notes, quotes & anecdotes of a year fast passing

hi friends! is everyone getting excited for the super bowl? i’ll admit that even though i work in sports, football is one of my least favorite to watch.. it’s growing on me, though. in total girl fashion, though, my favorite reasons to tune in are the commercials and halftime show! i still remember when i had a super bowl celebration with my friend katie in middle school just so we could watch ‘nsync at the halftime show. and who could forget the wardrobe malfunction, too?! my dad’s favorite commercials usually involve monkeys or talking babies. what about you?

living in connecticut, it seems like this is the perfect battle ground for giants and pats fans to duke it out on sunday. if i didn’t have to work, i’d certainly make a spread fit for a fantastic super bowl party. even though i can’t cook up a feast, here are some healthier ideas for you to whip up for your friends while you watch the big game! and i promise that most are pretty easy to make and easier to enjoy, too.

baked brie

if you’re planning a little upscale get-together, this is the perfect dish. SO easy to make and since it’s not covered in puff pastry like lots of other brie recipes out there, you can indulge on some other treats during the game, too! click here for the recipe.

bruschetta

two great things about this dish is that it’ll seem a heck of a lot fancier than it really is AND the farther in advance you make it, the better it’ll taste. no need to rush around just before kickoff! click here for the recipe.

buffalo chicken dip

i admittedly am not a huge fan of spicy foods, but since you can control the heat in your own variation of this recipe, i say go for it! perfect on chips or veggies (especially celery!), i love my mild take on this favorite. click here for the recipe.

guacamole

if you’re looking for another dip to complement your spread, go for guacamole! so fresh, healthy and delicious, i can never keep the bowl full enough. click here for the recipe.

turkey chili

throw some corn bread in the oven, too, and this is such a hearty and delicious addition to your table. plus, if people get too stuffed on all the appetizers and finger food, this will make great leftovers! set out some fixin’s like sour cream, extra onions and cheese for people to dress up their own bowls. click here for the recipe.

turkey meatball sliders

last year for the super bowl, i made a huge pot of turkey meatballs to freeze and eat for leftovers, but also grabbed some fresh dinner rolls from the grocery store. i split them open, popped one turkey meatball on each, sprinkled some mozzarella and quickly browned them in the oven to make the cutest turkey meatball sliders to add to everyone’s plate! click here for the recipe.

crispy shrimp tacos

even though i call these crispy, they’re not even fried, so you don’t have to feel too bad about eating them. if you want to incorporate some seafood into your dishes, this is a perfect way to have some finger food from the ocean. similar to the chili, you can put out the cooked shrimp, avocado, lettuce, tomato, mango, onion and tortillas and let your guests create their own! and trust me, people will be impressed. the colors in these are so stinkin’ beautiful :) click here for the recipe.

black bean, corn, tomato & avocado salad

this dish is so versatile, i would HIGHLY recommend serving it. you can put it next to chip as a dip, people can sprinkle it on top of their crispy shrimp tacos or chili and it makes a great vegetarian option for people that want some protein but aren’t interested in the turkey, chicken or seafood options. click here for the recipe.

then, of course, if anyone has room for dessert, you could make some fun cupcakes (like these hamburger slider cupcakes. you’ll really throw your guests for a loop!) or cookies that are simple to serve and people can just grab them on their way back to the couch. keep all these delicious snacks and plenty of beverages on hand and i guarantee you’ll have some happy campers, whether the giants or the patriots win :)

if there are any other recipe ideas you’re looking for, check out the recipe rundown page for some more inspiration. happy cooking!

xxoo,

eliz

oy. already halfway through october and i haven’t even posted my september highlights yet! i guess that’ll give you a snapshot of how busy things have been around here. better late than never, though, so without further ado…

sayonara, september:

1. a delicious evening full of wine, apps and cupcakes (!) with friends, making me very, very happy to hopefully have some nights off in the near future so we can do it again :)

2. and an impromptu shoreline lunch date to see brian’s (gorgeous) new digs.

