Assemble!!

About a month ago, a movie that Nathanael and I had been looking forward to for a VERY long time FINALLY came to DVD/ Bluray- The Avengers!!! Yay!! We had watched all of the movies leading up to this one (I even did a Captain America themed movie night that I didn't take pictures of... *tears*), and had been anxiously anticipating the day that we'd be able to see The Avengers. If you think that's a little dramatic, you don't know us very well! ;) For an occasion so momentous, we could not, of course, just sit down and watch the movie... we had to have a whole evening planned around and devoted to viewing this cinematic masterpiece. ;)

Let me just tell you up front that I did spend quite a bit of time planning this, but on the day of the actually "party," my husband came home early from work (which was awesome!), so I abandoned some of the things  I had planned on doing as far as decorations, etc. go. Other things got done a little more sloppily than I would have liked. But, in the end I think it turned out great and it was tons of fun!

For dinner, I tried to come up with dishes that I could tie in to the characters from the Avengers. Here's what I came up with:

Pepper's Popper Popovers

I made these using this recipe from Kirbie Cravings. I just added some chopped up jalapenos to the batter to give them a little extra kick. I've made these several times now and have always been really happy with how they turn out- yummy!

Thor's Thunder Tea

Just regular sweet tea, but with a fancy Avengers name...

Captain America's Star Spangled Sliders 

These were BBQ chicken on little mini buns I made using this recipe. This is the same recipe I used for the mini hot dog buns for our football party. 

 Hulk SMASH'ed Potato Balls

I made these using this recipe from Forkful of Comfort. I added a little bit of broccoli into the balls- both for some green color, and also to try to make it a little healthier. I didn't love these like I thought I would, but I don't think it's the recipe's fault. I was in a hurry when I was making these, and I don't think I took enough time rolling them in the bread crumbs. When I tried to fry them, the bread crumbs all came off. They still tasted pretty good, though, just not crunchy like I imagined them.

Stark's Saucy Sundaes

These were just frozen yogurt with brownies and strawberry sauce... not hard or complicated, but still pretty yummy! :)

As far as decorations go, I just hung up some streamers in red, white, and blue. I also made some tissue paper poofs (very quickly, so they were sloppy), and little signs for the food telling what each dish was. The signs were much cooler on my computer, but our printer was running out of ink, so I ended up having to go over the letter with marker. Not cool, man, not cool.  I also hung up an Avengers poster, but I didn't post pictures of that because, well, it's just a poster...

Nathanael and I made sure to dress to go with the theme, as well. Nathanael has a Marvel tee that we found at a Goodwill in Indiana for $2 this last summer. The tee has most of the Avengers on it, so he just wore that. I didn't have anything, and didn't want to pay for a tee from Walmart, so I made my own- I cut the pieces for the Black Widow symbol out of felt, sewed them together, and sewed it onto an old tshirt I had. I think it turned out pretty cute!

The movie was really, really, really good! We loved it! We also had a really great time with the whole date part of the night. It's always a lot of fun for me to plan these things and come up with ideas on how to make them special! I'm so thankful I have a husband who enjoys my craziness! ;)

 

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... ;)