Superbowl Snacks

I thought I was without a blog topic today when I remembered: I had threatened to blog about my Superbowl snacks.

I had purchased some fake crab meat with the intention of making cocktail sauce, heavy on the horseradish for my sinuses. Some prefer shrimp for such a purpose, and sometimes I do too. This was a crab meat kind of week — cheaper, perfectly tasty and actually a little easier on the stomach (seafood purists will please not make gagging noises; just repeat to yourself: to each his own, as the old lady said when she kissed the cow).

I use my mother’s cocktail sauce recipe, which I believe she got from this giant cookbook she has had since she was first married. I don’t know what the cookbook is called, because the first and last pages are long gone, but if I ever see one like it at a garage sale or used book store, I will buy it. It has everything! I could write a whole blog post just about that book (oh, there’s a good idea for the next time I’m stuck).

The other snack I made was a hot wing dip which I planned to serve with untoasted whole wheat pita wedges, to be softer on my still cracked tooth (as of Sunday; it’s fixed now). I got this recipe from a bottle of Frank’s Hot Sauce one morning a couple of months ago when we were having breakfast at Philly’s Breakfast House (just for a little local connection). I wrote it in my ever present notebook.

I did not cook with wine on Sunday, because I intended to drink beer later for sentimental reasons. My grandmother on my father’s side was always a big Giants fan, and she loved her beer. I remember many Sundays at Grandma’s house with Grandma enjoying a beer and rooting for the Giants. I was going to have a beer and root for the Giants in her memory.

However, I did cook with crime. It’s all very well to watch the Superbowl for Grandma, I did not care to watch the all day coverage (which I’m sure some people enjoyed very much). I knew Snapped was on Oxygen in the afternoon. A further perusal of the guide on digital cable showed me a few episodes of Dateline on ID on Investigation Discovery. Then I remembered Weekend Mysteries on HLN. I gasped with delight when I saw not one but two episodes of Dominick Dunne’s Power Privilege and Justice. I love that show!

So I watched crime and crocheted, then jumped up to cook during commercial breaks. It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon. I will include the recipes, in defiance of possible copyright laws, in case anyone is interested. The cocktail sauce recipe is jotted down in a notebook I bought at the Dollar Store in Augusta, GA in 2000 (seriously). I had a habit of calling Mom every time I wanted to make cocktail sauce and asking her to read me the recipe. Finally I put the by now fairly crappy notebook in with my recipe books. And now there is a page torn out of a recent notebook with the hot wing dip recipe joining it.

Cocktail Sauce

2 TBS horseradish
3/4 C ketchup
3 TBS chili sauce
2 TBS lemon juice
dash tabasco

No further instructions are written, but I’m sure you get the idea. I go heavy on the horseradish and tabasco (sometimes substituting whatever hot sauce I happen to have on hand), light on the lemon juice.

Hot Wing Dip

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C bleu cheese dressing
1/2 C hot sauce
1/2 C crumbled bleu cheese
2 C diced cooked chicken

Place cream cheese in deep dish, stir in other ingredients. 350 degrees for 20 minutes.