3. finally, finally, finally seeing WICKED and singing “for good” and “defying gravity” nonstop for weeks on end. needless to say, all the hype was worth it.

4. celebrating my beautiful, thoughtful and kind friend cassy at her bridal shower. i had a great time and caught up with some fun ladies, enjoyed the scenery at a fun inn in middletown, chowed down on great food and played such fun bridal games (bridal shower bingo, anyone?!). now i just can’t wait for the wedding!

5. heading to boston for another milestone: the bat mitzvah of an extremely special girl, miss eliza. i used to be her babysitter and now she’s all grown up, mature and such a spectacular young adult. i was so overwhelmed and honored to be a part of her day and be a part of her “family.” such a great celebration at a picturesque boathouse!

things to look forward to in awesome october include: FNL! mickey! sunshine! hockey! wedding bells! more theater! hopefully i’ll get that post done before thanksgiving ;) hope you have lots to be grateful for and find the extraordinary and exciting hidden in the everyday.

xxoo,

eliz

my friend brian (you’ve probably heard about him here or have read his nearly daily comments) has a wildly successful television, film & pop culture blog called please welcome your judges. i say it’s wildly successful not only because i enjoy reading it but also because blogger picked him as the blog of note yesterday! neither of us knew what that was, but come to find out, out of EVERYONE on blogspot, brian was selected as the recommended reading for the day. his readership increased tenfold and he’s going to be super popular, important and quoted all the time now.

anyways, we’ve been thinking for a while about guest-blogging with/for one another but we were trying to think of a smart way to marry the topics of food (my blog) and tv/movies/etc (his blog). like a bolt of lightning, it came to me: as he writes his top chef midseason review, we would have our own top chef-inspired night.

pairing this idea and dinner with our friend lilla, we decided to have a top chef quickfire challenge: signature appetizers. all three of us would make our go-to appetizer, share everything and make a big, delicious dinner out of it. there was no judging, though, because let’s be honest - getting a plate full of tasty apps means everyone is a winner.

i made my summer favorite, caprese towers, while brian took a page from his roommate arestia’s book and went for an onion, garlic, parmesan and gorgonzola flatbread. lilla was an overachiever and made TWO dishes! she whipped up kielbasa with a brown sugar glaze and a taco dip. normally i don’t eat gorgonzola OR kielbasa but as keri always tells me, BIG GIRLS TRY NEW THINGS! i ate them both and was so glad i did. they were great and i was so full and happy after our creative dinner.

by the way, before i can even begin… can we just look at how fantastic, fun, colorful, bright and happy brian’s kitchen is? his other roommate, drea, painted the design on the wall and i just love everything about it. until i can be a grown up with a big ol’ house and expansive kitchen (if this is ever going to happen, i need to start thinking of a more lucrative career), this is the kind of apartment kitchen i dream about. well done, berkeley penthouse. well. done.

anyways, first here are the caprese towers:

three large tomatoes

16 oz. fresh mozzarella

3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

1/4 cup fresh basil (appx. 8-10 leaves)

done collecting? time for some doing! (i’ll only say that once even though we’ve got FOUR recipes today!)

in a large bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. then, chiffonade (thanks for the fancy term, anne burrell!) your basil.

do this by making a pile of the leaves, all facing the same way. then roll them lengthwise and gently slice horizontally to make pretty little ribbons and avoid bruising the basil. (another side note/basil tip i learned from the produce man at the grocery store: don’t put your basil in the fridge or it will turn black! yuck!).

mix the majority of the basil into the bowl and let all the flavors marinate together. save a few little ribbons for garnish.

slice off the very bottom of the tomatoes and the top parts with the stem. then, cut the tomato in 3-4 even, horizontal slices. then cut the mozzarella into similarly-sized slices, about 1/4 inch thick. put a flat tomato slice on the plate and then reassemble the tomato, layering mozzarella in between each tomato slice.

when your tower is on the plate, drizzle 2-3 generous spoonfuls of the dressing on top and sprinkle the remaining basil garnish on top.

click here for a printable version of the recipe!

