Super Bowl Party...it’s all about the food!

It’s that time of year again. Everyone is planning the perfect finger foods for their annual Super Bowl party. Aren’t you? Do you follow football all year? Here in my house, we are not really huge football fans, but we look forward to the big game every year.

WHY? Oh, that should be easy to answer, if you’ve read any of my blogs...it’s all about the food! Any chance my family has to enjoy some tasty foods that aren’t enjoyed every other day of the year is a celebration. The Super Bowl is no different. See, it truly IS all about the food, at least in my house. :)

What are the typical foods you expect to find in front of your TV on Super Bowl Sunday? We like the usual finger foods from chips and dips to pizza and pretzels.

This year, we’re adding a new item to our menu. Something I’ve never tried taking on before, but this year I decided to give them a shot. What could it be? Hot Wings of course.

I made up a batch of them the other night to see how they’d turn out. They were a sure winner here, my family loved them. My husband even asked me a couple of days later if I’d make them again that night. Yay! I love it when I get asked to make a dish for a second time so soon after the first, you know it’s a winner then.

The blue cheese dip that often goes along side these spicy finger foods is something many with gluten issues avoid, so I knew I had to come up with something to substitute for that flavor. My mind went immediately to feta cheese. We love it on salads and such, but I’ve never tried to make a dip with it.

Blue cheese is one I’ve made many times as my husband absolutely loves the stuff, so this was a real challenge for me. I had to make a dip that would go well with the spicy chicken wings and satisfy that craving for blue cheese. The feta dipping sauce that I came up with was a hit as well. Whew! I was really nervous there at first.

Making the hot wings and feta dipping sauce was a lot of fun and not really a ton of work. I was a bit intimated at first, but after reading tons of recipes and finding a technique that I thought would work well in most kitchens, it was an easy process. All you really need is a good heavy pot to fry the wings in and a few ingredients.

If deep frying scares you, bake the wings, then toss them in the sauce. That is an option that will work great, just make sure you get them good and crispy.

One tip that I actually saw on a TV cooking show was to put your cooked wings into a big stainless steel mixing bowl, pour in a bit of the sauce and then cover the bowl with a plate or a large lid from a frying pan or large pot. You just want to make sure you can hold onto it and that no wings, or sauce will escape. Then you simply shake the bowl around to coat the wings thoroughly. It worked well and all of the wings end up getting an even coating of sauce.

So, plan your menu, invite your friends and wow them with you hot wing making skills! Have fun and may the best team win.