Hi all! Welcome back :-) I didn't want to let an important food holiday go by without sharing my experience. Yes, the Super Bowl is up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas as a big food holiday...well, not exactly. In reality it is an excuse for people to scream and yell at their tv sets and eat chicken wings. For me...the Super Bowl has always been...Sunday. I have an identity crisis when it comes to picking sports teams. I come from a family of New Yorkers who have always routed for Philadelphia for reasons I will never understand. During baseball season they are all about the Phillies and in the winter, it's the Eagles (before Michael Vick, of course-after all this is a blog about NOT harming animals.) Then to add more confusion, my boyfriend is a Patriots fan, so this past Sunday I felt compelled to go against my own and root for New England. It all felt very North and South....brother against brother.
But who are we kidding? All I really cared about on Sunday was creating a fun Super Bowl menu that would be vegetarian while not sacrificing the spirit of the day. The first thing I knew we needed to have was guacamole...okay...we can all agree on that. I learned to make guacamole years ago whilst waitressing at a southwestern restaurant called "Silverado", which is long since gone. I think it's "City Crab" now....but I digress. I learned using a mortar and pestle, but unfortunately I don't own one so I simply use a fork and a bowl to mash everything together. As long as you have perfectly ripe Hass avacados, you can't go wrong. What is more wonderful than slicing open an avacado and finding perfect flesh inside with no brown spots...it's poetry. I used about five of those, along with half a large red onion, a small clove of fresh garlic, 2 plum tomatoes and a handful of fresh cilantro. I diced the tomatoes and onion into very small pieces, mashed up the garlic and then the avacado and chopped the cilantro finely. After it was all combined I squeezed the juice of 2 fresh limes and mixed it all up with a little salt and pepper. When you store it in the refrigerator, cover it tightly with plastic wrap and let the plastic lay on top of the guacamole so that no air can get in and discolor your creation. Voila! Or should I say Ole!
Next was the piece de resistance of hors de oerves....the vegetarian pigs in blankets! This is the simplest and yet the most scrumptious little tidbit and I make it for every party because meat and non meat eaters alike love it and it always gets devoured. There are three quick steps to make it before it goes into the oven. One-take Smart Pups (better than Tofu Dogs) veggie hot dogs and cut them into small pieces (cut each dog into fourths). Two-take Crescent roll dough and slice each triangle in half length-wise. Three-wrap the dog piece in the Crescent dough and bake it at 375 degrees for about fifteen minutes until brown. Serve with mustard dipping sauce.
After a long grazing period of hors de oerves and right after Madonna sang and danced and shook her "oh my god I hope I look like that at 53" butt, I brought out the main course items.
First I made the Easiest Pizza in the World pizza. I took a Boboli pizza crust, slathered it with simple tomato basil sauce and sprinkled fresh mozzarella over it. Into a 400 degree oven for about ten minutes until the cheese is bubbly and lightly golden. You get ooohs and aaaahs for your homemade pizza but it is so incredibly simple and you'll be back in time to see the MIA girl give you the finger.
Finally, I made sausage and peppers. Again...easy breezy! Take a yellow onion and a red onion and slice them up. Next slice 3 peppers (I like to combine the red, yellow, orange or green-it's pretty). Heat a little olive oil in a medium sautee pan and sautee the veggies all together with a sprinkle of salt and pepper until they are all tender for about ten minutes, tossing them around so they cook evenly. While that is happening, take Smart Sausages (Smart is a great brand for veggie products. I like the Italian ones which are the ones you normally see in the store) and brown them on in a sautee pan until they are brown on all sides. I like to then put them in a 375 degree oven for about seven minutes to make sure they are cooked through. Finally, warm up some hot dog buns and place the sausage inside and top with the onion/pepper mixture. You get the seasoning from the sausage contrasting with the sweetness from the onions and peppers and it is fantastic!
So I hope everyone had a fun Super Bowl Sunday and ate great food whether you are into sports or not. My usual mantra holds true once again. You don't have to sacrifice great food just because you give up meat...all it takes is a little creativity. Which, unlike the commercials this year, can still happen in your kitchen.
Happy eating!
Love,
Robina
