Pre-Game Day Game Plan

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

It is the Saturday before the Super Bowl and you head to the grocery store to do some pre-game shopping. Thinking you are ahead of the game with your Saturday morning shopping trip, you are shocked when you get to the store and find at least a hundred people are on your same game plan.

All the wings are gone but the frozen ones, which certainly won’t defrost in time for kickoff. The good chips are also gone and you are left to pick through the mangled packages searching for one that might not crumble in the face of a dip. And the soda and beer selections have been reduced to the brands you might not be surprised to find in a dilapidated convenience store. What’s worse, the lines to check out stretch back down the aisles, making your check out process take twice as long as the shopping itself.

Sound familiar? It seems every year we should learn our lesson and plan ahead for the Big Day and yet year after year most likely thousands of people find themselves picking through those same aisles and wasting time in that very same line.

There are ways to plan ahead for the Super Bowl feast without having to compromise all your favorite game day foods. Cooking ahead of time, planning dishes that won’t keep you cooking during the whole game, or even better, preparing recipes that require little to no actual cooking--with any of these you have yourself a game plan for a great and stress-free Super Bowl.

Preparation is Everything

Would a team make it to the Super Bowl if they hadn’t spent hours of their lives studying their opponent and mastering plays? Probably not, so do yourself a favor and prepare a little in advance. The fresh chicken wings might be sold out for days before the game, but chicken breasts will surely be around. Sauté or grill seasoned chicken ahead of time along with some pepper and onions. This can go in the refrigerator for a couple of days without losing any flavor.

Come game day, heat the oven and grate some cheese. During a commercial break, assemble chicken fajita quesadillas with the pre-cooked chicken, grated cheese and tortillas. Pop it in a hot oven for 5-7 minutes, most likely just enough time to catch the next round of commercials without you missing a second of the game.


Let the Dish Cook Itself

Nothing is more annoying than missing a big play because you had to check the grill and flip some burgers. This is when self heating cooking tools can be your best friend. There is a reason why a Crockpot full of chili has become a football classic: the pot does the cooking while you are freed up to watch the game.

Another self heating device rarely thought of in relation to football eats is the fondue pot. Some of the best loved dips out there are the hot kind. But what good is a hot artichoke dip or queso if you have to keep running back to the kitchen to reheat it? Dust off the old fondue pot and keep a hot dip hot, and yourself out of the kitchen, by firing up that old 70s classic.


Non-Cooking is the Best Cooking of All

When I suggest the non-cooking cooking method, this by no means suggests that you hit up the frozen food aisle or dial up the pizza guy. This means that some of the easiest, most stress-free party food can be made without ever turning on an oven or firing up the stove.

A variety of beans dips can be made with little more than a blender and some additional ingredients such as tahini, olive oil, and garlic for homemade hummus. Salsas may be easy to buy in the store but making salsa fresca with fresh chopped tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, lime juice, and cilantro is a five minute process, less time than you would spend standing in line to check out at the grocery store. For something a little fancier, but still simple and delicious, ceviche, a dish of fish or shellfish “cooked” in acid such as lime juice, is as simple as mixing ingredients in a bowl.

Like Christmas, the Super Bowl comes but once a year. You wouldn’t leave Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve so why wait until the day before game day to do your shopping for the Super Bowl? Plan ahead, prep in advance, let the cooking do itself or don’t “cook” at all. Your team might not be guaranteed a win but you will at least be sure to catch all the action with a stress-free Super Bowl menu and an ice cold beer in hand.

Serves/Makes: 30 wedges

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, diced
• 1 envelope (1.27 ounce size) fajita seasoning
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 10 burrito size flour tortillas
• 1 package (8 ounce size) shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 package (8 ounce size) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• sour cream
• salsa
• guacamole

Serves/Makes: 6

• 8 ounces dark Mexican beer such as Negro Modelo
• 1/2 pound cubed Monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 pound cubed Cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 chipotle chiles, minced
• tortilla chips
• vegetables