Super Bowl New Jersey!

Believe it or not, not everyone in New Jersey is excited to have the Super Bowl in our backyard. Especially if you live in northern NJ. Which I do. Fifteen minutes away from Met Life Stadium. Can you see the back-up (without any, a-hem, "bridge closures") on the major arteries in/out of the Meadowlands? Can you picture the rest of us average folks trying to go about our daily lives? Get the picture? I thought you would.

Now that we're all on the same page, the Super Bowl is a perfect excuse for a party and it's not too early to start planning. If you're having a house party or going to one, I've got two great recipes for the start and finish of your Super Bowl festivities!

We begin with my award-winning South of the Border Super Bowl Baskets. A few years ago, I entered a ConAgra Super Bowl snack contest and won! These little appetizers are perfect party food - they are easy to make, delicious, and can be held in one hand while balancing a beer or glass of wine in the other (not that I'm advocating drinking during the Super Bowl). Made with spicy chorizo, guacamole, refried beans, and shredded Mexican cheese, they really hit the spot!

When the party starts to wind down, that's your cue to brew some coffee and trot out dessert.  I'm a big fan of coffee cakes. Not only are they delicious, but they invoke a warmth not found in other desserts. And at the end of a long day and night of Super Bowl fun, you want to send your guests home feeling warm and cozy. And this cake does just that!  Epicurious' Pear Streusel Coffee Cake is baked in a 9x13 pan so you'll have enough for a crowd and it can be made a day ahead, which is always a plus. A moist, sour cream cake topped with a delicious streusel full of crunchy pecans, hearty oats, and sweet pears. A great combo! And a nice use of a lovely winter fruit.  It doesn't really need it, but if you want to dress it up a bit, add a dollop of creme fraiche.

So even if your favorite team doesn't win on February 2, your party contributions will definitely split the uprights!

South of the Border Super Bowl Baskets

Pear Streusel Coffee Cake

My Dinner with Chef George

Apple-Strawberry Sangria

Regular readers to this blog will remember that yours truly was the Grand Prize winner of the FoodBuzz/ConAgra Super Bowl promotion last January. After creating an appetizer that we called Southwest Super Bowl Baskets, our entry was chosen as the winner! The prize was a dinner cooked for us and 10 friends by Chef George Duran (Hunt's Tomato Sauce spokesperson and host of TLC's Ultimate Cake Off). And what a feast it was!

"Volunteer" Prep Chefs

After months of planning and countless e-mails, Chef George delivered the menu and shopping list. Since it was summer, we wanted an outdoor, grill-centric party. 


Chef George arrived promptly at noon, and soon after, our "volunteer" prep chefs joined us.  He immediately put everybody to work - chopping, peeling, mixing, eating, drinking, and laughing. 

Tomato Basil Bruschetta

Ready to go when the guests arrived were platters of Tomato Basil Bruschetta, Mushroom Goat Cheese Bruschetta, and Apple Strawberry Sangria.

Mushroom Goat Cheese Bruschetta

For dinner, we enjoyed Short Rib Kebabs, Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Pineapple, Spicy Grilled Broccolini, Guasacaca Sauce (a Venezuelan specialty), and for dessert, Grilled Peaches with Honey-Mascarpone Sauce.  Is your mouth watering yet?! Most of these fabulous recipes are in George's cookbook, "Taste this Dish and Twist It."

Shrimp on the Grill

Short Rib Kebabs Ready for the Grill

What a treat it was to have a professional chef in our kitchen! Chef George was an absolute pleasure. Not at all stuffy or uptight, as you might imagine a pro chef being when confronted with a team of "civilian" chefs. Besides being a fun day, we learned alot from him. It was a terrific day - delicious food and fabulous friends, what more could one ask for?!

Chef George 

Grilled Peaches with Honey-Mascarpone Sauce

I can't thank Chef George, the people at FoodBuzz and ConAgra enough for this special day!  But most of all, thank you to our friends for sharing this culinary feast with us!

UPDATE: WE WON!!! South of the Border Super Bowl Baskets

Greetings, Cook's Tour Readers!  


