A Post About the Super Bowl. Yes, that Super Bowl...

     There are a lot of folks out there who love football.  I am a folk who enjoys listening to football on the radio.  The commentary is more interesting and the commercials are less flashy.  We may make an exception this Sunday since the Seahawks have made it to the Super Bowl.  The excitement is a raging contagion here.  People talk to each other in line at the grocery store or standing at their cars pumping gas.  Even my boys, one of whom thinks it's called the "Super Goal," are pumped up, counting down the days till the Hawks battle the Broncos over a small brown ball and bragging rights.

     If you are one of those folks who loves a good game, I've got a little menu here I think you might enjoy.  If you're not, I've got a little menu here I think you might enjoy.  A burrito bar is a great way to feed vegetarian and carnivores simultaneously without too much fuss.  This one has a few different options.  My favorite combo is the sweet potatoes with rice, kale, beans and avocado.  My boys prefer just bean and cheese.  Lettuce, chips, rice and beans with a little salsa makes a great salad.

Everything on the bar can be prepped ahead except the meat, avocado, and the sauteed veggies. 

Pico De Gallo

8 oz tomato, chopped
2 oz garlic, minced
4 oz green pepper, diced
4 oz onion, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp lemon or lime juice (optional)
1/4 C chopped cilantro (optional)

Mix all ingredients and serve immediately or up to a day later.  Stir in a minced avocado and you've got a top notch guacamole.

     For a family friendly celebration, a Mockarita may be the way to go.  My boys had mixed reactions, but I liked it a little less sweet.

 

Mockarita

6 limes
2 navel oranges
1/2 ruby red grapefruit
3/4 C sugar
2 C ice
2 more C ice (optional)
1/2 C sugar (optional)

I peeled the skin off the limes, oranges and grapefruit with a knife, checked for seeds, and threw the fruit into a blender.  I buzzed it up, then strained the pulp out.  I returned the juice back to the blender and added the sugar and ice.  A few more seconds and they were ready to pour!  You could jazz these up with some tequila but the virgin version is just as exciting in my opinion.

     We followed up our feast with some Tres Leches Cupcakes.  The recipe I used came from a cookbook, but you can use any recipe you want.  I wanted to make sure with all the extra liquid that these would hold up.  I tried some in nut cups and some in these fluted cake cups.  They both held up extremely well, though the cakes in the nut cups pulled away from the sides.  These fluted ones were definitely much prettier.  I cut the baking time down to 20 minutes from the 30-35 which was recommended for a full cake.  The recipe I used also suggested a sweet whipped cream frosting.  I just chose whipping cream and vanilla for mine and relied on the sweetness in the cake and milk glaze. 

Have a nice Superbowl Sunday!

Well, it took me long enough...

     A belated Happy New Year to all you fine folks out there!  We've been through the wringer since Christmas!  We had friends out the week after Christmas and my family has been sick ever since.  We're still sick.  I think I can honestly say between ER visits, doctor's offices, and trips to Urgent Care, our family has spent an entire 24 hour period being scrutinized by a physician.  I'm beginning to think this is just how our life is going to be.  We're just going to grow roots into the couch, facial tissue will fuze to our clammy, feverish palms and we will drain gross things out our nose holes for the rest of time.  My husband ended up with an entire head infection, the boy's have had two colds already, and I think there's a good chance I've got an ear infection flaring up.  Seriously?  What the fnob?!  So there you go.  We've been eating a lot of whatever I can scratch together from stuff in the pantry.  It's not pretty.

     I signed us up for a flow cookie decorating class in a fit of insane optimism before I resigned myself to being sick for all eternity.  The date of which happened to coincide with a temporary slow-down in face drainage so we went.  And let me preface this with: There was A LOT of hand washing. We tried really hard not to share.

We learned how to make an outline, fill it in, make spiderwebs, flowers, hearts, Christmas trees and how to use luster dust.  The boys were naturals!   I really want to take the advanced class soon.

There were adults and kids taking this class, my youngest is 6, but the instructor said they've even had 3's in class!  She was just as comfortable instructing the kids as she was showing the adults what's up.  I couldn't be more impressed.

 My youngest was very prolific.  He made two boxes worth of cookies!

My eldest made lots of cookies, too and this guy was my favorite of the day.  The best skull and crossbones EVAR!

Most of these are mine.  It was a fun day.  I hope we can do it again soon, but in the mean time, if you need me, I'll be honkin' and blowin' on my couch.

   If you would like to take a class and live in the Bothell, WA area, Dawn's Candy and Cake is the place to do it.  She's got lots of reasonably priced classes on candy making, cake decorating, cookie decorating and there is even a cake decorating club that meets there regularly!  And when it's time to try it at home, she can hook you up with everything you need, handy, right?  This is not a paid advertisement, I just believe in supporting local business!