Super Bowl Sunday

*Started this on Sunday.  Got busy and distracted.  Sorry!*

It's game day, bitches!  To start, here is my all-time favorite picture of the Steelers.
 

(source)

It's from the locker room before Super Bowl XL (which, yes, the Steelers did win!).  And it features one of my all-time favorite football players, EVER, Jerome Bettis.  A monster of a running back.

Anyway.  Time for some more recipes.  Up first, the Spinach Dip.  It's super easy. 

2 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonaise
1 packet Knoll's vegetable dip pack
1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts, sliced
3 green onions, diced
1 box (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed and drained

Mix all the ingredients together.  I like to serve it in a pumpernickle bread bowl - use the bread you cut out to create the bowl as the dipping pieces. 

Stromboli.  I freaking love this stuff.  Like I said, it's a recipe I snagged from my mom.  It's pretty easy and people tend to love it.  First up, you make the dough:

5 cups flour
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup oil
1 packet dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Knead it together (or, get excited, and use the dough hook on your KitchenAid stand mixer).  Place it into a greased oven-safe bowl and let it sit to rise for 2 hours.  The trick here is to preheat your oven to the lowest setting, then turn it off and put the dough in there for 2 hours (covered).  This ensures the temperature is right but doesn't "bake" it.  The first year I made it, I didn't know I should turn the oven off and I ended up with a crust on the top.  It made for a texturally weird boli.

After the dough has risen, you punch it down and split it in 2 halves.  Spread it out on 2 (large) cookie sheets.  Lay out the fillers.  The fillers are a 1/2 pound of each of the following: hard salami, provolone, pepperoni, mozzarella, and boiled ham.  I get it all from the deli counter, though it is possible to get it pre-packaged.  I just like the fresh deli counter stuff better for this.  Feels more authentic.  Then top with mustard and oregano (there are actually amounts in the recipe, but I just eyeball it).  Bring the sides up to wrap the filling, spread some milk on top, then bake it at 350 for 40 minutes.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the finished products.  Of anything.  People started showing up and I was way distracted.  But trust me, everything was delicious.  I got tons of compliments on the chili, and the cake balls were destroyed.  I thought Christina Aguilera (honestly didn't even catch the lyric flub) did a pretty good job.  The halftime show was terrible.  The commercials were pretty awful, except for the one where they showed all the different tv characters in various NFL team gear.  I enjoyed that one more for the blasts from the past than anything else.  And even though the Steelers lost, it was a really good game that definitely kept me on the edge of my seat (or kitchen counter, where I was perched all night long). 

And now, I'll leave you with the only other commercial that I actually enjoyed...




*all photos without source code are personal