Football Party

As you may or may not know, we are big Chicago Bears fans in this house. I mean BIG! Nathanael and I both love watching football, but because we just get the local channels on our TV, we don't always get to see all of the games. Fortunately, we have kind friends (Mike and Jenn Walker) who take pity on us and invite us over to their house to watch games with them.

Last night's game was a match-up between the Bears (our team!) and the Cowboys (Mike's team). I was a little nervous about if we'd still be friends after the game (kidding!), but everything turned out fine. ;) Especially since the Bears wiped the field with the Cowboys won. AND, we had some delicious food!! Jenn and I came up with the idea to make foods representing the respective teams (Chicago and Dallas), and everything turned out delicious!

I've included pictures and recipes for each "side":

CHICAGO:

For the Chicago food, I made mini Chicago dogs, mini deep dish pizzas, and Bears cupcakes:

For the mini dogs, I just used Lil' Smokies, and made the buns using this recipe. I found the idea through Pinterest on Oh Happy Day. The recipe calls for white flour, but I did add some wheat flour, just to make it a tiny bit healthier. I suppose these aren't real Chicago dogs because they don't have poppy seeds or all the condiments necessary for a true Chicago dog, but I thought they were cute- and yummy!

These are just regular cupcakes with little orange and blue flags on top... and Teddy Grahams :)

I'm pretty proud of my mini deep dish pizzas! I'm sure other people have done this before, but I actually came up with this myself! Yay me! ;) I used Grand Jr. biscuits, pressed them into muffin pans, put a chunk of mozzarella in the bottom (how's that for accurately measures quantities?), dropped a spoonful of pizza sauce on top, sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top and popped them into a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. They turned out pretty delicious, if I do say so myself! ;)

DALLAS:

Since Dallas is supposedly "America's team" (whatever!), Jenn made all- American comfort style food- mini pot pies and little apple pies with ice cream. I'm not usually a huge fan of pot pies, but these were delicious!! The crust was just the right thickness and the filling was really chicken-y (that's a real word, ok?). Good stuff!

I'll have to get Jenn's recipes from her- she used the same recipe to make the crust for both pies. Note: after checking her Pinterest board, I think maybe she used this recipe, but I'll doublecheck with her! :)

Oh, I HAVE to include this picture of my handsome husband... and our adorable puppy in her Bears scarf.... and Wyatt Walker in the background.... ;)

We had a great time & I'm so thankful the Walkers invited us over... and stayed friends with us after our team beat Mike's... not to rub it in or anything... ;)