I may not know who is playing in the Superbowl this year (Does anyone? Have the teams been chosen? Do they even get chosen? How does this thing you call “football” even work?), but I know darn good and well that I’m going to be required to make thirty-seven different appetizers and dips for the game. Oh, yes. My husband had that written into our marriage vows.

“I promise to love you forever ’til death to us part so long as you make me snacks on Superbowl Sunday.”

The wedding guests had never seen a more ridiculous wedding before.

Back to the food! I really think that “dip” should be it’s own food group. Fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein, and dip. That’s the way the food pyramid would look if I were the President of Food. Five servings of dip per day. Ah, that’d be the life.

This Buffalo Chicken Dip (also known as “crack dip” because it’s addicting like crack!) is so good. It’s got a good bit of spice, but the cream cheese and the ranch dressing cools it off just enough. This one really is like crack. You won’t be able to stop dipping!

I would like to note real quick that the original recipe called for (gag) canned chunks (puke) of chicken (vomit). Personally, I think that canned meat (blech) is evil and wrong and terribly bad. I recommend buying a rotisserie chicken and shredding the meat with a fork, but if you are brave (and crazy) go ahead and use the (ewwww) canned chicken. I won’t judge you. At least, not out loud where you can hear me.

Also, while I’m being all picky about my ingredients, I should mention that I’m not a fan of blue cheese. I omitted the blue cheese salad dressing and used all ranch and I substituted the crumbled blue cheese for shredded mozzarella.

Finally, I like to serve this with sliced French bread, but it would also be yummy on chips or crackers.

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Adapted from Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

• 1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded with a fork
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup blue cheese salad dressing (omit and use 1/2 cup ranch dressing total, if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup ranch salad dressing
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (substitute shredded mozzarella if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce (any hot sauce will do)

Mix together all ingredients until well combined. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Serve with crackers, chips, or sliced bread.

Have you seen those commercials that say “Ahh, the power of cheese?” Well, I don’t want to be weird or anything, but cheese! It is powerful. Everyone loves it (please don’t tell me if you don’t love cheese, I would never recover from the shock) which means it is the perfect food to serve at get togethers, parties, funerals, weddings, baby showers, and late night television watching marathons.

Just in case I forgot to mention a time when serving cheese would be appropriate, a good rule of thumb is this: If people will be present, cheese should be on the menu. Hallelujah and amen.

My baby girl just had a birthday, so we celebrated by eating cake and ripping open presents. We also celebrated with a bit of this cheese spread. That’s the way birthdays are meant to be celebrated, after all.

There’s a picture of the birthday girl eating some snow. I figured it’d be okay to sneak a picture of her in as long as the picture included food. And, yes, I’m the type of mother that considers snow a good, healthy snack. Don’t judge.

Alright, back to the cheese. This cheese spread is simple, tasty, and perfect for your next get together. Feel free to play with the flavors of this and make it your own. I have a feeling that a bit of that powdered ranch dip mixed in would be quite tasty. You could also add a bit of finely diced jalapeno for a little kick. Or sprinkle in some cayenne if that’s more your speed. Play with it, have fun with it, but most of all, eat it. You won’t regret it.

Three Cheese Spread
Recipe adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

• 8 oz. block sharp cheddar cheese
• 8 oz. block pepper jack cheese
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• Dash of Tabasco
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup milk (or more, depending on what consistency you want)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Grate the cheddar and pepper jack cheese. Add to a stand mixer or food processor and mix in the remaining ingredients. Continue mixing until everything is combined. Add more milk if you want a thinner consistency. Sprinkle with a bit of parsley if you want to be fancy and serve with crackers.

One of my favorite parts of Fall is the television. Yes, I know. I’m pathetic. Can’t help it! I love Fall TV!

I also love the pretty leaves, the cooler weather, and, of course, Halloween and Thanksgiving, so I’m not a complete loser.

Back to the TV. I love it. It’s so nice to curl up on the couch at night and watch a good show. The kids and I love watching The Biggest Loser together. Both my 9 year old son and my 4 year old daughter enjoy watching Food Network. My son’s favorite show is Chopped and my daughter’s is 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray (especially if Rachel is cooking chicken!). My kids have apparently inherited both my love of food and of good TV!

When the kids see me settling in for a good show or if we happen to turn on a movie to watch, they instantly ask for popcorn. I’m usually happy to oblige, but sometimes plain old popcorn gets boring, so lately I’ve been surprising them with this caramel corn. They love it and so do I!

When I saw this recipe at Get off your butt…and Bake! I couldn’t believe how simple it was! Homemade caramel corn in minutes? Count me in! I’ve made this four or five times in the three weeks since I discovered this recipe.

To start, pop some corn. You can use microwave if you want, but honestly, popping corn on the stove is so simple! Check out Simply Recipes for how to make perfect popcorn.

For the caramel you just add butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup to a microwave safe bowl and heat it all up! Stir in some baking soda and vanilla, dump it on your popcorn and stir. Seriously, does it get easier than that?

Some people like their caramel corn soft and chewy and some like it hard and crunchy. I prefer it to be more crunchy than chewy, but not so hard that it breaks my teeth, you know? If you like it soft, go ahead and eat it immediately. If you want it a little crunchier, bake it for 10 to 20 minutes depending on how crunchy you want it!

