It's Superbowl Sunday, so What?

I grew up in Massachusetts during the sixties and seventies. For those of you who are sports fans, you will understand the Superbowl was never really a cause for "celebration".

My Dad had season tickets to the Patriots before anybody really wanted them! I can't recall just exactly how many December Sundays I spent freezing my butt off on cold metal benches at Schaefer Stadium watching Steve Grogan and the boys get tromped. Now THAT is a true fan!

Much to my mother's chagrin, my father bought a camper van specifically for tailgating in the parking lot before the home games in Foxboro. We lived in the Berkshires, so it was a hike going to and from the games. Those lucky enough to be granted a ticket for a particular week could plan on hitting the road several hours before game time.

"The Van", as it came to be known, had a small refrigerator, two cooking burners and even a small sink. My dad upgraded the closet section in the back to a bathroom by putting one of those portable toilets in there. That was a bonus, considering the number of beers that were consumed on these trips! He also put in a TV so we could watch the pregame show, and the post-game, too, while the traffic thinned out in the parking lot.

The standard fare for those Sunday lunches was frequently my father's version of steak sandwiches. He would fry up cube steak or sliced round steak, put it in a bulky roll, top it with cheese, and load grilled peppers and onions on top. There is nothing quite like eating in a parking lot full of rowdy football fans to make the food memorable! I will forever think of those sandwiches when I think of "tailgating". Unfortunately, we no longer have those tickets, and I am sure I could never afford the current ticket price!

Fast forward to the “Tom Brady years”. Suddenly being a New England fan is all the rage! Of course, many of those fans are fair weather fans who will move on to the next winning team, now that ole TB has moved on!

The upside of this turn around, is that suddenly, the Superbowl WAS worth celebrating! Now I had to step up my game day menu!

My new usual fare is simple because who wants to spend Superbowl Sunday in the kitchen? Even the commercials are worth watching! I stick with the basics: wings, nachos, and chili.

The wings are nothing fancy, I bake them in a hot oven (400 degrees) until they are nice and crispy. I sometimes drain off some of the fat toward the end of the cooking time to make them crispier. Once they are cooked, I melt a stick of butter, then add a cup of hot sauce to the pan. I put the wings into a large bowl, then pour the hot sauce mixture over them and toss the wings around.

The chili recipe is sometimes just off whatever spice kit I bought, but if I make it from scratch, a simple recipe is to brown a pound and a half of ground beef, drain the fat, then add a large jar of medium salsa and spice with chili powder to your liking. I use the chili to top the nachos.

For the nachos, I put a large amount of tortilla chips into a baking dish, top with some chili, diced tomatoes, peppers, onions, black olives, jalapenos and lots of cheese. Bake them in the hot oven until the cheese has melted and chips are browned. Serve with sour cream and salsa and guacamole if you like it!

So kick back, grab a bevy and munch on these easy snacks, while we New England fans cry in our beer…Enjoy!