By By Lisa Tindell
It's the time of year for boiled and roasted peanuts, Buffalo wings, dips, chips and a million other things that make watching a football game so much fun.
Of course I like football. When else, except during the holidays, can you eat fattening food and not get dirty looks from others at the gathering? We all know perfectly well that fried chicken wings rolled in a spicy sauce or dips made of sour cream, cream cheese and such are not on anybody's diet. At least none that I am aware of, or that would be the diet for me.
I do love a get-together whether it's to watch football, celebrate a birthday, look at Tupperware or just share an evening with friends. Those kinds of opportunities give me a chance to break out some great tableware as well as a few special recipes that simply don't fit in at the Tuesday night supper table.
I've decided to share a few of those special recipes with you this week just in case you plan on having some folks over for the big game this weekend or if you plan on looking at some plastic food containers.
This first recipe is a really good one and makes a pretty good amount of snack material at a relatively inexpensive price. If you've got a big crowd and a tight budget you may want to consider this one.
Stadium Pretzels
1 cup butter
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
1 dash hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco(tm))
20 ounces sourdough pretzels
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion soup mix and hot pepper sauce. Coat pretzels in the mixture by dipping or brushing and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool, then serve or store in an airtight container.
That's a lot of pretzels and will keep some hungry mouths happy for a while.
If you're into making a dip or two for your party, here's one you may find interesting. It's the same basic sour cream and mayonnaise dip but with a little extra twist in the seasoning.
Old Bay Dip
1 pint sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons sliced green onions
1 teaspoon Old Bay(r) Seasoning
Cut-up fresh vegetables and potato chips
In a medium bowl, combine ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or more.
Serve with cut-up fresh vegetables and potato chips.
The recipe says to refrigerate for one hour, but we all know that when you've added seasonings to a dip type recipe, it's better if you can let it sit overnight. Somehow it's better the next evening. Just remember to cover sour cream based dips tightly. One other tip about sour cream or dips made with sour cream: if you level off what's in the dish to form a smooth level surface, it will stay fresher longer and will tend not to puddle.
If you're looking for some thing with a little more bite to it, this sweet and sour weiner recipe might fit the bill.
Sweet and Sour Cocktail Weiners
1 pound cocktail wieners
1 (8 ounce) jar grape jelly
1 (8 ounce) jar yellow mustard
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix the grape jelly and mustard. When the mixture begins to bubble, stir in the cocktail wieners. Reduce heat and simmer until serving.
I've done this to cocktail wieners before and it turned out really good. I don't think I used quite as much jelly or mustard as is called for in this recipe, but you can certainly adjust your taste to that one. If you don't like the little cocktail wieners, this recipe is also suitable for regular franks or hot dogs cut into one-inch pieces. Even a good smoked sausage link cut into bite size pieces is good in this recipe as well.
I hope that all of your friends have a good time at your party, tailgate or otherwise. If you have enjoyed a party at a friends house, be sure to be a good friend and throw a party they can enjoy without all the fuss.
Until next week, Happy Cooking (and Roll Tide)!
Lisa Tindell is a reporter for the Brewton Standard.