If you want to liven things up a bit, add a dash of cinnamon to the caramel. It’s add a little depth to the flavor. You could also add some peanuts if you really wanted to go crazy!

Homemade Caramel Corn
adapted from Get off your butt..and Bake!

• 12 cups popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup kernels)
• 1 cup peanuts (optional)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees. Place popcorn and nuts (if using) in a large bowl, set aside. Add corn syrup and brown sugar to a small bowl. Chop butter into small chunks and add to bowl with corn syrup and sugar. Microwave for 30 seconds and then stir. Microwave for 2 more minutes and stir. Return to microwave for another 2 minutes. Stir to combine. The mixture should be hot and bubbly. Add in vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon (if using). The mixture will get a bit foamy. Stir and then pour over the large bowl of popcorn. Mix well to coat popcorn. If you want your caramel corn very chewy, go ahead and eat it now. Otherwise, pour caramel corn onto a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 5 minutes, stir and taste. Keep baking and stirring every 5 minutes (up to 20 minutes of baking) until you get it as crunchy as you want. It will harden up a bit as it cools. Break apart and devour!

I’ve decided that the Christmas shopping season has officially begun. Not because there are toy catalogs arriving in my mailbox daily or because every other commercial has my children pointing at the television and screaming “I want that!” It’s officially the Christmas shopping season because I’m ready for the roasted nuts.

You know what I’m talking about. Every year you write out a Christmas list, make a budget, head to the mall, and begin your shopping. But just as you walk through the doors of the mall you forget your list and follow your nose to the sugary, spicy, roasted nuts. There is nothing more Christmas-y than that smell, not even the baby Jesus himself. Surely I’m not the only one who feels that way, am I?

This year, rather than paying over $1.00 for an ounce of roasted nuts, why not make them yourself? Oh, because you can’t? It’s too hard? You don’t know how?

Actually, you can. It’s simple. I’ll show you how.

I always say this, I know, but this recipe is so simple. You get such great results with ingredients that you most likely have on hand. Please. Make these. You will not be disappointed.

Just grab a big can of nuts, any will do. Almonds, pecans, peanuts, mixed nuts, whatever. I used mix nuts. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Dump ‘em in a big bowl, pour in a beaten egg white, stir it up and dump on the sugar and spice. Mix it up, pop the nuts in the oven for 30 minutes or so and all of your dreams will come true.

These are yummy right out of the oven (be careful, though, they are hot), but they store perfectly. I just save the containers the nuts come in and dump any leftovers back in there. They stay fresh for, well, I don’t know how long. I eat them all within in a week or two.

Make these for your next get-together. You’ll be a hero.

Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 2 pounds nuts (any kind, I prefer mixed)
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 2 tbsp water
• 2/3 cup dark-brown sugar
• 1 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (you could use paprika if you’re a scaredy-pants, but the cayenne works well)
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Add nuts to large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites and water until frothy. Pour over nuts and stir to coat all the nuts. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugars, salt, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon. Pour over nuts and stir to coat. Spread nuts in a single layer on a parchment (or wax paper) lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and separate nuts if they are stuck together. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container.

Well, that’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it? Hot and Melty Oven Baked Ham and Swiss Sandwiches. I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t just title this “Ham and Cheese sandwiches.” Who would be interested in that? And I want you to be interested. I want you to be very interested.

You see, these little sandwiches are amazing things. They are so very simple, they’re perfect for feeding a crowd, they can be an appetizer, a snack, or a main course. They are great man food and are postively perfect for Sunday football. They’re also great girl food, since they are little mini sandwiches and everyone knows that all girls think mini foods are cute, right? No? That’s just me? Well, then.

I found this recipe on Dine and Dish back in August and since then I’ve made these about 10 times. I just can’t help myself. They are delish! I serve them when my husband has his buddies over for football, I served them along with a big pot of chili on Halloween, and I serve them for dinner when I’m in a hurry and need something tasty and easy.

You can really feed a crowd with these and it only takes minutes to prepare them. You just slice a package of King’s Hawaiian Rolls in half, layer the bottoms with ham and cheese, place the top pieces of bread on, and then pour the delightful butter mixture over them. The original recipe says to refrigerate these overnight or for several hours, but I find that even 30 minutes works just fine.

The topping is a mixture of melted butter, worchestershire sauce, ground mustard, poppy seeds, and dried onion flakes. I leave out the poppy seeds and onion flakes because my picky little family would have a stroke if I put something like a poppy seed on their bun. I can just hear them now, “What is this? Bird food?!” And let’s not even consider what would happen if I put chunks of dried onion on these. I do add a bit of onion powder, though. Sneaky, aren’t I?

Hot and Melty Oven Baked Ham and Swiss Sandwiches (Or: Oven Ham Sammies)
adapted from Dine and Dish

• 1 12 count package Kings Hawaiian Rolls
• 12 slices swiss cheese
• 12-16oz thin sliced ham
• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp poppy seeds (optional)
• 2 tsp onion flakes (or 1 tsp onion powder)
• 2 tbsp worcheshire sauce

Place ham and cheese on the bottom of the sliced rolls. Cover with the top half of roll. Mix together the remaining five ingredients in a small bowl and spoon over the tops of the sandwiches. It will look like you have too much, but just dump it all on there. Let sit overnight or a couple of hours. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 for 15 minutes or until warmed through and the cheese is gooey and melty. Enjoy!