game day snacks

I am, in general, a pretty big sports fan. As a child, I may have asked my grandma to read me recipes instead of stories, but once I learned to read I also used to pour over the sports sections of Newsday every morning, obsessing over baseball standings.

So obviously, giant game-day feast, combining two of my earliest loves, hold a special place in my heart. Above, you can see my spread for Super Bowl Sunday, which Laura and Jess so kindly helped me to prepare. I basically made everything delicious and decidedly not healthy that I would want to eat at my ideal Super Bowl party, plus the markedly more elegant brie en croute. I don't know about you, but for me the menu would include guacamole, taco dip, penne alla vodka, swedish meatballs and spinach dip.

olive oil tuna spread

Nathan likes to make fun of pantry meals. You know, when people brag about "oh you know I just dug through my cupboard and pulled out some dried goods and some canned goods and threw this and that together and voila! A filling, hearty and tasty meal that also happens to be totally thrifty!" I don't want to speak for him, but think he finds it rather self-satisfied and smug—although he also seems to have a problem with "going to the market and seeing what's fresh," so really there's just no pleasing him. Being inspired by the ingredients at hand is apparently obnoxious now.

Well, sorry Nathan, but this one is totally a "pantry meal," and I'm not afraid to brag about it. 

edamame hummus

I made this for a New Year's Eve snack last weekend, for the two New Year's parties my brother Matt and I were attending. As long as you've got a food processor, this is a really easy dip to make, and can easily be doubled or even tripled for a crowd, as I did. It's a little salty, a little lemony, a little garlicy, and a whole lot of edamame.

romesco sauce

romesco sauce

My CSA went through a month and a half long stretch where it gave us at least 3 peppers a week, and sometimes as many as 5 or 6. Peppers are good, and we did get a nice variety of them, but it didn't take me long to run out of ideas for cooking peppers:

I really like roasted red peppers, but since I still don't have the courage to try canning (maybe next year!), there's only so many of them I can eat, even with Nathan doing his part. Pepperonata is one of my favorite recipe discoveries of 2010, but I got a little tired of that as well. Of course, peppers are a key ingredient in ratatouille, but I only got eggplant from the co-op once this summer, and the zucchini supply ended surprisingly early. With the bounty of vegetables in my fridge, I wasn't going to buy even more just to use up a pepper or two. Many a time, I resorted to throwing them into a variety of soups, with varying degrees of success. Peppers don't present quite as much of a challenge as say, kale, but I was still struggling to use them all up.

That's why I was excited when I found this recipe for romesco sauce. Red pepper is the star ingredient, but it uses tomatoes too, which the food co-op was also giving us a lot of at the time. (Actually, we were still getting tomatoes as recently as Thursday, but we're shifting to a biweekly pick up schedule, so I'm certain that was the last of them. Which is sad.)

This was really easy to make. I roasted a red pepper over the gas stove, and peeled and seeded it. I pulverized some almonds in the blender, and then added some day-old bread, garlic, a couple of tomatoes, olive oil and salt. It also called for a chili pepper, but I think I used part of a jalapeno pepper. I also substituted balsamic vinegar for the suggested sherry variety. It came together in a flash, to a nice, thick, dip-like consistency.


red pepper romesco

This was definitely very different from my usual fare. Nathan really liked it. Laura and I were a little unsure. There was something about it that I found slightly strange, but not completely off putting. The almonds added a nice nuttiness, but I think that maybe they, combined with the bread, kind of subdued the brightness of the red pepper and tomato too much? I was glad that I tried this and happy to eat it, but I wasn't so won over that I'd make it again.

Still, it beats another generic red pepper infused soup, right?


mystery soup

I'm going through my Flickr account and I swear to god I don't even know what this one is made of– it might not even have peppers in it. But the good news is, if I don't remember it, I don't have to blog it, right? One more dish to check off the list!

loaded baked potato with cumin carrots and pan fried pork chop

I made this dinner last Friday before I went out and it was super easy. It also adhered to my favored meal formula: meat + starch + veggie = dinner. Yay. In a twist on a meal my parents have made countless times, I made a simple pork chop, a baked potato, and some cumin roasted carrots. It was easy, homey, and utterly satisfying.


pork, potato, carrot

The star of the meal, believe it or not, was the baked potato. I had gotten some fairly small red ones from the food co-op, so I poked holes all over the largest one and popped it in the microwave on the baked potato setting. I also set the toaster oven to 350 degrees so I could finish it off in there. I fried up a little bacon and chopped up some scallions to sprinkle on top. I also had some sour cream I was going to use, so I decided to try using this cool bacon horseradish dip that Laura got me in Florida. I just mixed a small amount of the mix into some sour cream, and it was instantly a delicious dip. I'm not generally a proponent of powders and prepared foods, but this was actually pretty tasty and the company claims to sell natural foods. I don't want to know what's in it, but I'll definitely eat it again, haha, as well as the cucumber dill variety.


purple potato with bacon horseradish sour cream dip

The potato itself turned out wonderfully. I had never had baked a potato that was anything but a boring yellowy white inside, but this little beauty was a lovely shade of purple. So cool. I love loading lots of stuff in my potatoes, so this was definitely a winner, haha.

