Feasting Friday, All About Food!

Super Bowl Sunday

Adrienne and I eating desert.  Yummy!

 The play-off games were last Sunday and Randy wanted a few friends over to watch the game.  “I’ve got it all under control!”, he assured me,  “You don’t have to do a thing!” 

Those words always have me feeling just a bit nervous.

He set to the task of preparing his “famous” Buffalo wings and BBQ beef ribs on the Friday before the game.  Secret sauces and special seasonings where covertly blended and sampled with a chemists precision.  Special cuts of drumettes were ordered and by Sunday he was up at the crack of dawn pre-baking the ribs and those little legs were sizzling in hot oil.

Crispy, sweet/ hot drumettes tastes great dipped in Blue Cheese dressing.

In the meantime, a few weeks after the holidays I had declared a moratorium on rich, crappy food and was wondering how in the heck I would fare with the kinds of dishes I knew would predominate.  I had recently heard that the absolute worst types of foods were consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.  Would Play-off Sunday be similar? 

These little whole-grain crackers from Trader Joe's take the place of chips.    Tastes great!

I decided I would do my usual plan:  the 80/20 Rule!  I would eat only 20% of my calories from the crappy department and the other 80% would come from lean and healthy foods. 

A homemade coleslaw dressed in a light Italian.

Randy did a bang-up job with the chicken and ribs, but I think I would have used our regular dinnerware over paper plates and I am certain I would have used our basic white napkins (whose presence creates a tinge of guilt as they look a lot like those used at the restaurant both of my son’s worked at down the street) instead of the paper ones.  I refrained from any suggestions, not an easy feat for me.

The food was ready and set out within a few minutes of our guests arriving.  They could nosh whenever they wanted.

I home made a thirst quenching honey, Meyer lemonade and a delectable vanilla ice cream to accompany the tart. I realized later we didn’t serve chips& dip or the bottomless nut bowl.  We didn’t have sliced breads or cubed cheeses.  Adrienne brought these little pizzas for an appetizer (and a delicious raspberry tart both from Trader Joe’s), but the food was done so we just dug in to everything immediately.

Great little pastry-style pizza-ettes from...yes, TJ's!

When our guests asked what they could bring to our shin-dig, I suggested delicious vegetable based side dishes.  The idea is to have plenty of the healthier stuff along with the not-so-healthy.  I’m thinking this model would be a good one for a Super Bowl party.  What will you serve at your Super Bowl party?  Or what dish will you bring to one?  Who will you be rooting for?

A lovely salad, kind of like my Greek salad recipe below.

 One of my favorite easy tote-cuisine is Spinach Greek Salad ala Bodeci.

You can buy everything at Trader Joe’s and buy organic whenever possible.

Serves 6

1 bag ready-to-use, baby spinach

1 red bell pepper, sliced in thin strips

1 red onion, sliced in thin rings

½ basket cherry tomatoes

½ seeded, peeled and sliced cucumber

1 small jar marinated artichokes, drained

½ cup Greek olives, pitted or un-pitted

¼ cup toasted pine nuts (Heat a non-stick skillet to medium high, toss in the nuts, shake them around for a few minutes to get all sides, then remove to a separate dish until ready to toss in salad.)

½ cup crumbled Feta cheese

2 Tblsp. extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tblsp.  White or red wine vinegar or

¼ cup Trader Joe’s Greek salad dressing

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Toss everything together and serve.  Omit or add other vegetables, legumes or nuts.  Change quantities to taste.