IT'S SUPER BOWL TIME!

What’s the best thing about Super Bowl? The parties! The food! The commercials! The half time show! Oh, and, there’s a bunch of guys running around on a field, with a bunch of people freezing to death while watching them.

I have never been that much on football, but still, every year I look forward to being invited to a Super Bowl party. It’s always fun to have an excuse to stand around eating snacks, washing them down with craft beers, and chatting with people I don’t get to see very often. Everyone brings something that will be easy for them to make, and still rake in the complements, I’m no slouch in that department, and I love a compliment just as much as the next one, but alas, this year I will have to just dream about all those tasty snacks, no parties for me, but I won’t let that stop the snacks, or the craft beers. I’ll just have to have the Super Bowl party in my own living room this time.

Even though I do like to cook, I’m sure not going to go to a lot of trouble for a party where every flat surface in the kitchen and TV room of a friend’s house, is covered with some munchie or the other, talk about competition! What’s happening out there on the field is easy compared to this. Everybody wants to make something that will be a favorite, and disappear fast, so they don’t have to take home a plate of mangled leftovers to clean up. Yuck! No one wants to admit it; but a lot of consideration goes into these Super Bowl treats. Easy and delicious will be a win every time.

My surefire hit is a chip scoopable version of the ubiquitous buffalo chicken wings. In this dip a chicken is involved, but no wings, and no buffalo came to the party.

NO BUFFALO DIED, HOT AND SPICY DIP

Preheat the oven to 400° F

Prep time 10 minutes

Baking time about 20 minutes

Baking dish 11” X 9”

serves about 5 fast and greedy people, or 15 slow people

THE MAIN EVENT

Two 8 ounce packages cream cheese (softened)

Two tablespoons mayonnaise

Two tablespoons milk

One teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

One teaspoon hot sauce (any kind you like)

12 ounce bottle wing sauce (any kind you like)

One teaspoon garlic paste (from a tube) or ½ teaspoon granulated garlic

Two 12.5 ounce cans chicken (drained, reserve broth)

One 8 ounce package cheddar cheese, shredded

THE GARNISH

(Amounts and which ones are up to you)

5 ounces blue cheese crumbled

1 cup or less canned fried onions

Blue cheese dressing

Ranch dressing

celery sticks, if you must

good crunchy tortilla chips

WHAT TO DO WITH THIS STUFF

In a large bowl with a wooden spoon, beat the softened cream cheese with the mayonnaise, milk, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce, until it is creamy, there will be a few lumps, that’s OK. Take a small taste and adjust seasoning if you want. When the dish has baked, all the ingredients get along better, so keep that in mind as you taste.

Spread the cream cheese mixture in a baking dish that is about 11” X 9”. A cake pan is probably a bit too big, but if that is all you have, it will work fine. You don’t have to butter the pan, but if it makes you feel better, go ahead.

In the same bowl, mix the wing sauce and garlic until well blended, and add the drained chicken. Put a few spoonfuls of chicken broth in the wing sauce bottle, and shake to get out the last of the delicious sauce, no flavor should be left behind! Fold the chicken in, so it is still a bit chunky, blending in the cream cheese that is still in the bowl, and spread it evenly over the cream cheese mixture that is now in a baking dish. Cover the top of the chicken mixture evenly with the cheddar cheese, and bake uncovered for about 20 minutes. The time you bake all depends on the size of pan you used, everything in this dish is already cooked, you just want to get it all good and hot, and the cheese melted. So, check it once or twice to see how everything is getting along in there.

When the dip is all hot and a bit bubbly, take out of the oven and sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese, and the fried onions over the top. The fried onions are the kind in a can, usually next to the green beans in the grocery. It is not necessary to include the blue cheese crumbles, or the fried onions, but, if you do, you will be so glad you did.

Cover the baking dish with foil, wrap in a heavy towel, and take to the party. Serve bottled Ranch or Blue Cheese salad dressing on the side, with those good crunchy tortilla chips. You will need a large spoon so everyone can dish out what they want onto a plate, adding a drizzle ranch or blue cheese dressing if they like.

I don't need to tell you, but if your host is that kind, you can bake this in their oven, and it will be piping hot when served.