Throwing an easy Super bowl bash
Step 1: Serve Theme Cocktails
No, this is not in lieu of beer, it's in addition to. Beer is football's best friend. Theme cocktails are simply the fastest way to get your buzz on. Besides, they're cute. And serving one for each team gets the rivalry going.
Green Bay Margarita
1 bottle Corona
1 can (12 oz.) limeade
Tequila
1 drop of green food coloring
In a pitcher, dump the Corona and the limeade. Take the limeade can and fill it to the brim with tequila. Add that to pitcher along with the food coloring. Mix it up and add ice. Voila!
Fun tip: Rim glasses with green tinted salt or green sugar and serve over ice or shaken well in a martini glass.
Hint: Juice glasses are also great for serving these. If you're feeling splashy, try these
7-ouncers from crate and barrel, http://www.crateandbarrel.com/dining-and-entertaining/bar-and-drinking-glasses/rings-7-oz.-juice-glass/s213748. They're great to serve wine in, too, and harder to break than regular wine glasses.
Steelers: Dark and Stormy cocktail
1 1/2 ounce Gosling’s Black seal rum or any other dark rum
About 1/2 cup ginger beer
1/2 lime
Splash of bitters optional
Fill a highball glass with ice,add rum,a slash of bitters,if desired and top with ginger beer. Squeeze the lime into the glass,stir and add lime to drink.
Step 2: Get Crafty. The Brilliant, Under-$20 Decorating Idea
Set the table (and create the mood) by serving food on your own football field.
• Get a big piece of green felt from your local craft store, or a piece of green Astroturf from your hardware store. Make sure it's the right size to cover your table. (Hint: measure before you ask the guy to cut off a swath.)
• Once you get the felt or Astroturf home, use white chalk or painters' tape to draw the field lines.
• You can also use white paint. Your hardware store will have professional paint pens that dry fast.
• Use the "field" as your tablecloth. It's totally festive and easy. And if someone spills beer on it, so what?
Hint: If you want to go all out, you can paint the end zones with green paint for the packers and yellow for the steelers. Mark out the space with the painter's tape and get letter stencils to paint the team names.
Step 3: Let Them Eat Bacon
There's nothing easier than roasted-bacon almonds, and they're a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Did we mention they involve bacon?
Roasted-Bacon Almonds:
2 cups roasted almonds (16-oz. bag)
2 strips bacon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
A pinch of pepper
Substitutions:
You can use 1 tsp. honey or agave nectar instead of the sugar.
Instructions:
• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cook your two strips of bacon in a frying pan until they seem crispy. Take out of pan and drain on paper towel.
• Put your almonds into a bowl and mix with the bacon grease. Give them a good stir and then spread on to a cookie sheet.
• Bake for 5 to 7 minutes.
• Mix sugar, salt and pepper together in a separate bowl.
• Take the almonds out of the oven and place in a brown paper bag (shopping or lunch bag works great).
• Grip the top of the bag closed and shake, shake, shake. The grocery bag will absorb any extra grease.
• Take the coated almonds out of the bag and place in a mixing bowl. Crumble your bacon into bits and add to nuts. Then, add the mixture of sugar, salt and pepper.
• Ta da! Put the nuts in to a serving bowl and watch them disappear.
Hint: To make the day-of preparations easy, you can make the Roasted-Bacon Almonds a few days before and store them in a Tupperware container.
Step 4: Serve a Finger Food Smorgasbord
This trio will ensure that no guest goes hungry -- and you'll be sane enough to sit back and enjoy the game.
Pizza Gets a Makeover
Whether it's frozen or delivered, use clean kitchen scissors to cut the pizza into strips and pile on a cutting board. You can even sprinkle with fresh herbs...looks homemade, baby!
Mini–Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Who doesn't love these? Use truffle oil and fancy cheeses to make them seem gourmet.
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) salted butter, melted
20 slices potato bread (or other bread if you don't have potato bread)
One 12-oz. package 4-cheese blend or grated Asiago, Parmesan, Fontina and Provolone
3 cups fresh baby spinach or arugula leaves
Truffle oil or chili oil (optional)
Instructions:
• Add a few drops of truffle oil or chili oil to the melted butter if you want to be fancy.
• Place a piece of wax paper on each of 2 baking sheets. Spread out 10 pieces of bread on each baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, brush each piece with butter and turn it over, or if you don't have a pastry brush, just drizzle with butter.
• Sprinkle two tablespoons cheese on each bread slice and cover with spinach or arugula.
• Place the other piece of bread on top and butter the top of the bread completely.
• You can cook the sandwiches in a large frying pan or on a griddle. Spray a frying pan with olive oil spray and bring to medium-high heat. Place four five sandwiches in the pan and let them brown for two to three minutes. Flip them over and cook for two to three minutes, or until brown. (I press a weight on the top of the sandwiches to get them crispy, but you can use a spatula to hold each one down.)
• To serve, cut off the crusts, then cut each sandwich into 6 bite-size pieces. Serve warm.
Hint: You can make these before Super Bowl Sunday and store. After you cut off the crusts, place the pieces in a freezer bag, separating the layers with wax paper. To reheat frozen sandwiches, place them on a baking sheet and bake them in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. They will keep for up to one month in the freezer.
Peanut Butter & Bacon Bonanza
Cut out white bread with a football-shaped cookie cutter or just make the shape with a knife. Toast the bread, spread with peanut butter and adorn with crumbled bacon -- different and totally divine.
Step 5: Chow Down on Theme Cupcakes
Top your favorite flavor cupcake with dyed coconut in the teams' colors. Because what's not to love about coconut and cupcakes?
How to Dye Coconut:
Just use the liquid food coloring you can find at any grocery store.
• Place one bag of shredded coconut in a large bowl.
• Sprinkle a few drops of food coloring (green for the packers,Black for the steelers), being careful not to add too much as you can always add more.
• Wearing rubber gloves, toss the mixture with your hands until all of the coconut is uniform in color. If you don't have gloves, put the coconut in a plastic Ziploc bag, sprinkle with the food coloring, zip and seal the bag, and shake, shake, shake!
• Adorn your frosted cupcakes with the colored coconut and watch guests fight for one in their team's color.
