now I’m trying Windows Live Writer to blog, so hopefully that’ll help with some formatting issues. Thanks for letting me whine!
We took Nina for a hike this morning. While we were out, we ran (literally) into a trail race heading up the same mountain we were hiking. Those people are hard-core! It motivated me to work on my running. It’s a slow process.
As I mentioned yesterday, football is big around here. All season long, Mitch and his friends play Fantasy Football, and it pretty much consumes their lives. Just kidding (sorta). So needless to say, the Super Bowl is a very big day. Personally, I don’t care that much about the game, but I am rooting for the Cardinals, because I always love the underdog. Plus, you gotta love Kurt Warner for all his charity work.
Now it’s time to clean up and get ready for the day. Here’s the menu (plus what anyone else brings):
- Hummus and vegetables
- Light ranch dip and potato chips
- Fried cheese sticks (gross…but everyone else loves ‘em. I omit the salami)
- Tortilla chips with Mitch’s HOT homemade salsa (the best) and 6-layer dip (Costco)
- Honey BBQ Chicken Wings (Costco), grilled
- Sun-Dried Tomato and Ricotta Bruschetta
- Asian-style Lil Smokies (recipe below)
- Plus a stocked bar and my party staple, sangria!
No me ha dejado, Sangria
I found a recipe for sangria awhile back, and it’s the easiest and best drink to make for a party. For today, I tripled the recipe, using 1 cup of triple sec, 1/3 cup sugar, and these bottles of wine: 
Usually I do a blend of red wine varieties, but all I used today were cabs. The cheaper, the better for sangria wine. I juiced half my citrus fruits into the pitcher and sliced the rest: 
And once it’s all mixed in, it looks like this (note the liquor in the background. Costco booze is cheap, let me tell you!): 
It’s a lot, but it’ll be gone in a flash. And it’s not too unhealthy, I like to pretend (although I might need to add more sugar). Citrus fruit! Red Wine! It’s like green tea’s cooler older sister. Right…?
Recipe: Asian-style Lil Smokies
Note: these are not exactly health food. They’re just really good, and I’m proud of the recipe because I think it’s the only thing I’ve created all on my own, as opposed to taking other recipes and changing things here and there.
In a crock pot, mix together:
- 2 bottles sweet-and-sour sauce
- 2 or 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon chili-garlic paste
- 1/3 cup (or so) soy sauce
- sprinkle ground ginger
- Sriracha to taste (I add a lot)
- 2 packages beef smokies
Heat on low until hot, about 3 hours. Serve from the crock pot with toothpicks. Be careful as people start eating them, as it can get HOT (temperature-wise) towards the end of the batch.
Clearly, no one will go hungry or thirsty around here. Tomorrow, I’ll do a recap with more photos. I am taking tomorrow off work to recover, and my goal is to make it to yoga at soon to sweat out all the sins of today. It’s good to have goals, right?
(PSA from Momma Hallie: If you’re driving today, be careful on the roads! And always use a DD if you’re going to drink.)
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Wow, those look like good eats!
My mom and I LOVE sangria and always order some when we go out to a Mexican restaurant – never thought to make it at home!
Have fun! I too, am a football widow on Sundays during the football season. I don’t mind though – more FoodTV watching for me!
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[...] went well. We had so much food, it was insane. In addition to the food/drinks we prepared, our guests brought lots of beer, onion-cheese bread, a Costco pizza, and three kinds of artichoke [...]