Party Food

Superbowl Sunday was yesterday and while I am honestly not a huge pro-football fan and really didn't care which team won (though I was secretly going for the underdog team-Congrats Saints!), I do like to make party snacks.  One of Ryan's buddies from work invited us over for the big game and so on Saturday, I started flipping through recipes trying to find good game food ideas.  

I recently printed out a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip from Christy at The Girl Who Ate Everything.  Sounded interesting and I really like the flavor of buffalo wings, so I thought I'd give it a try. Saturday night, I mixed up all the ingredients, cooked it accordingly, tasted it, and.......wasn't so sure I liked it.  Now, if you know me, you know that I won't take any food anywhere that I'm not 100% (or at least 90%) happy with.  If I don't like the way it looks, if the taste is slightly off, I'd rather just not take anything that put my name on a dish I'm not proud of.  So I wrapped this dip up and told myself I'd try it again the next day and maybe it would be better.

Next day, reheated it in the oven, tasted it, and still wasn't 100% sure. So this dish did not make it to the Superbowl party.  The taste was good, but I'm not so big on the texture of the chicken.  If I ever made it again, and that's a big IF, I would probably use shredded rotisserie chicken and not canned chicken like this called for.  But now what am I supposed to do with all this dip? Oy.

Next up, I decided to make something sweet to take.  Most people always bring chips, dip, sandwiches, pizza, etc. All the salty goodness, but not as many sweet things.  I picked Marshmallow Blondies from Christy's site again, because who doesn't love something with marshmallows and chocolate in them.  The recipe says to melt butter and butterscotch chips in a pan over the stove until creamy and mixed.  It also explicitly says "Don't over heat the butter and butterscotch chips or they will separate, so make sure you watch them carefully and don't cook them too long."  So what did I do the first time? Of course. Overheated them.  Good thing the bag of butterscotch chips has exactly 2 servings so I had just enough to start over, the next time getting it just right.  

The batter of this stuff was thick and sticky, like cookie dough, but tasted amazing.  They looked good when they came out of the oven and tasted good that night when I cut into them.  They looked exactly like Christy's do in her picture---gooey and delicious.  I was excited to take these guys to the party.  Problem though.  The next day when I went to plate them up and take pictures, they looked different. The blondies looked like they had dried out!  They still tasted okay but not gooey and delicious like before.  I tried microwaving one (since everything is better heated up) and alas, they were gooey and delicious like before.  Still, how could I take a dessert to friends and say "They're good, but stick them in the microwave before you eat them!" So, I'm afraid to say, these did not make it to the party either.

Now with only an hour and a half until kickoff, I had just surrendered to the idea of not taking anything until I thought of a surefire back-up plan----Sausage Balls.  Always a crowd pleaser and quite possibly the simplest recipe in my book.  
Sausage Cheese Balls
1 package spicy sausage
1 lb. shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. bisquick
Mix together, form little balls, bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

I quickly whipped up a batch of these and took them to the party and a hit they were.  Wish I had a better name for them, but sadly I don't.  

So, lesson learned. Don't try new recipes the night before to take to a party, unless it's a family party and they understand you "trying a new a recipe." Next time, I'll stick to tried and true recipes like snickerdoodle blondies and spinach artichoke dip. Hope everyone enjoyed their superbowl party snacks!