Food is Food

Any decent Super Bowl snack table has to have a few substantial dips, and this “loaded baked potato” dip, with its three pounds of bacon, is nothing if not substantial.

It’s also shaped like a football, which of course has been proven to taste better to people drinking beer than dips in a bowl. Speaking of beer, I think will pair nicely with something cheap, domestic, and in a can. Save the Pliny for the Kobe sliders.

Needless to say, you can doctor this dip any way you see fit. There are so many ways you can “Tom Brady” this football, and change it to your liking. Some roasted chilies would be great, or maybe even some of that pickled pepper-onion relish I’m about to show you.

If you do want a stiffer mixture, for sculpting a more realistically shaped football, you could use part cream cheese, but I liked the lighter texture, and we still got enough height to qualify as 3-D. So, if you’re looking for a fun and delicious Super Bowl dip recipe, I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 48 servings:

3 pounds bacon

3 pounds (6 cups) sour cream

1/2 pound grated extra-sharp cheddar

1 cup chopped green onions for dip, plus more chopped green parts for the “grass.”

pinch of cayenne

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

lots of potato chips

I was asked to leave. Apparently, I'm not "jury box material." Oh well, I think we're all probably better off. Anyway, I'm working on a new Super Bowl dip recipe now, which should be up later tonight. And, yes, of course I'm going to predict the winner of the Big Game using chicken wing bones. Stay tuned!

I've never been a huge football fan, or I guess I should say, I just don't understand the sport. I've had a countless number of guys (and a girl) try to explain the rules to me and they go in one ear and out the other. I'm the fairest of fair weather fans, flip flopping all over the place between my home state team (Vikings), my college state team (Green Bay), my current state's team (Jets) or my man's team (Raider's). However, I love hearing and seeing it on the TV, because it goes very well with a cozy fire, a dark beer and a bowl of chili. Like this chili! This ridiculously tasty and HEALTHY chili.

Joy Bauer, the Nutrition and Health Expert for the Today Show, is quickly becoming my favorite source for quick, easy and healthy dinners (she was also the genius behind these). I am a HUGE fan of anything buffalo, which usually translates into mucho calories. However, Joy was able to take the flavor of everyone's favorite buffalo wings and transform it into a savory bowl of chili. It's ground chicken, veggies (I added some onions along with the carrots and celery) with a broth of vegetable juice, mixed together with spices and your favorite hot sauce and topped with a creamy whipped mixture of greek yogurt and blue cheese. SO GOOD! You can make the whole thing in 30 minutes, however I chose to throw everything in the crock pot and let it simmer for 4 hours on high.

Make this! Perfect for that big football game next week. Recipe here.

*We also added Terra Stix for a crunchy topping.

I feel empty. I have finished the Serial podcast, and now what. NOW WHAT?! Now I think I'll drive to Baltimore and stalk Woodlawn High School and the Best Buy and Leakin Park because I'm crazy obsessed with figuring this all out. If you feel the same way, let's discuss in the comments below, ok? Thanks. Now we can talk about food...

Earlier in the month, in fact on the first day of the year, Carson made this on the Today Show with Chef Ed Brown. The recipe intrigued us, because the chicken sits smothered in soy sauce in the fridge for two days prior to cooking. It's basically a brine of sorts, and the result is a perfectly moist and juicy chicken. I think from this point on, I will always do this to my chickens, no matter how I roast them! Recipe here.

Miniaturized sandwiches don’t usually float my boat, or submarine, as they’re almost always not as good as the full-sized versions, but these mini Philly cheesesteaks really captured everything I love about the classic.

Thinly sliced rib eye is traditionally used, and it’s fried and chopped on the grill, before meeting cheese and bread. Since we’re going to “grill” these in the oven, we’ll use a nice, juicy skirt steak instead, which has a big beefy flavor, and great marbling.

It will brown up around the edges, yet stay moist and tender because of the fat and connective tissue. I also really enjoyed the double shot of the sliced provolone and provolone “cheez whiz,” which provided a great creamy, richness. The peppers and onions brought everything together, and long story short, I ate the whole tray.

This was great hot, warm, and cold, and that alone makes it a perfect choice for your Super Bowl snack spread. Also, stay tuned for the quick and easy pickled pepper and onion relish recipe I mentioned in the clip. I hope you give these mini Philly cheesesteaks a try soon. Enjoy!

Enough for about 48 mini Philly cheesesteaks:

12 ounce skirt steak, or flap meat, or rib eye, or NY Strip

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup of pickled pepper and onion relish (stay tuned for video), OR 1/2 cup of sautéed onions and sweet peppers

*once mixed, be sure to taste and salt the final diced steak mixture!

