Though I haven’t always been a football fan, I do have many years experience of watching the Super Bowl. I’ll admit that early on it was more about the commercials and choosing to cheer for a team based on their uniform, but over the years it’s grown to be more than that.
Go Broncos, Go Niners
My peak Super Bowl fandom has come in recent years with the Broncos’ success. There was something about living in Downtown Denver, a block away from the stadium, and feeling a togetherness with everyone else, bonding over Peyton Manning’s dad-like personality and Von Miller’s sacking skills and knowing what it’s like to win, over and over.
These days, I’m a little less involved, though I still play fantasy football and I’ll peer up at the screen every once in a while when the Broncos play, even if it’s disappointing. However, this year I have been incredibly invested in the 49ers. George Kittle, their rising talented tight end, is my cousin’s childhood best friend. I’ve grown up hearing his name, and it’s totally cool and surreal to hear the attention he’s been getting.
So, this year, it was all about cheering for the Niners. Even with their loss, it was fun to cheer for George, see former Bronco Emmanuel Sanders on the field, sip some beer, and most importantly, enjoy some delicious food.
What We Brought
Now to the true meat and potatoes: Chad and I were able to watch the Super Bowl with some buddies, and we came prepared. We chose to make two easy recipes: spinach puffs and garlic knots. They were bread-oriented and delicious, and also fun to make.
Garlic Knots
This quick, super easy, and delicious recipe is heavily inspired by one version found on tastyoven.com
- 2 packages Pizza Dough
- 12 tbsp Butter
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Parsley
- Parmesan Cheese (optional) (To taste)
- Pizza Sauce (optional) (For dipping sauce)
Preheat oven to 375°, grease baking sheet
Roll out pizza dough, cut each package into 24 pieces. Tie each into a small knot, and place onto the greased cookie sheet
Bake for 6 – 8 minutes. For larger sized knots, bake for 10 – 12. Bake until they're golden brown
While the knots are baking, prep the butter wash. Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan on the stove, add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Remove from heat, then add in the salt and parsley. Stir to combine
Lather each of the garlic knots with plenty of the butter mix, completely covering all sides (except for the bottom). Top with sprinkled Parmesan, serve with slightly heated pizza sauce on the side, and enjoy
Check out the original recipe over at tastyoven.com/easy-garlic-knots-party-finger-food-catering-alternative
Spinach Puffs
Based on Binging with Babbish's recipe, these spinach puffs are inspired by the Kronk's creation in the Emperor's New Groove. They are delicious, straight forward, and just a little gourmet.
- 2.5 cups spinach, roughly chopped (roughly chopped; you can include stems or cut them off)
- 1 shallot, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- olive oil
- pinch salt
- pepper (to taste)
- 2 eggs, separated
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- 3 oz Parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1 packet puff pastry (found in the frozen section. alternatively, you can make your own puff pastry from scratch, but that makes this entire recipe 100 times harder)
Rinse and chop spinach into bite-sized pieces. Next, finely mince the shallot.
Heat a pan with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallot, cook for about 2 minutes, then add the garlic. Sauté for about 30 seconds.
Add the spinach and a pinch of salt and cook down. Add some fresh pepper. Remove from heat, set aside.
Combine your cream cheese with the feta and Parm in a mixing bowl. Then, add the cooked spinach mixture and one egg yolk. Stir to combine.
Preheat the oven to 450°F
Flour your work surface and place your puff pastry on top. Using a rolling pin, lightly roll out to take out the creases. Next, cut the puff pastry into 3 – 4 inch squares and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Add about 2 tbsp of the mixture to each square of puff pastry. Beat one egg in a separate bowl and use that egg wash to brush two edges of the puff pastry. Crimp the egg washed sides together, which will help to hold things together in the oven. Do this for all of your pastries.
Optional: Place entire baking sheet in fridge for 10 minutes
Use the rest of the egg wash and douse each pastry. Cover the top and sides completely.
Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at 10 minutes. (Note: ours only needed about 12 minutes total, so keep an eye out and consider your own oven characteristics. Ours is super powerful.)
Cool on a wire rack. Serve and enjoy!
Check out the original recipe over at www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/spinachpuffs.
Event Highlights
Though the game was a little slow (the teams were evenly matched, so there weren’t a lot of big, exciting plays until the end), I really enjoyed the half time show and several of the commercials.
First and foremost, Shakira and J-Lo stunned with their mashups of classic hits and Latin-inspired moves. I was so impressed by their beauty, talent, and show-stopping abilities. Plus, there was some moving imagery throughout, especially when kids were singing in cage-like structures. #KidsDon’tBelongInCages
On the commercial front, I highly enjoyed the following:
If you missed any of the commercials, you can check out the full roster here.
How did your Super Bowl Sunday go? Did you make any delicious treats? What were your favorite commercials? Did your team win? Let me know in the comments below.
Both of those recipes look delicious, and I’d overload them with garlic and spinach because too much is never enough!
You can never go wrong with excess garlic or spinach!
The reason I’m not a good baker is you have to be precise when baking, but I cook with “jazz hands” – always more of what I love goes in!
My husband is exactly the same, whereas I am the type that will anxiously reread the instructions dozens of times to make sure I get the correct measurements. I gotta say, the jazz hands method is more fun!
Yes its fun but a disaster when baking! I am going to try and see if I can make a olive loaf correctly…wish me luck!
Best of luck to you—that sounds delicious!!
Those garlic knots seem promising …
So delicious! They were gone pretty quickly.
Hello! This is Kristina from Tasty Oven, the inspiration for your garlic knots recipe for Super Bowl. I am so glad you loved how easy and delicious they were. They’re super easy. I make them all the time!
Any way, thanks for shouting me out! I hope that you’ll be back for more!
Thank you so much for your comment! They were absolutely delicious and easy for sure.