football food: creamy spinach artichoke dip

A and I don't really have "date night" since he's in grad school, but we do have "date football" on Sunday afternoons. If both our teams (Panthers & Steelers) are on at the same time, we bring the second TV down from the bedroom and set both up side by side. We'll make dips, chicken wings, ribs, and get some new microbrew to try. It's quite a production. This spinach dip is the most often repeated football food around my house; and if you're serving it for guests, it gives you maximum impressiveness while requiring the least amount of effort. The base is the same, but you can play around with different cheeses, different amounts of pepper/garlic, etc.

Grocery list: 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach (thawed), 1 8-oz package cream or neufchatel cheese - softened to room temperature, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup mayo, 1.5 cups grated cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, even a little parmesan thrown in can't hurt), sriricha hot sauce, worcestershire, dijon mustard, 1 jalapeno or serrano, 1-2 garlic cloves, 1 small jar artichoke hearts, salt & pepper.



This isn't a very appetizing picture is it? Mix your softened cream cheese with the sour cream, mayo, and about 1 T worcestershire, 1-2 T sriricha hot sauce and 1 tsp dijon mustard. Stir until smooth, then fold in the grated cheese.



Drain and chop the artichokes, and mince your jalepeno or serrano pepper, and mince 1-2 cloves of garlic.



Squeeze as much liquid out of the defrosted spinach as possible, then stir it into the base. Pour into a baking dish (I use one that can go straight to the table), and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until bubbling and starting to brown in spots. Serve with chips, pita crisps or crackers.

four cheese serrano mac & cheese (and cheese, and more cheese)

Can you ever have too many mac and cheese recipes? My sister told me she tried mincing some serrano peppers (remember her libba burgers??) and sauteing them in the butter she used for making the cheese sauce. Since I have a little serrano pepper plant - producing about 20 new peppers a week (really!), I had to try this. I threw in 4 cheeses, not to be fancy, but just to use up the ends of a bunch of things: cheddar, brie, gouda, parmesan. Some panko bread crumbs on top added some crunch to the rich cheese - perfect!

Grocery list: 3-4 cups shredded cheese, 1 pound dried pasta, 3 cups milk, flour, butter, 1 chopped onion, 2-3 minced garlic cloves, 3-5 minced serrano peppers.



It really helps to do the prep work before starting the cheese sauce. Mince the garlic and serranos, and chop the onion. Any soft cheese (like brie) should be diced, and the other sharp cheeses can be shredded.



Start the roux as usual by melting 4-5 T of butter in a saucepan. Instead of immediately adding the flour, saute the onions, garlic and peppers for about 5 minutes.



When the onions are transparent, stir in 4-5 T flour - it will turn into a paste. Slowly stir in the milk a little at a time; bring almost to a boil to thicken, then turn the heat down very low. Stir in the cheeses to melt, then remove from heat.



If you want to use the panko crust, melt a couple tablespoons of butter over medium heat, then add 1-2 cups of panko crumbs. Stir occasionally until the panko starts to toast, then remove from heat. Cook the pasta according to the package directions (minus a couple of minutes - it's best to leave it extra al dente, since it will continue to cook in the hot cheese sauce).



Place the pasta into a large greased casserole dish; sprinkle grated parmesan and panko crumbs over top. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly and golden on top.

libba's famous bacon serrano burgers

My sister has shared many a great recipe with me, but this one is one of my favorites. Serrano peppers have just enough kick to make the burger interesting, but in no way overwhelm you with spiciness. I think the bacon makes the burgers extra juicy, which means you can play around with different combinations of lean meat. This weekend my sister made a huge batch for our family cookout (2 # bison, 1 # extra lean ground beef), and surprisingly, they were still incredibly juicy.

You can serve these plain on kaiser rolls, or with mayo, sauteed onions, sauteed mushrooms, etc. It really doesn't need much though, with so much flavor the burger stands alone.


For every one pound of meat, mix in 8 slices of crumbled (cooked) bacon, 3-5 serrano peppers (make sure to remove all the seeds, and finely chop), 1 egg, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, and 1-2 T milk. Mix well by hand, and form into 3-4 patties, depending on how big you like your burgers.