Super Bowl!

I LOVE football, but the Super Bowl is especially fun because whether you pay attention to the game or are only watching for the commercials it is still a great excuse to make lots of yummy food! This year it was just my parents, Scott and I watching the game at my parents' house. We started with several appetizers and then had delicious beef sandwiches that my mom made. The following recipes were my contributions along with Buffalo Chicken Dip (which now has a picture in my post on 1/17/10).

Cheesy Football

One of my friends at work made this last year for the Super Bowl and it turned out so cute that I had to make it this year. I cut the recipe in half, since there were only four of us and I figured we did not need to consume 2 blocks of cream cheese and an entire bag of cheddar cheese. The recipe originally came from kraftfoods.com and it says this will serve 32 people if you make the full version, so keep that in mind. My mom and I really liked it, I don't think the guys touched it, they were too busy devouring the soft bavarian pretzels and cheese that my mom bought.

This is the full version of the recipe:
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup MIRACLE WHIP Dressing
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 pkg. (3 oz.) OSCAR MAYER Real Bacon Bits
2 Tbsp. pimiento strips
Crackers

Beat cheeses and dressing with mixer until blended.

Add onions and pepper; mix well. Refrigerate several hours.

Form into football shape on serving plate; coat with bacon bits. Add pimento strips for "lacing."

Serve with crackers.

*I used low fat cream cheese, 2% milk cheddar cheese, reduced fat parmesan cheese and lite Miracle Whip, to cut down on some of the fat. I also put the cheese ball in plastic wrap right after mixing and shaped it into a football while it was in the plastic wrap.

Football Cakes

This is something I dreamed up in my head and if they didn't taste so good I would have considered them a complete disaster. I almost didn't share them with you since I was disappointed in the way they turned out, but that is what makes this blog fun, right? I know, you all want to see me make a complete disaster out of my kitchen.

My intent was for them to be similar to a Little Debbie cake, you know with cake in the middle and a coating on frosting on the outside? I started with a 9x13 pan and baked a white cake then used a football shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cakes. Then I took a tub of store bought chocolate frosting and melted it in the microwave. With the cakes on a wire cooling rack and a flexible cutting mat underneath (to catch the excess) I poured the melted frosting over the cakes. I didn't get very far so I scraped the excess back into the bowl and melted it again. This process repeated about 6 more times and I even opened a 2nd can of frosting and I just couldn't get them to look right. By the time I was done I had chocolate frosting everywhere.....all over the counter, all over me, on the floor, running down the cabinet.....it was a disaster! I let them dry overnight. The next morning they were still a little soft, but you could handle them.

If I ever made these again (and that is a very big IF) I would probably use a 10x15 pan so the cakes were thinner. I also have a recipe for a glaze that may have been easier than using melted frosting.