At the end of every 'semester' for our small group we have some sort of party.  This semester we had a wine tasting party.  So every couple had to bring an appetizer and a bottle of wine that was less than 15 dollars to share.  One couple also had to bring a bottle of wine that was less than 5 dollars to see how good our taste buds were. (All bottles were wrapped so we couldn't see the label.. not that this would have made a difference to me.) Then we graded all bottles 0-100.  I rated every single bottle of wine from 81-89.  Because I don't like wine and by bottle 2 it was already tasting the same. 

Novice taste buds, I tell you what. 


Anyways, some very important people in Cale's life happen to be part of our small group.  They may or may not be his boss and his boss's boss. Maybe.  I feel extra pressure to make something special as to not embarrass him.. or me. Just in case these people are his bosses.  So stressful.  I secretly hope that Cale has to work on these nights.  Cale thinks we could just go to the grocery store and bring a bag of chips.  Oh to have the brain of a guy. 

I digress.  So after work yesterday it was a mad scramble to assembly the appetizers and get out the door on time.  I made these and these.  No, you're right. I totally copied those pictures from the links posted.  Did I mention we were running late?  Seriously though.  Mostly easy and completely gone.  Plus I wanted something that didn't need to be served hot because it's easier that way.
 
For the caprese salad kabobs I cut a cherry tomato into halves (or fourths) and used mozzarella pearls.  I threaded on a pearl, a portion of basil leaf, another pearl, and finally on the bottom the tomato piece.  With the tomato on the bottom I was able to stand them upright.  I drizzled balsamic vinaigrette on them and then transferred them to the serving platter.  Gone in seconds and no cooking required

For the cheesecake stuffed strawberries I didn't measure the powdered sugar, I just slowly added it until it seemed appropriately sweet.  I attempted to use a cake decorator piping thing to get the filling in but there were no instructions with my set!  What!?!  Yes, it was a disaster but they did get filled.  I also drizzled them with dark chocolate because the grocery store didn't have the prettiest strawberries available.

One more party done. Whew!  We have so much fun with everyone in our small group so after the anxiety of bringing the right thing to the party we spend the rest of the night laughing and pretending to be sommeliers... or not.

In other news, I work at a job where I videotape myself doing most of my work because it's kind of important.  I caught myself singing today.  On camera.  I do not have the world's greatest voice.  I would be willing to bet I don't even have the second best voice. Oops.

Today was a day of weeping and gnashing of teeth for my husband.

(No, he wasn't rooting for the Patriots.  We were cheering for the Giants.)


Football is over for another season.

P.S. Did anyone else get slightly annoyed that Al Michaels kept saying 'uge' instead of 'huge'?  After the 10th time, I was like, "C'mon Al, pronounce your h's buddy."  Do you think he also says 'uman', 'umor', and 'ubert'?


We have finally reclaimed our Sundays from sitting in front of the T.V.  It's kind of a mix of happy/sad.  I used to be a huuge football fan.  I guess I still am, but since free time is reduced I feel like I need to be constantly getting things done on my day off.  I suppose I could try to get things done during the week but as I've mentioned before, darkness sucks my energy.

Anyways, we went up to my parents house because I wanted to do crafty things with my mom.. and all her supplies.  Because it was the 4 of us I limited myself to only bringing a single food item.  This was challenging for me if you know how much I love food and love to cook.  But my mom may love to cook just as much as me so I knew she'd already have tons of food.  She did.  It was delicious.

I ate 5 regular sized cookies in 30 minutes (this is no joke).  It was awesome.

I found a recipe for chip dip here, which was by base to make my version of the taco dip.  It was easy and amazing.  As long as I didn't think about what was in it.  Also the original recipe said it made enough for 4+ people.  If they were talking about 4 humans.. it would have to be starving humans or 4 sumo wrestlers.  We maybe ate 1/4 of it.  We also may have eaten at least 4 cookies, a burrito, pizza bites, and Chex mix.  Maybe 4 people is a good portion indicator.  

P.S. He also has a recipe using the same 'cheesy' base as below and makes it as a pizza dip.  I'm thinking of serving it with toasted baguettes.  

In all seriousness, I made it in a pie pan so it would be plenty to take to a party.  Anyways, enjoy the recipe.  I made the base of the dip at home, covered and brought it up to my parents, baked it there and added toppings.  We had leftovers reheated today and it was still pretty good.

Taco Dip
     1/4 lb ground beef
     1 tbsp taco seasoning
     1/4 cup water
     1/2 cup frozen corn
     1/2 cup black beans
     1/3 cup salsa
     1 cup shredded cheese
     1/2 cup sour cream
     1/4 cup mayonnaise
     4 oz. cream cheese (half of a regular size container)
     taco toppings (we just used avocados and tomatoes but black olives and lettuce would also be lovely)

* Brown ground beef and add water and seasoning.  Let simmer until the water is evaporated.  Mix together the corn, beans, beef, salsa, cream cheese, sour cream, mayo and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese.  Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese on top.  Bake at 350F until the sides are bubbly and the cheese on top has melted.  Top with avocado and tomatoes and serve with chips.


     

Favorite time of the week?  Sunday afternoons, lounging on the couch, eating only the best food around, and falling asleep- waking up only for the crucial 4th quarter.  Sadly, after today, there are only 2 of these Sundays left in the season. 

Tear.

That is why we've begun pulling out the stops for football Sunday food.  Including buying fake (American) cheese to make chip dip.  Because it melts the creamiest that's why.

No great pictures of this because I made it in a hurry for yesterday's Broncos game (which we don't want to talk about) but it reheats beautifully for slightly more exciting games.  

I usually make this in a small crock-pot (but a microwave safe bowl works well too) and add the following:

Approximately 3/4 of the bar (tube?) of Velveeta cheese (or in my case- the cheap off-brand)
1 bunch of green onions sliced really thin
1/4 pound of browned ground beef
1 can of Rotel tomatoes (don't drain)
1/2 cup shredded mozarella cheese


**Either melt this in a microwave safe bowl or warm in small crock-pot.  I found that melting it on the 'high' heat setting on the crock-pot makes it slightly more runny than melting on a lower setting.  Or if it gets super runny turn the crock-pot off and let it cool slightly to thicken and then turn it back to warm.

**Salsa would also be lovely instead of the Rotel tomatoes and green chile (or is it jalapeno) mixture but at 99 cents a can, Rotel can't be beat in this house.

Happy football watching!