Super Bowl party ideas: bonus recipe for Kristin's Mix

"the mix"

Are you hosting a Super Bowl party?  Are you taking something to someone's bash?  Are you hanging out with the family and wondering what to feed them?

We are watching the commercials and the Harbaugh brothers (will it be like watching Serena v Venus?  it might be, but the Ravens hate Indianapolis so we have to root against them) at a party in the hood hosted by Paula and Danny.  The two of them have party hosting down and we are looking forward to the abundance of delicious food and cold drinks (although today it's barely in the teens outside, so the cold drinks might be more like room temperature red wine).  So I am off the hook this year.  Not a lot of Super Bowl buzz this year after Indy hosted the event last year and the whole thing turned out pretty flawless.  So glad we spared our guests the bone chilling cold and had a crazy warm week instead.

I've rounded up a few favorites for you with handy little links. *Decided to throw in a bonus sweet and salty snack mix.  A throwback classic.  Scroll on through.  Have a great weekend!


Chipotle Shrimp Dip:  light and full of flavor with shrimp, cream cheese, chipotle peppers, red pepper, corn, cilantro, lime and a few other things.  Love it.

chipotle shrimp dip in a really small bowl, like I could eat this for a snack size

Roasted Filet of Beef:  go big and roast a nice beef tenderloin early in the day and serve it sliced for little sandwiches for the party.  Carnivores will love you.  Greg would tell you to remember a horseradish spread for the sandwiches.  There's a recipe for a homemade version included.  Or serve the sandwiches warm as sliders with some caramelized onions and maybe a little provolone or blue cheese.

Budweiser Italian Beef:  yep, bust out the slow cooker and crack open a bottle of Bud to add to your beef, onions, and pepperoncini peppers.

Slow Roasted Pork Tacos:  make a taco bar, do your regular ground beef thing and or this melt in your mouth pork with lime, salt, sour cream and corn tortillas.

Beef Barbacoa:  slow cooked beef with some seriously yummy mingling of spices.  Serve on a taco bar or serve with provolone on nice sub rolls.  Always a big hit.

beef barbacoa

Grilled Buffalo Shrimp with Blue Cheese Dip:  you love your friends.  Buy some good shrimp and treat them to something fabulous.

Guacamole:  duh.  My first post and still the one thing that is my claim to fame.  The key is excessive use of fresh lime juice and a little chunky texture.  This is my 227th post.  Really.  Number one was a good long while ago.

guacamole for a pig roast (that's 10 avocados)

Queso:  This is a tailgate classic.  Full of tomatoes, onions, chiles and of course cheese.  It's a Cooking Light recipe.

double batch of queso with guest stirrer, Kelly

And here's one for the sweet and salty people.  Our Alabama friends just call this "The Mix".  It's super addicting and really has no redeeming nutritional qualities.  It is old school.  A recipe from bunko and book club days.  Apparently there is a gourmet shop somewhere in North Carolina that sells this as "Kristin's Trail Mix"  because the owner got the recipe from one of my bunco friends here in Indiana.  I really need to ask her where my mix is sold and see if it's anywhere near Durham.  Definitely need my picture taken by it.  "Trail mix" is a stretch.  Pretty far from the GORP and other semi-nutritious blends.  


Kristin's Mix

12 oz. Crispix cereal
16 oz. dry roasted peanuts
16 oz. small pretzels
2 C packed brown sugar
1 C butter
1/2 C light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil.  Keep stirring and keep the mixture at a boil for 1 1/2 minutes.  In a large roasting pan, mix together Crispix, peanuts, and small pretzels.  Pour hot butter mixture over cereal mixture and stir together.  Bake for about 20 minutes, stirring 3-4 times.  Pour on waxed paper or parchment spread over your counter to cool.  You'll need about 2 baking sheets worth of parchment, this makes a big batch!

see all the good stuff in the pan?

caramelizing

ready to toss, note peanut free version

ready to bake

cooling on parchment

party ready