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Showing posts with label Game Day Food. Show all posts

Football Cookies - The Lazy Cookie Decorator

7:30 AM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post

I love decorated cookies.

One of my favorite blogs is The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. That woman has got some talent.

Several years ago, my hubby signed me up for a Wilton decorating class for my birthday. Loved it. Learned skills on how to make frosting, fill a bag, which tips to use, and some other basic decorating skills.

The problem?

Even if you know how to use the tips and have those skills....you still have to have some sort of artistic ability.

That's where I fall short.

I see these fabulous cookies in my head and they never turn out the way I saw them.

So, I've come to the understanding that my cookies are not going to be mini works of art, and I'm alright with that., for the most part.

This past Saturday was the first Husker football game and we were invited to our first football party of the year. And, of course, I wanted to bring football cookies.

So I made the dough, rolled it out, cut the cookies, baked them, let them cool and then started on my mini pieces of art.

Err....maybe not.

Again. What I saw in my head was something like this....

(source)

And this is what I actually did....

I determined that I just don't have the patience for pretty cookies.

When I took them to our friends house, everyone "Ooo'ed" and "Aww'ed" at them and said how pretty and fancy they were, but I still felt bad of what could have been.

Oh-well...there are plenty of football games coming up for me to practice! Right?

Any tips for a Lazy Cookie Decorator like me? Would love to hear them!

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Labels:Cookies,Football Food,Game Day Food | 0 comments

Sloppy Joe Bowls - Game Day Food

12:00 PM | Posted by Unknown | | Edit Post

Chris and I were invited to our first Super Bowl Party in years and years. He was really excited about having some guys to watch the game with, the kids were excited to be able to play with the other kids. Me? I was excited about thinking what dish I would bring.

I poured over

and wanted to find something that would feed roughly 12-15 people and would be cheap and easy to make. And, would be something that guys and kids alike would want to eat. While I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for....here's what I came up with...

Sloppy Joe Bowls

First, you'll need two tubes of biscuits. They have the larger "Grands" style too, but I thought those would be too big, so I bought the el-cheapo $0.50 biscuits.

Next, take some cooking spray and spray the inside of your muffin tins. They do not need a heavy coating of spray, one small spray in each tin will do just fine. Otherwise the biscuits will slide down.

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

There are two ways you could do this next step. The biscuits need to be flatted into a large circle. You could do this with your hands (see above) or with a rolling pin (see below). If you do it with your hands make sure and have a small bowl of flour available because the dough can get a little sticky when it starts to warm up.

I found it to be the easiest to roll them with a rolling pin. The dough doesn't get warmed by your hands and it's quicker.

Next, place your biscuits into the muffin tin. Pull the dough up along the sides to form your bowl.

They don't have to look perfect - flaws just add character.

Place your bowls in the oven for one minute. When you pull them out, you'll notice that the dough has already started to rise. I took a spoons and pushed it back down into the bowl shape that I wanted. This is how they'll look:

Place the bowls back into the oven. Bake them in two minute intervals until browned on the edges. Mine took a total of 6 minutes to bake.

Take a spoon and pop them out of the muffin tin.

I was so pleased with how these turned out! I let mine rest on the counter till they were completely cooled and then put them into a storage bag on the counter overnight. I wanted to make sure the bread was hard enough to hold up to some hearty sloppy joe mix.

Now, for the sloppy joes. I don't have my own recipe for sloppy joes or any special way that I make mine.

I use a mix.

I'm ashamed to say it, but it's true.

Here's what I use.

I am in love with the Simply Organic Sloppy Joe Mix. It's available at Whole Foods, at some Target stores and online through Amazon. My whole family loves the taste of this mix and I like that it has organic ingredients. But, for this any sloppy joe mix (as long as it's not too watery) would work perfectly.

Anyways, so I just follow the directions on the packet and away I go!

When you're done mixing your sloppy joe mix, starting filling up your mini bread bowls. I put a small pinch of shredded cheddar cheese on the bottom of each bowl to make sure they were extra cheesy!

Then top them with cheese. Make sure and serve them warm. After filling the mini bowls and topping with the sloppy joe mix, place them back into a 350 degree oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.