Superbowl!

For the superbowl, I made a Spicy Tomato and Garlic Dipping Sauce, Italian Chicken Strips, Potato Sausage Bites and an amazingly simple and delicious Chili Con Queso. I have been very under the weather this week so I'll keep this brief. Well.. as brief as you can get with a ton of pictures and recipes.

For the dipping sauce, you'll need olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, cumin, crushed tomatoes, cayenne pepper and lots of garlic. It was originally a chutney and used diced tomatoes but I've made it with crushed so it was more dippy. Yes. Dippy. Also it had ginger but I felt the ginger was too strong last time so I left it out.

Put everything but your tomatoes into a blender, or the handy cup thingie that game with your stick blender.

Blend until smooth.

Add this amazingly pungent yet delicious smelling stuff to a small pot and add your tomatoes.

Bring to a boil, lower your heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes. I did NOT simmer it that long, after about 25 minutes it was pretty darn thick and the bubbles were so explosive it was painting my walls red.

Yummy and thick! Matty loves it.

Here's the recipe!

Spicy Tomato and Garlic Dipping sauce (adapted from this Giada De Laurentis recipe)

• 8 cloves garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

In a blender, combine the garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar, sugar, olive oil, cumin and pepper. Blend until smooth. Pour into a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the tomatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick, about 30 to 45 minutes. Season with salt, to taste. Let the chutney cool to room temperature, about 35 minutes. Place in a serving bowl.

Potato Bites! So easy they only have 3 ingredients. Sausage, little potatoes and shredded cheese.

Brown sausage and drain grease!

Take your potatoes and toss them with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and roast!

Mmm potato.

After the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them in half. You can do it the way I did, lengthwise, or try it the other way. I do it like this because it helps them stay upright better and leaves more surface space to fill with delicious sausage. Take your potato half and scoop out a hole in the center. To fill with delicious sausage! MORE DELICIOUS SAUSAGE! I love sausage. It makes me happy.

Fill those taters with your sausage!

Sprinkle with cheese.

And bake! I sort of got side tracked once the guests arrived so I only remembered to take a picture when there was almost none left. Also, in my haste to make everything ready at the same time, the bites sat out for a little bit before they got baked. And I might've baked them a few minutes too long so they were slightly crispy and a little more dry than last years. Still really good though.

Ignore that cheese on the bottom. It was a casualty of war. THE WAR AGAINST HUNGER CLAIMS MANY LIVES.

Mexican Potato Bite Thingies (adapter from here. I use the term adapted loosely because I just used a different sausage)

• 20 small new red potatoes
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 6 ounces hot italian sausage , removed from casing
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or whatever you want)
  

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F and arrange a rack in the upper third. Place potatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, season with salt, and toss to coat. Roast until potatoes are fork tender, about 30 minutes.
Set potatoes aside until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, heat a medium nonstick frying pan to medium heat and cook sausage, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Slice potatoes in half and, using a melon baller or small spoon, scoop out most of the interior (leave about 1/4-inch of potato flesh). Divide sausage among the skins and top with cheese. Bake until skins are warmed through and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve with sour cream or salsa on the side.

Chicken strips! These ones are pretty good, there is a lot of yummy things in the breading. Matt says they are "zesty". And we likey zesty.

You will neeeeeed.. Seasoned bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, oregano, basil, thyme, cayenne pepper, butter, chicken breast cut into strips (of course) and unpictured salt and garlic powder.

Mix all your dry ingredients in a plate for your breading. Love the freshly grated parm in there.

Melt that stick of butter on the stove or in a microwaveable bowl. You know you love it.

Dump the butter onto your chicken strips. You see where this is going, don't you?

Mix it all up to coat your chicken. Then take a piece or a few at a time and place it in your breadcrumb mixture. I used one hand for the wet chicken and another to cover it in crumbs, pressing them down then shaking the excess off. My right hand was kept relatively clean the whole time instead of them both getting gunked up.

Now, I'm not sure if this is because I used butter instead of margarine or because my chicken was pretty cold from the fridge. Or both. But when I mixed it all up, the butter started to firm back up. It was pretty gross. But it all worked out in the end. Don't use cold chicken! Let it sit out a bit to take the chill off.

Ewww!

Repeat the breading until you're all done.

Mmm yummy.

Look at all that cheese.

Aaand bake.

Italian Chicken Strips (original recipe here, by Paula Deen) Did the butter clue you in?

• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 11/2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 11/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch ground red pepper
• 8 boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a pie plate or platter, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, thyme, basil, oregano, salt, garlic powder, and red pepper. Dip the chicken strips in the melted butter, then dredge them in the bread crumb mixture. Place the chicken strips in a single layer on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Phew, almost done, I swear. Last up (and still my favorite, even with all the other goodies) is a yummy, spicy, creamy cheese dip for chips. I love love love it. Velveeta has me in love, but ONLY for cheese dips. And macaroni and cheese. A little. I still find processed cheese a little gross. And I still hate kraft singles. But I can make an exception for this.

You need a brick of velveeta, a can of Rotel, some diced green chilies, and some hot breakfast sausage. I also threw some onion powder in because, well, you know.

Dice your velveeta!

You should have heard the cursing while trying to dice it while it kept sticking to my knife.

I didn't take a picture of my browned sausage because you see enough of that. I made this in the crock pot because I wanted it to stay warm while we partied.

Throw your velveeta and sausage into your slowcooker. Orrr do this in a big ass skillet.

Then add the rest. I turned my slow cooker up to high for a bit to get the melting started, but don't leave it alone or you'll get burned on cheese up the sides. Make sure you stir it a lot every few minutes.

After a bit it'll look like this, almost totally melted.

Now I forgot to take a picture of the finished one, but just imagine that only more melty. I see people complain it "looks like barf", but I don't really understand. All I see is cheese and sausage. Make it, love it. It's delicious. I could eat it everyday. But I won't. But I would! But I won't. :(

Chili Con Queso (adapted from PW's recipe here)

• 32 ounces, weight Velveeta Cheese Loaf
• 10 ounces, weight Rotel
• 1 pound Jimmy Dean Hot Breakfast Premium Pork Sausage
• 7 ounces, weight Chopped Green Chilies
• 1 whole Jalapeno, or more to taste

Using a nonstick sprayed skillet, cook sausage until brown, stirring occasionally. Once browned, drain some of the fat from the skillet.

Cube Velveeta loaf. Add cubes to browned sausage. Add can of Rotel (juice and all), can of green chilies (juice and all), and stir over low heat.

Cut the top and bottom off the jalapeño, slice into matchsticks, then rotate and slice to create a fine dice. (For a spicy version, leave seeds and white membranes. For a milder option, remove them.) Add to queso and stir.
Serving tip: Use a fondue pot or crock pot to serve piping hot!

I would add the jalapeno next time. Sean can handle it. He's tougher than he acts. .. Maybe.

Anyway, that was superbowl funtime. Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our spread. Next year I'm just making queso and ordering pizza. Too tiring!

Now to go hug a heating pad and wish the week was over. Oh, and get this. It's cold in texas. It's been freezing lately. Not winnipeg cold but FREEZING. And then it rains. And then everything ices. And texas falls apart because ice is NOT a reality here and nobody thinks to look for it or knows how to drive in it. The pictures on the news of cars stranded on the huge steep freeways was terrifying. Thank god my mother in law Tina (hi Tina!) brought me some gloves and stuff. *hides under a blanket*