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garlic, onion, parmesan and gorgonzola flatbread by brian

now onto brian’s flatbread. it didn’t get very stretched out because the yeast was insanely stubborn and wanted to all stay together, but the result was more of a scrumptious bread, instead, and i would leave it just as it is if i made it again!

premade pizza dough

1/4 cup roasted garlic onion jam (stonewall kitchen’s was AMAZING!)

3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola

copious amounts of red wine for enjoyment while cooking (he said it was a vital step)

first, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

lightly flour your parchment paper and roll out the pizza dough. since brian’s dough wasn’t rolling out very well, we ended up with a dough pillow that was fantastic. if you’d like a more flatbread consistency, roll it out thinner.

bake in the 400 degree oven for about seven minutes. while it’s baking, shred the parmesan if you didn’t buy it pre-shredded.

take the dough out of the oven, spread on the garlic and onion jam, sprinkle the parmesan evenly and then crumble the gorgonzola. put it back in the oven for another 12-15 or until everything is melty, golden brown and carmelized.

slice it up into squares and serve away!

mmm! i just loved how sweet the onions were and how doughy and delicious it was. i need to get a jar of that jam ASAP and i was thinking after that this would be amazing sliced up with the tomato and mozzarella inside like a sandwich!

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brown sugar glazed kielbasa by lilla

i had never tried kielbasa before last night and i was surprised at how much i liked it. i think if you put brown sugar on anything, it automatically makes it delicious! poor lilla had to carry her bag of groceries to class before coming to brian’s and apparently by the time she left, her whole classroom smelled like kielbasa.

2 cups kielbasa, sliced

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons water

barbecue sauce (optional for dipping, but the dish was so flavorful we didn’t even need it!)

in a large sautee pan, combine the brown sugar and water, stirring over a medium heat until the sugar melts and carmelizes. then, pour the kielbasa into the pan, stirring to coat the discs evenly and brown the pieces.

and just like that you have sweet, smoky, delicious kielbasa! i loved how the three of us never consulted one another on what we were making and we sort of ended up with a perfectly balanced meal. i covered the vegetables (or fruit, depending on how you classify your tomatoes) and dairy, brian also got some dairy and the carbs and lilla gave us the protein. perfecto!

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taco dip by lilla

lilla didn’t have enough faith in herself with the kielbasa dish, so as a backup, she brought the ingredients for a quick and easy taco tip. even though her main appetizer hit it out of the park, we decided the more dishes the merrier, so she whipped this one up, too.

8 oz. cream cheese

1 small jar of taco sauce (we went with mild)

1 cup cheddar cheese

tortilla chips for dipping

spread the cream cheese to cover the bottom of your microwave-safe dish, followed by pouring the taco sauce on top. sprinkle all the cheese as the final layer and then pop it into the microwave. nuke it on high for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

you could also bake this, or even broil it to get the cheese brown and bubbly on top. brian mentioned his famous layered dip that he usually spruces up with festive sliced olives on top. and by festive i mean he spells out whatever is appropriate for the shindig he’s attending. the possibilities are endless!

wasn’t the presentation with the chip so artistic?!

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and there are our finished products, plus our storemade and leftover super bowl desserts (thanks, chris!). it was such a fun night and honestly, as i drove home, i was thinking about how it was SO MUCH BETTER than going out to dinner. cooking together is a far better way to spend a night and much more about the experience you have with your friends. like i said before, i’m already brainstorming our next top chef challenge :) the only thing that would have made it better is if that guy on speaker phone on the bottom right had been there.

other than that, all i can say is eat your heart out padma, chef tom and gail!

xxoo,

eliz