
If your friends are anything like my friends, nobody really
seemed to care about the Super Bowl until the Saints got into it. Well, I admit that I was vaguely interested
until the Vikings lost, and then I transferred all of my not-quite apathy over
to New Orleans. I mean come on; they are the greatest
underdog to root for, right?
This newfound interest means that I’m even going to a Super
Bowl party. And of course, I haven’t
even thought about what kinds of snacks to bring until just now. Thankfully, Super Bowl Sunday isn’t the kind
of holiday where stores close, in fact, it’s pretty easy to just run into the
local deli and pick up a ready-made platter of football-shaped cheese dip and a
linebacker-sized bag of Doritos and call it done.
But if I’m gonna enjoy this day of sport with friends, I’m
gonna want to do things just a bit better than that. Which means that there’s all kinds of
last-minute prep work to do, and I’m gonna do it all old-style. Consider this my shopping list:
Cold Cut Combo
(Betty Crocker’s Step-By-Step Recipes, 1975)
1 small cantaloupe or honeydew melon
Leaf lettuce
½ pound assorted sliced cold cuts
3 ounces sliced smoked turkey
¾ pound assorted cheeses, sliced
½ pound dark sweet cherries
Hard rolls
Mayonnaise or salad dressing
Prepared mustard
Cut cantaloupe in half; scoop out seeds. Pare and cut into wedges.
Arrange lettuce leaves on a serving plate. Alternate cantaloupe, cold cuts, turkey,
cheeses, and cherries on lettuce. Split
rolls; spread with mayonnaise and mustard.
Serves 6-8
With maybe 10 minutes of effort, tops, you just made a
sandwich tray that’s a million times better and fresher than anything found in
a store. Toss in some of your other
favorite cold-snacky sandwich treats – avocado or apple slices, port wine
spread, what have you – and you’ve got a great bunch of eats.
Cheese Pecan Ball
(Better Homes and Gardens Creative Cooking Library, Snacks
and Refreshments, 1963)
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp steak sauce
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Few drops hot pepper sauce
Chopped parsely
Paprika
With a beater or spoon, combine cream cheese, steak sauce,
nuts, garlic, and hot pepper sauce. Form
into a ball; wrap in waxed paper; chill several hours until firm.
Unwrap ball and place on serving dish. Sprinkle with parsley to make a strip about 1
inch wide down the center. Sprinkle both sides with paprika.
Keep chilled, remove from refrigerator about 15 minutes
before serving. Serve as a spread with
assorted crackers.
Makes 1 ½ cups.
For less than the price of a couple cans of spray cheese,
you can have a nice and tasty, homemade, and moderately healthy processed
snack. And you can even form it in the
shape of a football. If you want.
Corn Crackle
(Better Homes and Gardens Creative Cooking Library, Snacks
and Refreshments, 1963)
1 8-ounce package corn muffin mix
1 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic salt
3 tbsp butter, melted
Prepare corn muffin mix according to package directions;
spread evenly in a well-greased jellyroll pan.
Sprinkle with peanuts, cheese, and garlic salt; drizzle butter over top.
Bake at 375 about 25 minutes or until crisp and lightly
browned. Cut into squares and cool
slightly; remove from pan.
With just a few quick, handmade items you'll completely
brighten a table full of otherwise store-bought snacks.