausage – I think both would work.

RECIPE: Misty Yoon

9. 21st Amendment Brew Free! Chili

My friend got me an awesome encyclopedia of craft beer recipes. Chili is great and beer is great. Soo…why not combine great beer and chili? 21st Amendment brings us a delicious twist on chili in John Holl’s The American Craft Beer Cookbook.

Recipe: John Holl

8. Coke Ribs

Ribs do not have to be laborious day-long projects of putting them in foil after lathering them in bbq sauce several times, then moving them from the oven to the grill. You get the point. You can take that approach, OR you can through them into a slow cooker with a sauce made with cola. They’ll fall apart, while giving you a unique sweetness unlike your standard bbq sauce.

Recipe: Cardamom Addict

7. S’mores Dip

Unfortunately, too often I find that my sweet tooth is not satisfied at a Super Bowl party. Well, now you can put the slow cooker to good use for us healthy folk that enjoy chocolate…and anything else with sugar in it.

Recipe: Little Indiana

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by BS

Cocktail O’Clock: Brothers’ Quarrel

With the Super Bowl just around the corner, this drink, which comes from the W Austin, is a good pleaser. It’s manly enough for a football party (Bourbon-based) but sweet enough to please those of us who are manly enough to admit we’re in it for the taste. It also pays homage to this year’s brother vs. brother Super Bowl coaches plotl ine by mixing St. Germaine and Canton, two liquors made by two different brothers. According the legend:

The maker of Chambord liquor had two sons. He gave each of his sons a sum of money and said “I want you to take this money and go out and make a liquer better than mine. The catch is that I want you to make a liquer better than each other’s.” With the money in hand and passion in their hearts, each son created a great spirit, one making St. Germaine and the other Canton. Much like the whiskeys also found in this cocktail, an American Bourbon and an English scotch, the brother’s quarreled over which is better.

Who’s right? We have no idea, but this drink sure is a strong one!

Brothers’ Quarrel

1.5 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
.5 oz st. germain
.5 oz canton ginger
.25 oz pineapple

Shake all, pour over rocks in rocks glass. Then Spritz with Laphroaig and garnish with burnt lemon.

Find more party drink ideas in Endless Cocktails.

(Photo courtesy W Austin)

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