Super Bowl

So yesterday was the Super Bowl.  I usually do not care who wins as long as it isn’t the 49ers, this is because my brother Dylan and Ian’s brother Dan are both 49er fans and we would never hear the end of it!  We were rooting for Seattle because it is our friend Gavin’s favorite team.

My favorite part of the Super Bowl is the party food.  I got to spend most of Sunday making finger foods and I absolutely loved it.  I made my homemade chicken nuggets, I brined them for 20 hours and they turned out wonderful.  I also made little smokies wrapped in bacon, I will share the recipe below, and I tried a new wonton recipe.  Both of these went over really well with Ian, since no one else came to the party, but then again we didn’t advertise it much.  I also had fresh veggies and ranch dressing out all day and also a cheese tray we got from Costco.  I am not very adventurous when it comes to cheese, so this is Ian’s way of getting me to try different kinds of cheese.  I have decided that I like aged cheddar and Dutch gouda much more than I like Swiss and havarti. 

Any ways, enough of me rambling on to the recipes.

Bacon Wrapped Little Smokies

Ingredients: 

5 slices of bacon

          20 smokies (I like the Costco brand)

          3 Tbs brown sugar

Directions:

          Cut the bacon slices into 4 pieces each.  Roll the bacon around the little smokies, secure them with a toothpick.  (This also makes them a great snack to have at a party where you are doing just appetizers.) Put in a glass baking dish, they fit in my 9x9 pan.  Sprinkle the brown sugar over the smokies and bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 min or until bacon is cooked through.  Serve while warm.  You can also dip them in barbecue sauce if you need to have the sauce. 

          I got this next recipe off of allrecipies.com.  (Here is the link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-Cheese-Won-Tons/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=cream%20cheese%20wontons&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page) 

Cream Cheese Wontons

Ingredients:

          2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

          1 (6.5 ounce) can mixed clams

          2 green onions, chopped or 1 small white onion chopped

          2 (8 ounce) cans water chestnuts, drained

          1 tsp paprika

          1 tsp ground black pepper

          1 (14 ounce) package small wonton wrappers

          Oil for frying

Directions:

1.     In a mixing bowl or stand mixer (I use my stand mixer for just about everything), combine cream cheese, clams, onions, water chestnuts, paprika and ground black pepper.  Place about 1 teaspoon of filling into the wonton and seal it corner to corner forming a triangle.  Some people use a beaten egg to use as a sealer on the wonton wrapper, but I just use water to get it moist and it works just fine.

2.     In a large skillet, heat oil to a high temperature, I like to have mine around 350 degrees F.  Fry the wontons until they are browned on both sides.  It does not take long, and I usually do them in batches of about 6 so that they are not crowded in my skillet.  Drain on paper towels and serve hot. 

You can serve these plain or with a dipping sauce.  I have made sweet and sour sauce for wontons before, or I even ate them with some of the sticky wing sauce that I shared last time.  I have tried other recipes with imitation crab and I prefer the texture with the clams, then again I am a clam fanatic.  It all depends on your taste and what you like.

          I adapted this sweet and sour sauce from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.  I know that is two in one blog, but it has some great ideas that are easily adaptable for your own taste.  Here is the link to the original recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-and-Sour-Sauce-I/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=sweet%20and%20sour%20sauce&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Ingredients:

          ¾ C white sugar

          1/3 C white vinegar

          2/3 C water, or the juice drained off of a large can of pineapple chunks (I like it better with the pineapple juice)

          3 Tbs Soy Sauce

          1 Tbs Ketchup (I am a ketchup snob and use only Heinz)

          2 Tbs corn starch, plus cold water to start

Directions:

1.     In a medium saucepan combine sugar, vinegar and water or juice.  Boil until the sugar is dissolved.

2.     Add soy sauce and ketchup and stir into the mix.

3.     In a separate bowl combine corn starch and cold water until smooth, add corn starch mix to saucepan.  Cook until thickened. 

So that is all for this blog.  If you have any great recipes or have something you want me to test out just let me know!