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This Sunday marks the most entertaining night of the football season and HalfHourMeals.com has three delicious must-have recipes for making Super Bowl 2012 memorable for your guests!
If you're privileged enough to be hosting a party for the big event, you'll want to make sure the food is up to par. What you choose to serve at your Super Bowl party is almost as important as the game itself. Failing to provide your guests with delicious, mouth-watering appetizers is like inviting them over without access to a TV or an endless supply of beer. It's downright unacceptable.
So what are some great recipes for hosting the ultimate Super Bowl party? The trick is to mix things up a little without completely reinventing the wheel. For example, foods like pizza, chicken wings and mac and cheese aren't necessarily the most innovative snacks to serve but your guests will love them - and you can add your own little touches to make them memorable and amazing for your guests.
Choosing from millions of recipes online can be a very daunting task - especially for first-time hosts. To make it easier for you, we've scoured HalfHourMeals.com for the three best Super Bowl 2012 recipes. These recipes offer a unique twist on signature dishes to keep your guests intrigued and interested all night long.
Consider these three tasty apps for your Super Bowl party this year:
*Click images to view recipes
Baked Mac and Cheese Buffalo Chicken Pizza Oven Baked Wings
We love food holidays here at HalfHourMeals.com, and there are lots of reasons why Cheese Lover's Day is one of our absolute favorites. Did you know that the average American eats 31 pounds of cheese each year? Amazing, huh? Any food that we eat that regularly surely deserves its own day of the year to celebrate it. We scoured the web yesterday and found ourselves inspired by the huge number of delicious recipes containing a variety of different cheeses. So, take a look at these six dishes below that we have chosen as our favorites -- you can visit the sites corresponding with each image number to grab the recipes for each of these tasty creations. Enjoy!
1 - This dish is a Beer & Cheese Macaroni created by the foodies over at Homemade by Holman. They used smoked cheddar, sharp white cheddar, mild cheddar, and American cheese, along with 1 cup of Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer, to create this delicious looking cheese dish.
2 - Caramelized Cheese Grilled Cheese? Okay, you got our mouths drooling! The folks at Closet Cooking came up with this delicious looking dish that takes grilled cheese to another level. Why would you want a simple grilled cheese ever again after seeing this?
3 - These Italian Cheese Straws were discovered at What's Cookin' Chicago and just had to be a part of this list. These would work well as an appetizer or a side dish to pretty much any kind of soup you could imagine.
4 - Baked macaroni and cheese is probably in my top five favorite dishes, so we had to include one of these in our list. The most delicious baked macaroni dish we could find was found over at MarthaStewart.com -- a macaroni dish featuring Beecher's flagship cheese sauce that looks phenomenal.
5 - This grilled cheese sandwich made with a pita was found over at GrilledCheeseSocial.com and was affectionately named the "Old Goat" because... well, you guessed it -- it contains goat cheese! Alongside peppers and mushrooms, this goat cheese grilled cheese sandwich has a real artisan feel that adds a level of class to the classic grilled cheese dish. We would love to try this one!
6 - We found a great cheese appetizer over at BHG.com that is as simple to make as it looks. These cheese triangles would be an excellent appetizer and would be sure to put a smile on the face of any guest you have over.
We bet you didn't know that January 19th is National Popcorn Day, a food holiday dedicated to everyone's favorite movie watching snack. Popcorn is a versatile snack food that can be paired with so many different combinations of toppings -- chocolate, caramel, cheese and even plan old salt & pepper. In honor of this unique food holiday, we scoured the web and found 10 fantastic popcorn dishes posted by some of the most creative foodies online. As you'll see below, popcorn is extremely versatile and will hold up to the wildest of your creative ideas. If you have your own popcorn creation to share, please send it along and we'll be happy to include it here on HalfHourMeals.com. Enjoy! :)
Cinnabon and popcorn, together at last. The Girl Who Ate Everything posted this delicious twist on popcorn that adds pecans, almond bark, white chooclate, cinnamon and vanilla to emulate the delicious taste of a Cinnabon.
Risa at Baked Perfection posted this colorful cup of caramel corn that looks like a perfect snack for almost anytime of the day. These would look fantastic at a party and would be a great way to serve individual portions, too!
This cinnamon popcorn creation from The Finer Things In Life adds a bit of spice and is certainly one of the more creative ways to serve popcorn that we've seen. This would be a great one to serve during a movie on Valentine's Day!
If you've never tried chocolate popcorn before, we suggest you do yourself a favor and munch on some of this as soon as you can! You'll wonder why folks put caramel and cheese on popcorn when they have chocolate as an option! This specific chocolate popcorn dish was found at Simply Scratch.
Cashews add a wonderful element to the ordinary caramel corn, and you might even find these are more addicting than the regular peanuts that are found in treats such as Cracker Jack. Our hats are off to the folks at Oh! Nuts for sharing this treat with the web.
The fine folks at Pillsbury published this unique popcorn treat that brings together some of the finest things in the world -- peanut butter, chocolate and popcorn. You'll want to definitely give these a try!
