Tag Archives: party

stress-free super bowl recipes

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A collection of stress-free Wee Eats recipes that are perfect for your  super bowl party

(Click the picture to go to the recipe!)

Act 1 : Savories

1. Puff pastry makes these cheese twists super easy (to save time, you can make them in advance and freeze them!)

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2. Make a batch of chili and serve it on top of hot dogs or tots to make a tasty snack!

chili cheese tots

3. Cut the pretzel rope into 2-inch pieces for delicious pretzel bites.  You can bake these ahead of time, freeze the bites, and reheat them in the microwave or oven before serving!

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 4. With all the artery-clogging goodness you can eat at most football fiestas, sometimes a veggie or two is a nice break.

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5. This loaded potato dip takes about two minutes to make, and you can make it a day or two ahead of time.  Warning: You will want to double or triple the recipe to have enough to serve your ravenous guests.

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6. How about some sliders? The chipotle bacon variety, 5 chile turkey burgers, or just a build-your-own burger slider bar!

If you’re not in a burger mood, you could make sliders out of sloppy joes or (our favorite) beef sammies, too!

7. This easy salsa is made in your food processor or blender and only takes a few minutes!

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Act 2: Sweets

1. Cut these brownies into football-shaped bites if you want.  I’m sure they’ll be just as enjoyable as squares, though :)

btc brownie

2. Make these cake pops and cover them with sprinkles that match your team’s colors.

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3. Mini oreo cheesecakes are a quick and easy (make-ahead) bite-size treat that are sure to please.  You could add food coloring to match them to your team’s color!

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4. These toffee chip cookies are a favorite around these parts, they’re easy to make and you can freeze them pre or post baking to save yourself some time on game day.

toffee chip thumb

Act 3: Drinks

1. Start infusing vodka today with berries or pineapple and it should be ready by the time game-day arrives.  Tip: the smaller you slice your fruit the faster your vodka will infuse!

2. Cut this solid hot chocolate into football shapes and you’ll have super bowl hot chocolate on a stick!

hot chocolate stick

loaded potato dip

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With the Super Bowl coming up, I’ve already shared a couple of snacks with you, but here’s one I really love.  Not only is it the easiest thing in the world to make, and you can make it with ingredients that you most likely have in your house right now, but it is packed with flavor.

Or should I “loaded” with flavor?  (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself)

All you do is take all the stuff you would normally put on a baked potato: bacon, cheese, sour cream, etc… and put it into a bowl instead!  Stir it up and let it sit so the flavors can “mingle”, and then serve it up, on top of potatoes!

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Well, potato chips.  Same thing.

If you’re worried about your waistline, or still hanging onto some shred of your New Year’s Resolution, do what I did and use reduced-fat sour cream and turkey bacon.  No one will ever know, unless you tell everyone about it on your blog later.

Oops?

Well, since you’re saving all those calories, you might as well double the recipe.

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • ½ cup sour cream (use reduced-fat if you feel guilty)
  • ½ cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 5 slices bacon or good turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 1 teaspoon dried chives (because that’s what I keep in my pantry) or 1 Tablespoon fresh
  • ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon (1 pinch) ground pepper

Stir everything else together, then sprinkle your extras on top and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge for at least one hour or up to one week prior to serving.

Garnish with extra shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, and chives if you’re feelin’ fancy.

Serve with your favorite potato chips (or baked kettle chips!)

Dip can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may also like these party favorites:

 

 

fig thumb 543914_520358348003784_1734403736_n caprese thumb pretzel thumb

 

easy cheesy twists

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I don’t know if I’m still tired from the holidays or if it’s just because hockey is back, but I’ve been fixated on fast and easy appetizers.  I’m sure that this will wear off eventually, but for now I’m still trying to make things that I can throw together super fast without sacrificing flavor, like last week’s prosciutto flatbread.  Given my past success with puff pastry shortcuts, that was naturally one of the first things I thought of.

These cheesy twists are the perfect, easy appetizer for your next get together.  They require minimal effort AND you can make them in advance.  Yep.  That means you can spend like 30 minutes (if even) in the kitchen today, and freeze these and have them ready at the drop of a hat for the next time you have guests over.  That easy.

I used parmesan cheese because I know it gets nice and crispy.  I debated cheddar as well, but, ya know.  That would have taken me twice as long.  I’ve got another sheet of puff pastry on ice with cheddar written all over it.  I would go with any sharp cheese, you want it to have lots of flavor, because the pastry itself isn’t super flavorful.  If not parmesan, a good pecorino or asiago would certainly do the trick.  I also added a sprinkle of garlic powder, a dash of smoked paprika, and a hint of cayenne for a little bit of kick, but the skies the limit here.

