Well, my 12-yr-old decided to tell me last minute that he wanted to do something for the Super Bowl. This means missing most (all?) derby practice and whipping up snacky foods and watching football. Okay, honestly, the commercials and maybe the halftime show. I'm not a fan of football but I will get into a good Super Bowl game (and I like the Steelers, even if I don't at all follow any team). My brain went into overdrive trying to decipher what to a make and now with the potential of one of his friends over. I made a mental note of what we have on hand and what can be bought relatively inexpensively. This is what I came up with...
1. Buffalo Dip
This is my first vegan adaptation of a nearly completely meat and cheese dish. I asked my friend, Michelle, for her amazingly tasty Chicken Wing Dip recipe so that I can veganize it... I realized it's basically chicken, cheese stacked on cheese, and hot sauce (blue cheese - or ranch - shredded cheese and cream cheese). Yeah, well here I go...
1 cup seitan, shredded (chicken)
½ cup hot sauce
1 pkg silken tofu (ranch)
1 pkg ranch seasoning (ranch)
1 pkg vegan cream cheese
8 oz shredded vegan cheddar cheese (I'm using Daiya - definitely find something that melts wonderfully)
Tortilla chips
Combine hot sauce, tofu, ranch seasoning, and cream cheese in a food processor or blender. Transfer to an 8x8 baking dish. Fold in seitan and most of the shredded cheddar. Finish the top with remaining cheddar. Bake at 350 deg for 30 min. Serve with tortilla chips.
And the verdict is... Four stars from everyone! It tasted dead on to the Buffalo dip that it's based on. The seitan can be removed (I never thought the chicken was necessary itself) and was the only "issue" for anyone. Then again, Eli said the only other problem is that there wasn't enough.
2. Burgers
I have decided to make some burgers with Gimme Lean fake meat and some with black beans. This will give us all a variety (and see which we prefer). I've used the Gimme Lean in a shepherd's pie earlier this month and the boys liked it a lot. We'll see how it stands on it's own this time.
Gimme Lean Burgers
1 pkg Gimme Lean Fake Meat
½ cup breadcrumbs
Spices
Mix all ingredients and divide into four patties. Brown over medium to medium-high heat for 10 min (approx) and serve on a bun with fixins!
And the verdict is... Three out of four stars - Geoff is the only one to have eaten and rated this item so I really don't know how it turned out.
Black Bean Burgers
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup corn
¼ cup breadcrumbs
hot sauce and spices
oil for frying
Mash black beans in a bowl. Add corn, breadcrumbs, hot sauce and spices, mix. Divide into four patties and fry in a pan over medium to medium-high heat until crispy and brown on both sides.
4. Sweet Potato Fries
I checked out a few recipes online and here is my version. Mind you, sweet potatoes are very tough to cut through... This was a chore but they were good!
3 Sweet Potatoes/Yams (I bought 5, but 3 covered a baking sheet completely)
1/3 cup oil, vegetable or olive
1 tsp cayenne
Coarse salt and pepper
Peel and cut sweet potatoes into fries - from what I read, washing them first may make them soggy in the oven, so we didn't. Toss fries with oil and cayenne until well-coated. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and top with salt and pepper. Bake in a 450 deg oven for 10 min, flip the fries and bake for another 10 min or until brown and crispy. Serve with maple syrup.
4. Soda
We went with A&W Root Beer (2 lt to share) then onto juice thereafter. Okay, this isn't a great option, but for once in a while it's not terrible either. Caffeine-free, of course. I don't need them bouncing off the walls... More than they already do, that is.
5. Dessert
We bought some Ginger-Os Newman-Os. Very yummy all around.
Touchdown Poker
Because Geoff and I aren't football watchers, and to keep the boys interested in the game, I devised a card game for the touchdowns. Every time a touchdown was scored we all picked a card and whenever the team we chose scored that touchdown we picked an extra card. The boys both went with the Steelers, so Geoff and I had the Packers by default (which ended up working out quite well!) Whoever had the best poker had at the end of the game wins - we were playing for choice of movie the following weekend (everyone goes out, winner gets their choice of what we see). This game even had Geoff and I high-fiving each other when the Packers scored twice in a row in the first quarter. I ended up winning with a full house (queens over nines) and Noah was close second with a full house (threes over fives).
It was an excellent 45th Super Bowl Sunday!