Terry here with BIG news!  I was notified by the FoodBuzz people yesterday that the recipe we submitted was chosen as the Grand Prize winner!  Chef George Duran (Hunt's Tomato spokesperson, host of TLC's "Ultimate Cake-off", and and author of "Take This Dish and Twist It") chose our South of the Border Super Bowl Baskets out of the recipes submitted by FoodBuzz Featured Publishers.  Chef George will be coming to our home to do a food demo!  More details to come about that.  


In the meantime, some folks have asked for a written version of the recipe, which I am happy to supply.  The recipe is quick, easy, delicious, and will be a terrific snack for your Super Bowl parties!  Please watch the video below to see exactly how we did this.  But first, I must give credit to my husband, Barry, for coming up with the recipe idea - the man is very talented!


South of the Border Super Bowl Baskets
(this recipe makes approximately 12 baskets)


1 package flour tortillas
PAM Cooking Spray
1 can Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
2-3 links fresh chorizo sausage
1 can refried beans
Shredded Mexican cheese
Guacamole
Sour Cream


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Take small ramekins and place in large roasting pan. Spray ramekins with PAM.


Heat a saute pan.  Split the chorizo sausage casing down the middle and remove the casing. Drop the sausage into the pan and break up.  Cook thoroughly.  


Using an upside down glass bowl, cut tortillas to fit ramekins and place one in each ramekin. Bake tortillas for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Move rack to top level and set your oven to broil.


While tortillas are still warm, spread approximately 1 tablespoon of refried beans on bottom of each tortilla. Next, add about a tablespoon of cooked chorizo, followed by a tablespoon of Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chilies, and cover with small handful of shredded cheese.  Slide pan of ramekins under broiler and broil for approximately 2 minutes. Watch carefully.  Remove from oven when tortillas are crisp and brown around edges.


Remove tortillas from ramekins, arrange on serving platter. Top with a dollop of guacamole and sour cream. Enjoy!


Printable recipe here!




















As part of a promotion from FoodBuzz and ConAgra, yours truly won a package of ConAgra food items and an HD Flip Video Camera with which to create a new recipe especially for the upcoming Super Bowl!


Our idea: South of the Border Super Bowl Baskets.  Made with flour tortillas, ground Chorizo sausage, Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies, refried beans, and topped with shredded cheese, guacamole, and sour cream - it's the perfect all-in-one football snack.  The chorizo and Rotel tomatoes with green chilies add just the perfect amount of spice to this dish.  


They asked us to videotape the recipe in the making so attached below is my first attempt ever at a food video.  Let me tell you, that video stuff is not as easy as it looks!  The writing, directing, filming, editing, voiceovers - the list goes on and on!


So while the video may not be "Food Network" quality, our South of the Border Super Bowl Baskets are (as we say in football lingo) "up and good!"  Besides being "super" easy, they are delicious.  You can prep them ahead of time and then just finish them off in the broiler for a few minutes right before serving.  This way you won't miss any of the big game.  Hope you enjoy eating them as much as we did creating them!

My Sweet Clementine

Don't you just love those sweet, adorable, little Clementines? I have been eating 2-3 each day as a mid-afternoon snack, or sometimes after dinner (not exactly the equivalent of a post-dinner dessert, but definitely alot healthier).


According to Produce Pete (everybody's favorite authority on fruits & veggies), the clementine is actually a mandarin orange, imported from Spain and Morocco.  They are a cross between a sweet orange and a Chinese mandarin and they are only in season from October to February so we are almost at the end of prime clementine season.


After awhile, eating them just out of the peel gets a little boring.  And I thought it would be great to be able to use them in a more formalized dessert fashion.  Well, apparently, I wasn't the first one to think about this (imagine that) because there are quite a few recipes out there for clementine desserts.  But I wanted something easy and something with all the ingredients already at hand.  I found a great recipe at Cooking Light and I want to pass it along so you can take advantage of the last few weeks of clementine availability.  This is a terrific dessert that you can dress up by using martini glasses, or just use small, individual bowls (I used some vineyard wine glasses that were handy).  And, because it's low in calories, it will come in especially handy tomorrow (after we've eaten all those Super Bowl snacks today!).  Enjoy!


Printable recipe