Easy Cheesy Twists

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed.
  • 2 ½ ounces (a little over ⅓ cup) parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • pinch of cayenne
  • salt
  • Egg wash (1 egg, beaten with 1 Tablespoon of water)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and line two baking sheets with parchment.

2. Roll puff pastry to smooth folds. Roll to about 12 inch by 10 inch rectangle.

3. In a small bowl, stir together the cheese and spices.

4. Rub surface of puff pastry with egg wash.  Sprinkle cheese mixture over half of the puff pastry and fold the un-cheesed half over the cheesed half.  Roll again to press the two sides together, you should now have a rectangle that is 6 or 7 inches by 10 inches.

5. Cut rectangle into ½-inch strips, you’ll end up with about 20 strips.  Grab each end of a strip and twist until you have a spiral.  Place on the baking sheet, and continue twisting each strip until they’re all twisted.

6. Now you have a choice – bake now or freeze for later

To bake now: Brush each strip with egg wash, sprinkle with salt, and bake for about 13 minutes until nice and golden.

To freeze: Place baking sheet in the freezer 40 minutes or until frozen.  Move twists into a freezer-proof bag and freeze until you’re ready to make them.  To bake from frozen, add an extra 2 – 3 minutes onto the baking time.

 

 

You may also like these easy bites:

cheesy artichoke bread  avocado fries  ccroll

fig and prosciutto flatbread

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It’s Monday and I’ve got a treat for you.

It’s one of my favorites.

It combines creamy mascarpone cheese, sweet fig jam, salty prosciutto, and peppery arugula that satisfies any possible craving you could have all in one bite.

Usually I would make this as a crostini on sliced and toasted baguette. Unfortunately, it can become very tedious when you have to spread and layer ingredients onto a bajillion little pieces of bread.  So when I was planning Christmas Brunch, it occurred to me that I could save a lot of time if I just made one giant crostini… I briefly thought about slicing a baguette in half, toasting the halves and going from there, similar to my cheesy artichoke bread recipe.

Then, as I was scanning the fridge to find something for dinner, my eyes stopped on a package of pizza dough from Trader Joe’s.  It came to me all at once, it was so simple I couldn’t believe I hadn’t figured it out before: flatbread!

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Flatbread was the solution to my problem.  (How many people can say that?)

I could make one large flatbread and just cut it into a bunch of bite-size appetizers for people to snack on.  Just grill your pizza dough until it’s cooked through, add your toppings, slice and serve.  The result was the perfect super fast, super easy way to make my favorite appetizer.

Prosciutto Flatbread

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 1 pound pizza dough
  • 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
  • 1/2 cup fig jam
  • 8 ounces prosciutto
  • 4 cups arugula

Divide your dough into two equal portions and roll into a ball, set on a lightly-floured surface and cover with a towel.  Bring to room temperature for about 1 hour prior to cooking.

Heat griddle or grill to high heat (or heat the oven to 500 degrees and put the rack on the lowest rung).  If you’re using the oven here, you’ll want to start pre-heating it at least 30 minutes early.

Shape your dough, I just stretched mine out into an oblong shape.  You can try for a circle or rectangle if it suits you, but don’t drive yourself crazy over it.  Sometimes I prick it with a fork to make it slightly less bubbly, but I’m not convinced that it makes a huge difference.

Grill your bread until poofed and browned on one side, then flip and cook the other side.  If you’re using the oven, it’s pretty much the same concept, you can leave it in there un-flipped just keep cooking until both sides are browned and the dough is cooked through.  You’ll have to do this twice, because there are two pieces of dough.  If you’re using the grill it only takes a few minutes per side, super easy!

Let it cool slightly, then when you can handle it comfortably, spread a layer of mascarpone on the flatbread (I find this is easier for some reason to do with the back of a spoon, maybe because the flatbread isn’t totally flat).  Then spread a layer of fig jam over the layer of mascarpone.  They’re going to mix together, it’ll be okay.  You’re halfway there.

Now you have two options, prosciutto and then arugula, or arugula and then prosciutto.  I prefer the latter, I find that putting the prosciutto on top helps to hold the arugula onto the flatbread.  If I put the arugula on top I end up chasing it around as it falls off of every bite I take.

Then, that’s it!  You’re done!  Slice it up and eat it.