Superbowl Party

America's favorite unofficial holiday is just a week away! And since we have our own hometown heroes representing this year, we're feeling the frenzy. But have no fear. We've got everything you need for the best Super Bowl party ever.

Decorations

Making the table into our very own playing field set the stage for a game winning set-up. That bright green coordinated well with our Seahawks color scheme. (Even the turf wants to be a 12!) We like mixing some official gear with basic blue and green to liven things up a bit. I sometimes add extra jerseys, hats, footballs, etc. we have lying around the house just to fill the space.

It's a requirement at our house that everyone watching the game is representing their team. Last year we had a hard time finding cute shirts for my toddler so I ended up hand painting the Hawks logo on a t-shirt. This year, to switch things up a bit, I created a new shirt for myself to wear that I painted on above, but also made a green iron-on and a blue iron-on for people looking for an inexpensive and easy way to show some Seahawks pride. 

Food

To us, the Super Bowl is not a day for fancy food or high maintenance recipes. It needs to be delicious, easy, and crowd-pleasing. With the big game being played in Phoenix, a southwest taco bar is the perfect way to go. We made a simple pulled pork, plus beans and rice. You can go all out and whip up your own tortillas and toppings (like this guacamole), but store-bought works great too. 

Taco Bar

Spice-rubbed pulled pork

Black beans

Rice

Tortillas

Toppings you love: salsa, guacamole, sour cream, pickled onions, chopped cilantro, pickled jalapenos, hot sauce, cheese, etc.

Cilantro-Lime Rice
1 part uncooked brown rice
1 part chicken stock
1 part water
Cilantro
Juice from 1-2 limes
Butter

Mix together your water, chicken stock, rice and 1 tbsp butter. Once the liquid is boiling, cover pot with a tight-fitting lid, turn heat to low and leave completely alone for 50 minutes. Then, remove from heat, leaving lid on for an additional 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, adding your lime juice and chopped parsley. (Use Ashley's tip for chopping herbs!) Add a couple of lime wedges to garnish.

Seahawks Sweets

For the sweet side, we couldn't resist showing our Hawks pride with blue-and-green themed treats. If, heaven forbid, you're rooting for Tom and the Patriots, just switch out your food coloring. You could also try out Manly M&M Cookies.

When you're as incredible an athlete as Kam Chancellor, you deserve to have a delicious treat named after you. This Hawks colored Kam's Korn is easy to make but a definite crowd pleaser.

Kam's Korn
16 cups popped popcorn
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup Karo syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
Food coloring

Sift through your popcorn in advance to be sure you've gotten as many unpinned kernels out as possible and divide into two bowls. Place 1 stick of butter, 2/3 cups sugar, 1/4 cup Karo syrup in a saucepan on medium-high heat. Stir until boiling. Boil for 60 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tsp vanilla and about 5 drops blue food coloring. Pour over one bowl of popcorn and mix to coat. Place the remaining butter, sugar and syrup on the stove. Heat until boiling and boil for 60 seconds. Remove from heat, adding 1 tsp vanilla and 4 drops green food coloring and 2 drops yellow. Pour over second bowl of popcorn and mix to coat. Lay popcorn out on waxed paper to cool and harden. break into small pieces to serve.

These chewy chocolate sandwich cookies are filled with a silky cream cheese frosting. When you're ready to frost, divide your frosting in two and dye one batch green and one batch blue.

If you're still trying to stick to your resolutions (kudos to you), try a few lighter ideas, like Grilled Bread with Avocado, Lemon Ricotta with Crostini, or even Roasted Veggies.

Game: Commercial Scavenger Hunt
For those who aren't as interested in the football portion of the Big Game, we've created a fun Supermercial (Super Bowl Commercial) Scavenger Hunt that includes all the likely suspects of these overpriced spots. It's a good way to include some friendly competition for people who may not know the difference between a touchback and a quarterback. And the winners, of course, deserve their very own Super Bowl rings for their efforts.

With all of this yummy food and fun, we can't wait for next weekend. Go Hawks!

