Football Party - lots of yummy goodies!

My husband and I are huge Browns fans - feel sorry for us =) even we they stink (which is always) we still love them. So for the past two years we have had a kick off the season party. Although the Browns were a huge disappointment yesterday the party was a hit!

Our menu was:
Root beer BBQ pulled pork
buffalo chicken dip served with crackers
chili puffs
pepper cheese puffs
deviled eggs
chips and dip
sugar cookies
checker board cake

Everything turned out very yummy!! Here are the recipes

Root beer BBQ pulled Pork - sorry no picture of this one
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

Directions:
Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.
*modifications - I only used a 1.7# pork loin and still find that it takes a little more than 1 bottle to get it as BBQ-ey as I like
I cooked on high for 4 hours drained, shredded, stirred in BBQ sauce. Then just kept it in the crock pot all day on warm for the party and it stayed perfect.


Buffalo Chicken Dip

4 boiled chicken breasts, shredded
1 cup Franks Red Hot
1 cup Ranch Salad Dressing
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
16 oz Cream Cheese
Mix all ingredients, bake at 325 for 40 minutes. Serve with celery and tortilla chips.

Pepper Cheese Cocktail Puffs
(Source: Quick & Easy Appetizers - Best recipes)


2 pkg frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 egg
1 tbs water

1. preheat oven to 4oo. Grease baking sheets
2. roll out 1 sheet puff pastry dough on well floured surface to 14/10 inch rectangle. Spread 1/2 of dough (from 10 in side) with mustard. Sprinkle with cheese and pepper. Fold dough over filling; roll gently to seal edges.
3. cut lengthwise into 3 strips; cut each strip diagonally into 1 1/2 in pcs. Place on prepared baking sheets. Beat egg and water in small bowl; brush onto appetizers.
4. Bake appetizers 12 to 15 min or until puffed and deep golden brown. Remove from baking sheets to wire rack; cool.
Makes about 20 appetizers

*Modifications - I did not measure my mustard and pretty sure I used a lot more than 1tbs. i just spread so it looked like a nice layer.

These were very easy to make and Steve said they tasted like a cheeze-it

Chili Puffs
(Source: Quick & Easy Appetizers - Best recipes)



1 halved this recipe but I will write as it was originally written

1 pkg puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 can (15 oz) chili without beans
1/2 package (4 ounces, softened) - although I just realized that I didn't 1/2 this and they tasted good - so maybe if you make a full recipe you should use 8 oz?
1/2 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
sliced green onion or chopped red onion (optional) I didn't use

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. roll each sheet of puff pastry into an 18 x 9 inc rectangle on lightly floured surface. Cut rectangle onto 18 (3 inch) squares. Press dough into bottom of 36 mini (1 3/4 inch) muffin pan cups. Bake 10 min
3. combine chili and cream cheese in medium bowl until smooth. Fill each pastry shell with 2 tsp chili mixture, pressing down centers of pastry to fill. Top evenly with cheese.
4. bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges of pastry are golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes remove from pan and garnish with onion if desired.
Makes 36 puffs.

These were very good - better than I thought actually and they still tasted fine at room temperature.


Football Deviled eggs -


I must say that these turned out great - they were too cute! A bit of a pain in the butt to place the chives but worth it.

Prepare deviled eggs and then place chives to make them resemble a football. I found that if you used a toothpick and stuck it in the chive you could place them a bit easier. After I had them all placed I would lay the tooth pic length wise and press it down to make it all stay.

Super Sugar Cookies


COOKIES:
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Cream margarine and sugar well.
2. Add vanilla and eggs; combine well.
3. In separate bowl, sift the baking powder, salt and flour. Add to wet ingredients slowly until thoroughly combined.
4. Cookie dough must be chilled until firm, or overnight.
5. Remove dough from fridge and roll out to a 1/4-inch thickness.
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
7. With cookie cutters or rim of drinking glass, cut out cookies.
8. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, depending on oven. Check often to prevent over cooking or burning. Cool on baking rack when done.
9. Meanwhile, prepare frosting

FROSTING

1 teaspoon real vanilla
1 stick real butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon cream or whole milk

10. Cream butter, milk and vanilla together.
11. Slowly add powdered sugar to butter until desired consistency. If you'd like, add liquid food coloring for festive cookies
**I added a little to make it a bit more milk spreadable
12. When cookies are cooled, slather this heavenly frosting. Decorate however your little heart desires!

Checker board cake - I am sad to say that I in no way made this cake from scratch- it was a boxed chocolate and white white cake mix (that I turned orange with the magic of food coloring) and even store bought frosting - I just had way to many other things to do to make the cake from scratch but it is too cute to not share. This is "supposed" to be a 3 layer checker board cake, but it turned into a 2 layer when the top cracked and slid off the top - oh well, it still tasted good and no one else knew the difference. Nice touch with the brown and orange in there too - my mother-in-law was very impressed =)

Bad pictures - but you get the point!!!!