Sunday, SUNDAY, Sunday!

This year's Superbowl was a LOT calmer at our house than last year's. You see, we're Steeler fans, born and bred. So this time last year, I know I cooked. I believe there were pierogies and kielbasa involved, and I couldn't really say what else. I was drunk on Yuengling and polka and victory. This year, much as I'd love to see my team in the big game every year, I was fine with focusing on the food.

I offered to cook if my mom would host as she has the bigger house and the nicer tv. My sis supplied the beer and a few naughty hot appetizers. Mozzarella sticks aside, with both daughters getting married this year, pretty much the whole family is watching their weight, guys and ladies, so I knew I had to be smart about this traditional day of grazing and gorging oneself.

All week I was thinking I would make regional food for both teams. While it wasn't hard to come up with dishes for New Orleans, creole food is not exactly the healthiest. And as much as I tried, the best I could come up with for Indianapolis local cuisine was breaded pork tenderloin, which didn't seem to rise to the occasion of the greatest football game of the year. So, since our football loyalties lay with seeing a good game, rather than with either team, I thought, why should the food be any different?

Chips and dips are great for the early part of the game. You don't wanna pile on too much food

too fast, but you wanna lay something down to soak up the beer so you're not blitzed by half-time. Hungry Girl has much to say on the subject so I started with her Holy Moly Guacamole and Hungry Hungry Artichoke Hummus (no recipe, just nutrional info there). The guac replaces some of the deliciously creamy-but-caloric avocado with pureed early peas. I know what you're thinking. I find the trick with a lot of these HG recipes (which I am blatantly screwing up here) is to not tell people what's in them until AFTER they try it. Because it was DAMN good and everyone, including my anti-vegetable future-brother-in-law, loved it. The hummus was also a hit, especially with my fiance, The Captain, who is new to all things chickpea. Aside from being confused by its cold temperature (his first hummus experience was with a baked recipe), he dug it and didn't even remark on the artichokes, which I don't think he's ever voluntarily had. As with most courses, I like to mix it up, so I also threw in some sliced Fuji apples with HG's Fluffy Cinnamon Cream Cheese Dip. This was a great alternative to my traditional go-to sweet dip, Pumpkin Pie Dip, which is un-put-down-able, but has a ton of fat and sugar. The Cinnamon Dip was what I kept going back for and it's so easy to make and low-cal, I expect I'll keep some on hand on a regular basis for snacking. Perhaps even bring it to work to kill midday cravings.

While The Who rocked (or doddered about, I wasn't really paying attention), I cooked up the main course, which was a taste of summer barbeques in the dead of winter. Turkey sliders with baked beans and two more Hungry Girl dishes, I Can't Believe It's Not Potato Salad, and I Heart Apple Slaw. The slaw was easy and tasty, something I'd definitely make in the summer to take to party that wouldn't automatically get me slapped with the Party-Pooper-With-The-Healthy-Dish label. The "potato" salad was ill-named, as I very easily could believe it wasn't. After all, I made it, I saw how much cauliflower went into it and how there weren't any potatoes in it. The dressing tasted potato-salad-y enough, but the crunch of the cauliflower gave it away. I suppose it's partly that my microwave sucks and didn't steam it as much as it could have been, but I think potato salad is just one of those dishes not to be messed with. There's no real way to make a healthy substitute that tastes as good as the real thing. The sliders were pretty outstanding. When it comes to burgers, I have never done more than separate ground meat into lumps which get formed into patties, but I know greatness can be achieved by adding ingredients so I gave it a shot. A couple of eggs, handfuls of breadcrumbs, a chopped onion and a mess of chopped parsley later, to quote Samuel L Jackson, "That IS a tasty burger!" The dinner rolls I bought were a little too small and they burgers took a little work to cook evenly and thoroughly, without burning or drying out, but overall, it was a win.

Part way through the 4th quarter, my family looked at me with murder in their eyes as I opened one last tupperware container and plopped it on the coffee table. Hungry Girl strikes again, with Swirls Gone Wild Cheesecake Brownies.