SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

So it's Super Bowl Sunday, and honestly, I could really care less. You see, friends, around here we are full force college football fans. Our Saturdays are filled with NCAA goodness..."Roll Tides" and "War Eagles" being shouted from the rooftops. So while I do love me some good football, I am just too exhausted to care about NFL after college season winds down.

BUT I love any excuse to cook and eat football food. If you remember, we have already had a football themed night, so this go around, we did NFL theme night. We had some creative stuff so be sure and check out the recipes below!!

I also love any excuse to gather around the table and talk, encourage, & pray with these sweet ladies:

L to R: Julie, Lindsey, April, Andrea, Brandi, Belinda, Shelly & Alison

But before we get to the recipes, I wanted to highlight a ministry project that we did this week:

One of our ladies has a long-time family friend who was recently widowed. Her husband of 65 years passed away unexpectedly and she has been going through a rough time dealing with that loss and grieving. 65 years, y'all... that's a long time!!

Another sweet lady in our group had a fabulous idea to send her a "BOX OF SUNSHINE" to cheer her up. So, of course, our wonderful group of ladies rallied around and each brought some yellow (or orange) items to include in this precious saint's "BOX OF SUNSHINE"

We had all KINDS of stuff like lotion, hand soap, a candle, journal, lip balm, vase with flowers, blanket, fuzzy socks with those awesome little grippies on the bottom, a photo magnet, loofahs, food items, word puzzles, peppermints, and more!!

I'm happy to report that our "BOX OF SUNSHINE" was a success!!! She loved it!

All right, so back to this delicious food...

Get ready to enjoy some of your favorite NFL football treats!!! Oh yeah... and go Patriots, Seahawks, Katy Perry, etc...  or something...


Food: Seattle Seafood Crab Dip
Team: Seattle Seahawks
Contributed by: Mallory

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
6 oz canned crab meat
Crackers

Combine cream cheese and mayo. Beat until creamy. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve with crackers.


Food: Cheeseburger Dip with Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Contributed by: Lindsey

1 lb ground beef
1 - 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 pkg Velveeta cheese
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 can Rotel tomatoes
2 cups shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Brown and drain ground beef. Add cream cheese, Velveeta, and Rotel. Cook over medium high heat until melted. Pour into a baking dish, cover with shredded cheese. Top with bacon and bake at 350F for 15 minutes until bubbly.


Food: Buffalo Chicken Ring
Team: Buffalo Bills
Contributed by: Andrea

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 - 8 oz block), softened
1/4 cup hot sauce
2 1/2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (1/2 in. pieces)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz)
2 cans (8 oz each) Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese

Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl, mix cream cheese and hot sauce until smooth. Mix in chicken and shredded cheese until just combined. Unroll both cans of dough; separate into 8 triangles with "points" facing outward and the base of the triangle forming a circle in the middle of the ungreased baking sheet (dough will overlap; half of each triangle will hang over edges of cookie sheet. dough ring should look like a sun). Spoon cream cheese mixture on the half of each triangle closest to center of ring. Top with blue cheese crumbles. Bring each dough triangle hanging over side of pan up over filling, tucking dough under bottom layer of dough to secure it. Repeat around ring until entire filling is enclosed (some filling might show a little). Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until dough is golden brown and thoroughly baked. Cool 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into serving slices.

Food: Buffalo Chips

Team: Another Buffalo Bills fan :)

Contributed by: Belinda 

2 cups thinly sliced red potatoes
2 tbsp Frank's buffalo sauce (or more if you prefer)
Blue cheese, ranch, or green onions, optional

Preheat oven to 425F. Place thinly sliced potatoes in a large plastic bag, drizzle with sauce, and shake well to coat all the potatoes. Place potatoes in a single layer on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes, flip over and bake an additional 3-5 minutes. Let cool and top with blue cheese, ranch, or green onions, if desired.


Food: Jambalaya
Team: New Orleans Saints
Contributed by: Alison

1/2 lb bacon
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 lb kielbasa sausage cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 1/4 cup chicken broth
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
Black pepper

Slice bacon into bite-sized pieces and brown in dutch oven until crisp. When done, remove bacon using small scoop and drain. Add onion, bell pepper, and rice to bacon drippings and cook for 8-10 minutes until rice is golden... stirring frequently. Add in chicken, sausage, broth and tomato sauce, black pepper, and stir. Place dutch oven in the microwave, covered, for 10 minutes. Then stir and add in bacon and microwave for an additional 5 minutes (make sure your dutch oven is microwave-safe. if it's not, just cook on the stove until done).


Food: Marshmallow fudge brownies
Team: Cleveland Browns
Contributed by: Julie

1 box brownie mix (PLUS additional ingredients required per the box instructions)
1/2 bag marshmallows
1 container of store bought chocolate icing

Bake brownies according to package directions. Immediately after removing from the oven, pour 1/2 bag of marshmallows on top then let cool. Heat chocolate icing in microwave and pour over top then let cool again. Cut and serve!


Food: Rotel dip
Team: Green Bay Packers (a.k.a. "Cheeseheads")
Contributed by: April

1 block Velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel
1 lb sausage
Tortilla chips

Brown and drain sausage. Add all ingredients into a crockpot and heat until melted and mixed well. Serve with tortilla chips.

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Tonight, I leave you with two things:

1. A sweet picture of my precious little Valentines

2. The Word of God
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Thank you Lord for your great love. Thank you for laying down your life for me so that I may have eternal life. I can never repay you or understand your pure, unconditional love for me. But I do pray that I can honor you with my life. In your name, Amen.