A couple of hours before I started cooking, I defrosted a pork chop I'd had in the freezer for awhile. I decided to prepare it as simply as possible, partially because I felt damn guilty about all the sour cream and bacon. (Of course, I was cooking the bacon and the chop in the same pan at the same time, so I probably shot myself in the foot there...) Nathan's stepmom, Patricia, had gotten me this awesome pink Australian salt for my birthday, and although it's really cool, it's also the sort of thing that almost feels too good to actually use. However, the label suggests using it on meats, so that is just what I did, along with some freshly ground pepper. I cooked on fairly high heat and it turned wonderfully golden brown.

The third thing I made was these cumin roasted carrots I had recently stumbled across on a food blog. With all the moving we've done recently, I've had ample opportunity to familiarize myself with the forgotten contents of my pantry, including a bag of cumin seeds. Tossed with olive oil oil, salt and pepper, my cumin seeded carrots were like crispy sweet potato fries after 35 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees. If I were you, I'd check these puppies after 25 minutes because they cooked way faster than the recipe claimed. That being said, these were awesome and I am definitely going to continue making them with my surplus of food co-op carrots. I also tossed in some of my chopped scallions, which made for nice if unnecessary addition.

All in all, it was a very successful meal, and it gave me plenty of fuel for my Friday night fun.

party food

Happy Easter everyone! Today my mom is making leg of lamb (from the shank, not the rump), and I am so excited! I, on the other hand, will be blogging about simple snacks to serve at a soiree. I'm going to leave out the photos of this sloppy looking food, especially because I didn't think to photograph any of it until midway through the party. You can thank me for saving you the sight of half eaten dips. Regardless of how these things look, they are crowd pleasers and are unlikely to leave you with leftovers.


Spinach Dip with Cilantro and Lime
adapted from The New York Times

2 10-ounce packages frozen spinach
8 oz softened cream cheese
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
½ cup sliced scallions
⅓ cup chopped cilantro
1 lime, juiced
a pinch of kosher salt and cracked black pepper
Tortilla chips, for dipping

The original recipe also calls for 1 tablespoon chopped chipotle in adobo sauce, but I tend not to like things spicy, and I also am not sure how easy that is to find. That being said, I'd sure it'd be a fine addition, but the dip is great without it.

Thaw the spinach and squeeze out excess water. Blend together all the other ingredients in a food processor or with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the spinach and blend again. Stir with a spoon to make sure the bottom is even mixed. Serve with chips. So easy!

Like the author of the original recipe, I am majorly skeeved out by the traditional spinach dip with the freeze dried Knorr soup mix and water chestnuts. My dad suggested we make that a couple of years ago for my graduation party. This seemed like a terrible idea to me, so I began searching for an alternative. Luckily, this dip is great. The cilantro and lime give it a nice kick, and it's not so thick that it breaks all the chips. It's also super easy to make, so I highly recommend you blend some up for your next party. Laura and I like to serve it with Hint of Lime chips, but Nathan prefers plain tortilla chips. YMMV.

Cheesy Refried Bean Dip
from Laura Barker

softened cream cheese
canned refried beans
grated cheddar cheese
tortilla chips, for dipping

Layer all three ingredients (cream cheese, then beans, then cheddar) in a baking dish or pan, and cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve with chips! If you've got lots pre-party things to take care of, using pre-made refried beans is a great time saver, but making your own is actually easy enough: simply chop an onion, cook it in a pan with a little oil over medium heat, and then add a can of pinto beans. Cook until everything is soft, season with salt and pepper, and then mash it all up. Voila! Regardless of what kind of beans you use, your guests will love this.

This dip is pretty much Laura's party specialty. In the past I've made my own taco dip with ground beef, refried beans and monterrey jack/cheddar cheese, which is something my Mom likes to make for Super Bowl parties. It's fantastic, but when you're hosting a party and making multiple dishes, this dip is way faster and easier, and is just as delicious. I tried my hand at making it myself for the first time for my brother Matt's birthday on Friday as per his request, and I wasn't quite set on the proportions. Basically, I'd say you want equal amounts of all three components. I used too much cream cheese, so alot of that was left was behind after the cheddar and beans on top had been eaten. My mom made the excellent suggestion of topping this dip with some sliced green onions for a little color and a fresh crunch. I think this would be a great addition!

Chunky Guacamole
adapted from Alton Brown's Guacamole Recipe

3 avocados
1 lime, juiced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ medium onion, diced
2½ small tomatoes, chopped
1 large handful chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
tortilla chips

Use a potato masher to blend two of the avocados with the lime juice, salt, cumin and cayenne. Chop the third avocado into small chunks, and add along with the tomatoes, cilantro, tomatoes, and onion. Stir to combine and then let sit for one hour before serving to allow the flavors to meld. Serve with chips

We made this for Matt's party when we found some beautifully ripe avocados at Pat's Meat Farm on Larkfield. Unfortunately, since they were an impulse buy, I didn't think to buy more than two avocados, which definitely wasn't quite enough for this recipe. It was still tasty, but the ration of avocado to tomato was a bit off. Also, we chopped all the avocados, rather than mashing all of them as Alton would have instructed us, so ours turned out pretty chunky. Generally I'm am a fan of giant avocado globs, but I think that a smoother guacamole can be nice too and would try to strike a better textural balance next time. My final recommendation would be to measure the cayenne and cumin carefully, as I got a little cumin happy and it definitely tasted like it. Other than that, this is really simple and a great party food. Who doesn't like guacamole?

I will definitely be bringing these recipes back for future parties/gatherings!