The foodies at Cookies & Cups came up with this brilliant way to including popcorn and other various treats within a cake. As you can see, this cake looks really unique and would be an excellent way of impressing someone special on their birthday!
Oreo cookies + popcorn = pure magic. If you're anything like us, you're staring at this photo and thinking, "I need to make this!". Kudos to the Kerry the Bakergirl for coming up with this delicious spin on two of our favorite snack foods.
These delicious popcorn treats look just as good as we're sure they taste! Popcorn brittle with peanuts and M&Ms are the creation of the creative foodies over at SimpleAndDelicious.com, and we're sure glad they decided to share these with the world! These look extremely easy to make and would be a really great way to impress your guests.
S'mores and popcorn? Is there really anything more amazing than this combination! The creative folks at Thirty Handmade Days shared this yummy creation and are solely responsible for making us extremely hungry at this very second. We want this popcorn! :)
Most countries include the root vegetable potato, as a mainstay of their dietary needs, and potatoes in some form are always included on their menus. The versatility of the humble spud has been documented in cookbooks down through the centuries. Potatoes provide the vitamins, nutrients, starches and carbohydrates our bodies need and crave. Here are five member recipes for you to enjoy.
Potato Gnocchi or Gnocchi di Patata by Mhelhanee
Corn Chowder with Potatoes by Penny
Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic by Sarah
Homemade Potato Chips by Sugarpies
Garlic Mashed Potatoes by Sarah
Be sure to let them know how you enjoy preparing their recipes.
My, my, aren't there a lot of oils from which to choose. You can stand staring at the different selections your grocer has for you in their baking aisle. The shelves used to contain only the everyday common vegetable oil and shortening. Over the last two decades we have seen all sorts of oils come to our shelves and they are not stuck on the International aisle either. Select oils and different flavored oils are standing side-by-side with the other cooking oils and baking ingredients. It's a given that as our ingredients have evolved, so have our palates. But the dilemma continues ... do we ignore these interlopers and continue to buy the same standbys we've used for years? Or, do we branch out, find recipes calling for different oils and give them an honest try?
Here are the oils I noticed tonight while shopping: vegetable, corn, saffron, peanut, walnut, coconut, sesame, grape-seed, olive, extra virgin olive, balsamic garlic, almond and Parmesan dipping oil. What a mind-boggling array! Fantastic for sure but how do we know what to choose and what's the best oil for the occasion? I searched further and found vital information to share with you, to save you time in future. Here are three exceptional full-length articles explaining the intricacies to master before you shop. Click the links to see how well each article covers this subject. All of the answers may be found and it won't seem like such a mystery anymore.
Whole Foods Guide To Oils
eHow Foods How To Choose Cooking Oils
The Nibble Magazine Cooking Oil Glossary A to Z (there are six pages)
Displayed Oils Photographs on Flickr by Nanniane
In the food world, mustard is amazingly popular and is paired most often with meats and cheeses, and is commonly used in recipes like deviled eggs, potato salads, dressings and dips. Most of the time the seeds are ground down and mixed with a combination of ingredients to make it a smooth very strong yellow condiment, or a smokey dark Dijon. Mustard seeds often have a strong pungent odor. The English style is made using mustard flour, water, salt and sometimes lemon juice, but never with vinegar. French mustard or Dijon has vinegar and other additives for a milder flavor, and German mustard is the mildest of all. Some people choose to add in ground seeds for a spicier blend. It is found on our sandwiches, on our burgers and hot dogs, and even in our potato chips!
Mustard seeds, ground mustard seeds, table mustard with turmeric, a Bavarian sweet mustard, a Dijon and a coarse French mustard made mainly from black mustard seeds
Mustard Crisp Chicken by Better Homes and Gardens
Mustard Chicken Barbecue by Better Homes and Gardens
Mustard Crusted Pork Chops by Bonnie Walton
Three lovely recipes for your to consider for the upcoming Labor Day Weekend Menu. The next time you visit your market take a good look at the complex blends some companies have come up with. The shelves are packed with choices of mustard for every diner and cook.
Click here to see ten HHM Member Recipes using mustard!
Discovering these unusually beautiful vegetables has been a tremendous find. Imagine them placed next to a succulent main dish of medium-rare filet mignon, or a grilled glazed pork loin, or a pair of perfectly grilled lamb chops. To please the eye is the first duty of a well-seasoned cook or chef. At first glance, food has to be appealing, well-plated, and impressive. These purple and blue vegetables taste the same as their more traditionally-colored counterparts, and they lend an immediate air of mystery to tempt us to try them. We sit down, pick up our silverware and gently cut a small portion to taste. Just knowing we are eating a vegetable so pretty makes us appreciate it more.
Beautiful Purple Pole Beans
Delicate Blue-Foot Chantrelle Mushrooms
Royal Purple Cauliflower
Deep Purple Potatoes 
... and potatoes plated
Pair one of these vegetables with a sumptuous main course. Balance it with a bright crisp green salad so your family and guests will feel you have gone out of your way in order to make their meal even more spectacular. Sharing an inspired supper is a sure way to get the conversation flowing. And remember ... even though these veggies are purple and blue, enjoying them will never give you The Blues!
