Superbowl party

Sunday was my first ever superbowl party! We had our friends Kelsey and Brandon over and Bea and Ivan.

 I tried out a bunch of recipes from the most recent issue of taste of home magazine.  The chocolate dream whoopie pies were my favorite. 

The frosting on the inside was like whipped chocolate butter and the outside cookie was soft and chewy.  It was basically like a big soft and creamy chocolate oreo.

Ingredients

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FILLING:
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
2/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

GARNISH:
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.

Drop by 2 tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes or until edges are set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

For filling, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat the shortening and butter until fluffy. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.
Spread chocolate filling on the bottoms of half of the cookies, about 2 tablespoons on each; top with remaining cookies. Roll sides in miniature chocolate chips for garnish. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: about 1 dozen.

 I also made foccacia bread that turned out excellent. 
 

 
 

Ingredients

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon each dried oregano, thyme and rosemary, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Dash pepper
2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon oil, salt, sugar, garlic powder, herbs, pepper and 1-1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).


Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.


Punch dough down. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape into a 13-in. x 9-in. rectangle; place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. With fingertips, make several dimples over top of dough.


Brush dough with remaining oil; arrange tomatoes over the top. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack. Yield: 1 loaf (12 pieces).


 Thomas made a rasberry fruit dip. 
 

1 8oz bar reduced fat cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 cup marshmallow fluff
3 tbsp sugar free seedless raspberry preserves
 
Combine all ingredients.  Blend thoroughly. Serve with fresh fruit.
 
And for drinks we had strawberry party punch.

I'm not going to post the recipe cause it wasn't that great.  But little Alex liked it.  That boy loves his "agua" he calls all drinks agua.

We also had velveeta cheese dip and chips, lil smokies, chex mex, and M&M's.  YUMMMM!!!!
To have enough room for everybody we brought out the futon from the extra bedroom so everybody would have a seat.

I love hanging with friends.  Thomas and I were going for the Packers and everybody else was for the Steelers (suckers :)

Saturday night I met Thomas in Idaho Falls after he got off work to play games at my old MTC companions apartment.  It was so nice to see her again, I haven't seen her in 3 1/2 years! And I got to meet her husband.  We played a fun game called Boxers or Briefs that is kind of like Apples to Apples. 
Such a fun weekend, it went by so fast!