apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i need ideas for super bowl food! looking for something different from traditional SB fare (tater skins, wings), but still bite size and scrumptious. i was thinking of breaded/fried olives...

I think we're going to do up a big platter of nachos for the Super Bowl. Organic beans, good cheese, fresh avocado, fresh guajillo salsa, pico de gallo.

My husband recently had surgery so he's off solids for three weeks so this week some menu items have been a spicy butternut squash soup and using our new juicer we're combining oranges, ginger, banana and carrot (and sometimes adding a little vanilla yogurt..) it's been great who knew surgery could be so full of good foods!

Stuffed mushrooms! Yumm.

i'm totally in a rut with chicken. any exciting ideas?

We made way too many beef short ribs on Sunday... after the original dinner served with gorgonzola polenta, they turned into sandwiches with arugula, brie and caramelized shallots. Then tonight- chipotle tacos with avocado and jack cheese. I think we can do a stroganoff type pasta dish for tomorrow, then I will be off meat for a month or so!

Has anyone baked with those paper baking molds -loaf, souffle and muffin cups - you can buy at stores like Sur La Table? Need to make some fruit breads and cakes this weekend and have a sensitive oven? Can they stand up to heavy batter? Do you have to adjust baking time or temperature at all?

loois, your twists and turns on the extra short ribs sound delicious...in spite of the resulting "beef-over" when all is said and done!
This afternoon, it's a salad of wild mushrooms sautéed in olive oil then tossed with a bit of demi-glace. Topped with fresh arugula and shaves of parmesan cheese, I'm already wondering: Is it lunch yet?!?

thinkingwoman,
A household chicken favorite is chicken tonnato from Jacques Pépin's "Fast Food My Way". It's not necessarily exciting, but different and easy to make, plus you get a chicken vegetable soup at the same time.
http://www.kqed.org/w/jpfastfood/recipes7.html

thinkingwoman,

have you tried stuffing chicken breasts? You can cut a pocket into the thick end of the breast and stuff it with something good.

how about chicken thighs? one of my favorites is marinated and roasted chicken thighs with a bread salad (panzanella).

I would like to share a recent discovery courtesy of orangette:

parsley/almond pesto
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/01/like-charm.html#comments

So cheap, so quick, so healthy, so yummy, and... here's the kicker... my 4 year old eats it! It's like he doesn't even realize it's green! Plus he gets to operate the food processor, so for a change he's not yelling at me while I fix dinner.

Add some smoked salmon and goat cheese and it is good good stuff.