Why wouldn't a Special Needs Child want to learn how to cook? It's a question we should be asking. It is understandable that for the most part we might not consider this question, for the simple reason that our children are perfectly fine. They do not have "Special Needs" and our lives are less complex as a result. But what about those loving parents and caring relatives who do need to help these kids? I was approached last night by one of my friends, a member of HHM, about how to teach a child with special needs to learn how to cook. I didn't have a clue, other than using good common sense. After I did some in-depth research, I found it was much more involved than I had anticipated. I was pleased to discover that an innovative woman by the name of Anna Moyer (founder of YSC website), was many steps ahead of me. I watched a video featuring Holly Smith, an occupational therapist. She demonstrated simple techniques and enough of them that I was impressed with the scope of her teaching video. This video is especially for the person who will be the one to teach a special needs kid.
A quick summary: cutting, measuring wet, matching utensils with clearly-written index cards, measuring dry, distinguishing hot from cold, i.e., Red = hot, Blue = cold ... on to searching for ingredients and so forth. Reading left to right; Green for left -------->> Red for right. Holly pointed out simple details to teach, motivate, encourage and allow someone with the will to learn, to work towards accomplishing their cooking goals by developing their basic cooking skills. The video is short, to-the-point and an educational eye-opener. Pre-Cooking: Teaching Children with Special Needs to Cook.
Your Special Chef. What an appropriately-named website. Once you land on their site, you can choose from their tabs and drop-down menus. The one in particular I want to point you toward (on the far right), is the Site Map tab. Here they have many titles from which to choose, and the important part is that Anna Moyer has truly thought this through. Here they talk about showing these kids to recognize the utensils, the elements, practice before ever attempting actually to cook, so the child can feel prepared. They explain why it is fundamentally liberating to teach independence and develop their child's most basic cooking skills. This includes exposing new cooks to textures, colors and smells. Teaching them to cook foods they might not wish to eat, but that they can share and serve others. They explain the importance of building upper-body strength and fine-tuning of motor skills. They believe that with practice these children will be able to understand basic cooking practices. They can be motivated to cook, and to try new recipes later on, enhancing a feeling of self-worth and pride in knowing they can be a chef if they are willing to try.
Why Teach Someone Cooking Skills?
"Working on cooking skills helps people to develop independence. In many cases, individuals with special needs have to live in 24-hour care environments,
but if they were able to make themselves a simple meal or snack they may be able to live in a less restrictive environment".
Link for their Youtube site.
August 15th is a special day when food lovers remember Julia Child.
Today would have been her 98th birthday.
Julia Child died on August 13, 2004, days before her 91st birthday.
She became a legendary woman who forged through almost every French recipe, to break it down and create the first French cookbook to be written in the English language. She along with two co-writers were the start of the beginning of the food revolution, which was to take place in America and stretch around the world. She influenced millions of people by inviting us into her studio kitchen on her television series "The French Chef", to prove to us all that we could make these recipes, too. She was a cooking pioneer, a television personality, the chef we loved to watch and she made it appear easy. She knew her craft and she taught the world to cook French cuisine, like none other since.
She teamed up with Chef Jacques Pepin to film their duo cooking show,
"Julia and Jacques: Cooking At Home", and it worked beautifully.
She thoughtfully invited budding cooks and chefs to her television series "Cooking With Julia".
Julia Child was clearly responsible in helping to launch many of their careers.
Here is a link so you can remember her as a huge PBS Food Icon. We miss you Julia!
By keeping your eyes and ears open you can learn something new in the food industry practically every day! The ever-popular Domino Company has produced an incredible sweetener made from the nectar of the succulent Agave plant. This plant is native to Mexico. Domino has grown an organic blue agave, which produces quality nectar. Just 2/3 cup of Light Agave Nectar equals 1 cup of granulated sugar, and all liquid ingredients would be reduced by 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup. Incredible! They have found something pretty progressive and controversial, too. They make a second variety called Amber Agave Nectar and 2/3 cup is the same as 1 cup of brown sugar, and liquids are reduced by 1/4 cup.
Domino's Light Agave Nectar.
Tangy Agave BBQ Sauce Recipe.
Domino's Amber Agave Nectar.
I read that agave nectar is naturally sweet and has a low glycemic index and is a gluten-free product containing no allergens, plus it is Kosher Certified. Super! When heated the nectar becomes purified. The light brand offers sweetener without adding flavor and the amber brand adds a caramel flavoring, which is perfectly paired with pancakes, oatmeal and cereals. Domino has given cooks and bakers decades of quality products from the sugar cane and now ... they are bringing us yet a newer way to make our kitchen experience even sweeter. Visit Domino to read and learn even more about agave, and to see their array of recommended recipes. Next time you shop be sure to pick up a bottle of this new product. Make something, snap a photograph and add your recipe here on your profile page. Let's make our own decisions if we like this sweetener as much or more than Domino Granulated Sugar.
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