Game Day

Game day is no time for subtlety. So this weekend, as you watch Russell and the Hawks crush the 49ers (yeah, that’s right), let your fan flag fly with football favorites customized to celebrate our reigning Super Bowl champs. (Don’t worry, if you root for one of those other teams or want to cheer for your favorite school instead, these ideas can be tailored to fit your needs too.)

Up first, pizza. Rather than try to go way too fancy with a main dish that nobody wants to eat, stick with this safe staple that can easily be customized to show a little game day spirit. My family is picky with pizza toppings so I stuck with a plain cheese but you can easily use veggies and/or meat toppings to make your pie one-of-a-kind.

Ingredients

1 Pizza Crust (I like the Target or Trader Joe’s pre-made crusts)

1 Jar Pizza Sauce (the zestier the better)

2 cups finely shredded mozarella cheese

Toppings of your choice

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425. Spread the sauce on to your crust with a spoon - be sure to spread all the way to the edges. If you want to use a stencil (team logo, etc) press it in to your sauce now. Sprinkle cheese around your stencil. Use a straw to outline your design before removing the stencil. Fill in with sauce, toppings or leave as is. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

It wouldn’t be a game day party without chips and dip. Switch standard tortilla chips to blue corn with classic green quac and you’ve got a winning combination - fit for the Hawks. You can even add a little spirited flag in your dip for extra team spirit. My husband and his friends really appreciate that. [Sarcasm]

Guacamole

Ingredients

¼ cup minced onion

1 small garlic clove, minced

½ jalapeno, minced

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 ripe avocados, diced

2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

Directions

Mix the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in a medium bowl (always use a slightly bigger bowl than you think...it makes it easier to mash the guac). Add ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of lime juice and mix well. Add the avocado and mash until well combined but still a little chunky. Stir in the additional ½ teaspoon of salt, the additional 1 tablespoon of lime juice, the pepper, and the cilantro.

If for some crazy reason you’re not rooting for Seattle, you can still get in on the color-coordinated chip-and-dip idea:

• 49ers: chipotle salsa with fritos
• Cowboys: sour cream onion dip (try Trader Joe’s!) with blue corn chips
• Patriots or Bears: pico de gallo with blue corn chips
• Broncos: queso with blue corn chips

Every special occasion needs a signature drink. I like to make these 12th man mocktails for every game. Depending on how fancy you want to go, you can easily find a drink in your team colors that can be used as is or added to a basic pop like Sprite, Ginger Ale or Fresca. Garnish with a coordinating color and you’ve got a drink that’s worth toasting your victory to.

Sherman Sure-Thing

Ingredients

Welch’s Passion Fruit Juice

Fresca

Blue Food Coloring

Lime

Directions

Mix together juice, pop and about 5 drops of food coloring. Pour into martini glass and garnish with a lime twist.

Since my husband tends to drink a lot while he’s watching the game, I keep some blue gatorade on hand (pictured with a lime wedge on the right) for his refills so I can enjoy the game too. As an added bonus, he stays hydrated as he paces the floor when the game gets too close.

And for dessert, man-size chocolate chip cookies. We swapped out the chocolate chips for blue and green M&M’s and instead of mixing them into the dough, we couldn’t resist putting our favorite jersey numbers on top of some of the cookies.

We’ve included one of our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes, but any cookie recipe will work.

Manly M&M Cookies

Ingredients

½ cup butter (1 stick) at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

2 large eggs

¾ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

2¼ cups flour

1 cup oatmeal

Approximately 1½ cups blue and green M&M’s

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, cream together the sugars and butter for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Add the eggs and beat on high for 3 minutes, until the batter is light and fluffy. Add the salt, baking soda, and vanilla and mix until well combined. Add the flour in two batches, mixing until just combined. Add the oatmeal and mix briefly to combine.

For each cookie, put about 2 tablespoons of dough on the cookie sheet. Press together and flatten into a disc. Decorate as you like with the M&M’s. These are big cookies and they’ll spread as they cook, so leave plenty of space between them (I cooked 4 on a sheet at a time).

Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool briefly on the cookie sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 1 dozen big cookies.

And you're ready to go! Let's go Seahawks!!