For the “cheez whiz” sauce:

2 generous tablespoons flour

2 generous tablespoons butter

1 cup cold milk

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of cayenne

salt to taste

2 thick slices provolone cheese (about 2 to 3 ounces), torn up

48 slices of baguette

sliced or grated provolone to top the cheesesteaks

Once assembled, bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is browned

Luckily for me, Carson often comes home with the best recipes (as seen in this series). It's easy to get in a rut when you have a food blog, so I always welcome new ideas, especially if they have to do with peanut butter, banana and chocolate. OBVIOUSLY. Now you know I'm not overly concerned with nutritional facts, especially when it comes to desserts, but these little guys are only 155 calories each. I was Math Student of the Month once in Middle School so I know that means you can eat like 17 of them all at once. No really! Dark chocolate with a whipped peanut butter banana center, gah. I've kept mine in the freezer, because they're delicious that way.

You can find the recipe here or here.

*Tip: when putting the first layer of chocolate down, use a spoon to push it up on the sides, which will help your "cup" shape take form.

The Jury by John Morgan

That’s right, instead of entertaining you with my free (and worth every penny) videos, I’ll be trying to convince a court in San Francisco that I’m the last person they want deciding anything.

By the way, why do busy cyber chefs have to serve, when there are so many people who’d jump at the chance? Shouldn’t we honor our wise seniors by letting them populate America’s jury boxes? They’re retired, and they sure love those judge shows.

Plus, I heard on the news we have lots of them, and were getting more all the time. Anyway, it’s something to consider. Stay tuned for updates as they become available.

I don't know why this idea hasn't occurred to me before. I love the combination of eggs and avocado! If I'm going to have a fried egg sandwich or an omelet I almost always slather the green stuff on top. So to add diced avocado to egg salad seems totally obvious and I'm smacking my own head for figuring it out just now. (Ok, I'm not really abusing myself, but there was that drunken period of time in college when I thought it was hilarious to slap my own face. Not sure why I admitted that.)

This is an easy and fun twist on regular old egg salad. Call it "green eggs" and serve it with ham! Or serve it on lightly buttered toast with lox and a squeeze of lemon, like I did. However you eat it, don't hit yourself, because that's weird.

Avocado Egg Salad

(Serves 2)

Printable Recipe

4 eggs

1 avocado

2-3 T mayo

1 tsp dijon mustard (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Place eggs in a saucepan and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil on the stove, then cover, turn off heat and set timer for 15 minutes. Once time is up, remove from stove and rinse eggs with cool water. Peel. Dice eggs and avocado and place in bowl. Add mayo and mustard, and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I hope you're all enjoying a nice, long holiday weekend, and in honor of Martin Luther King Day, I thought I'd post his famous "Dream" speech, on the rare chance some of you have not seen it. If you haven't, you must; and if you have, watch it again. It never fails to inspire. Enjoy!

Every year about this time, I get a bunch of emails asking which of our previously posted oven-fried chicken wing methods is the best. I never know how to respond, since I think they’re all pretty close, but now I finally have a definitive answer…this one!

By the way, the honey-sriracha glaze is quite delicious and incredibly simple, but merely an afterthought here. The real star of the show is the strange, but effective technique of coating the wings with a baking powder-laced spice rub before baking. Through the magic of chemical reactions, the surface of the chicken becomes bone-dry, and eventually crisps up to something very similar to what would come out of a deep fryer.

Instead of the soft, slippery skin associated with most oven baked wings, we get a crispy, blistered surface that really holds onto whatever glaze you decide to toss your wings with. The surprising thing is, once these are cooked you would never know baking powder was involved.

I’m not exactly sure who originally invented this; I heard about it via America's Test Kitchen, but that doesn’t really matter, since the only thing that really matters is who people 10 years from now think invented this. And if this is video somehow goes viral, that could be me. To that end, I really hope you give this unusual, and highly effective method, and honey-sriracha sauce a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

2 1/2 pounds chicken wing sections

1 tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tbsp baking powder (aluminum free)

- Coat wings, and bake at 425 F., turning every 15-20 minutes, until they are browned and crispy. Total cooking time will be about 1 hour, but that depends on the size and temperature of your wings.

For the Honey Sriracha glaze:

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup Sriracha

1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1/4 tsp sesame oil

sesame seeds to garnish

Food is Food

Category

Blog Archive

“Loaded Baked Potato” Super Bowl Dip – [Insert Deflated Football Joke Here]

Jury Duty Update

Buffalo Chicken Chili

TODAY tonight: Perfect Roast Chicken

Mini Philly Cheesesteaks – Winning the Super Bowl Snack Table

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cup

Chef John Has Jury Duty!

Avocado Egg Salad

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Crispy Honey Sriracha Chicken Wings – Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Winner

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