Superbowl Sunday

Yes I'm from Pittsburgh, yes I'm a fair weather Steelers fan. Yes, I went to St. Vincent - the summer home of the Steelers - no I did not go for that reason.  In fact, when I had a work study on campus I'll never forget the day I almost ran over Coach Cowher leisurely riding his bike through campus.  Years of watching the games with my dad has done that to me.  I had my favorite players - those which will not be named - I mean of course Bettis and Hines but I mean old school like Bubby Brister, Neil O'Donnell,Tommy Maddox, Kevin Greene.  I'm not ashamed, at one point I thought the Cowboys were cool, used to rock a Seahawks jacket, liked the Texans.  Since meeting my now husband I've slowly been converted to a 49ers fan.  With this being said, regardless of the team I cheer for we always do Superbowl Sunday.  No big party, but it's the one day we tend to really splurge.  Hell even Alan makes something (I'm the cook in the house everyone knows this).  With that being said, here's our Superbowl Sneak Peek! 

On the menu: 

Pizza casserole - made by Alan.  He uses a recipe (I wouldn't). Basically it's farfalle (bow ties), loose breakfast sausage cooked up, pepperoni, ham and a ton of cheese.  Using a 9x13 casserole dish or glass pan generously dump sauce on the bottom then make layers. First the pasta, then the meats, next shredded mozzarella cheese. I think he might put in Parmesan too. Cover and bake for 30 minutes or so. It's basically a baked ziti on steroids.  If you are looking for something healthy this ISN'T it, but it's so good!  I can only eat a little bit because it is filling and rich!   

Buffalo chicken dip - I love this, Alan won't touch it.  I make enough for myself and it will usually last the week if not longer.  1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese softened, your hot sauce of choice - I prefer the Chegg beesting I use, but also love Frank's as well as the generic wing sauces, some ranch (I don't always like the extra calories so I omit the ranch dressing and sprinkle some powdered ranch seasoning in), shredded chicken (or canned chicken) and shredded cheddar cheese.  Mix everything except shredded cheese together - I've made this forever I honestly couldn't tell you the measurements I eyeball and taste to my liking. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and pop in oven or microwave until cheese is melted.  Honestly - I'll eat it cold too - whatever floats your boat! 

Chicken wing - love the Philips Airfryer we invested in!  Honestly if you don't have one it is amazing and you will never deepfry the traditional way again - it's healthier for you too. 

 These aren't today's wings, but you get the idea.  Toss the wings in whatever you like - I really like seasoned - just sprinkle generously with season salt and they go in the fryer for about 15-20 minutes - come out crispy and delicious.  Today I'm making these as well as buffalo wings - I'll just lightly salt, fry and then toss in sauce when finished. 

Texas kolaches - no they are not cookies!  I fell in love with these when I lived in Houston.  There is a small kolache shop about an hour north of here that makes them and they are almost identical - other than that the nearest chain kolache store is 5 hours away in Cincinnati.  That being said, I'm trying my own. Silly me did not read the recipe to it's entirety and knew it used yeast and had to rise, but didn't realize first 1-2 hours then supposed to be over night (does say at least 4 hours) so hopefully the dough will be ready before the game starts. Anyhu, kolaches you may be familiar with are a sweet pastry dough filled with a fruit filling like cherry, peach, apple etc.  These kolaches are a slightly sweet dough, but filled with sausage, ham, cheese, even egg. The ones you get in Houston often have jalapeno.  Dough was easy to make - 1/4 cup hot water, 2 1/4 tsp yeast on top.  Let sit for five minutes to get foamy.  Next add 1 cup hot milk, tsp salt, two eggs and 4 tbs. melted butter.  Gradually add in 5 1/2 cups of flour.  I use the Kitchen aid with the dough hook - does all the work.   Mix until just incorporated.  Dough should have a little tackiness to it.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 1-2 hours.  I'm impatiently waiting for this magic to happen! 

I'll share the final results later on.  Good thing I ran 6k last night to make up for the day of junk I'm gonna indulge in.  

Last but not least, I started the morning off with awesome walnut cinnamon rolls. My topping wasn't as sticky was I would have liked it so I'll have to perfect that a little more, but it was an awesome and easy breakfast - yes even I take shortcuts from time to time. 

Sprayed 8 cups of the muffin pan with nonstick spray. Pop open a can of your favorite cinnamon rolls.  In a bowl combine walnuts, butter and brown sugar.  In the bottom of the muffin cups, place generous spoonful of walnut mixture top with a cinnamon roll pressing down.  Bake according to package - think mine said 12-16 minutes think I had them in the oven for about 14 minutes on 400.  I ate mine sans icing, but put the icing on for Alan.  They were tastylicious!