Have you heard about this big football game that’s coming up next week?  It’s this once-a-year excuse to go all out, throw dietary caution to the wind and eat massive quantities of wings, dips and chips.  Or is that only at my house?  From what I understand, this is a nationwide phenomenon.  In case you are suffering from a last minute panic about what to make for the big game, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite football appropriate recipes, starting with this so-good-you’ll-want-to-eat-it-with-a-spoon onion dip.

I know that it’s so simple to grab a packet of powdery nothingness to whip up a batch of onion dip, but who is excited about telling their guests that the dip they are consuming at a furious pace came from a powder?  Astronauts eat food that comes from a powder.  Us earth dwellers should expect better.  This dip is so far beyond powder-based dips that you will never go back.  This takes traditional onion dip and cranks the volume up to Irrationally Good.  You may have to hide your spoons.

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I don’t think I can remember a time when some form of spinach artichoke dip didn’t appear on every restaurant menu.  It seems to have become a standard American pre-meal munchie, a quintessential appetizer.  Not that I mind.  Who doesn’t love the thought of eating something healthy (spinach and artichokes) wrapped in mounds of cheese, butter and heavy cream?

This recipe is a healthier version of the restaurant stand-by that you can feel good about serving to friends and family.  Instead of pounds of butter and heavy cream, this recipe uses reduced-fat sour cream and ricotta, plus it ads in some cannellini beans (my current favorite) which ups the fiber content.  Truly a perfect party dish, this guilt-free dip lets you save some calories for where it counts … dessert!

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Quick — Name the number one preconceived notion about turkey burgers … 3 … 2 … 1 … you said they are dry and have no flavor, right?  This ingenious recipe from Cook Yourself Thin is going to convert you into a lifetime turkey burger lover.  I promise.  I was never a big turkey burger fan because they generally tasted like dried out sawdust.  This recipe incorporates diced green chilies in the burgers which not only keep the burgers profoundly moist (even if you over cook them!) and but also give them a flavorful kick in the behind!

No joke, I’ve eaten these burgers three times in the last two weeks.  They are just that good!  When I was asked to whip up a recipe for an interview segment on WithJosh.com, these turkey burgers were the first thing that came to mind.  Yes, you read that right … an interview segment!  My first interview!  Cooking up the burgers was a blast and the best part was that we got to eat all the leftovers.

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Having never worked with leeks, I was always so intrigued to hear them described as “creamy” on cooking shows (ok, mostly Top Chef).  How can an over-sized scallion be creamy?  It seems counter intuitive, against nature, and frankly, unbelievable.  Thoroughly intrigued nonetheless, I began inspecting leek recipes for one to sufficiently spark my interest.  As someone who doesn’t eat a lot of cream-based soups, the idea of using this allegedly creamy vegetable to achieve a smooth soup base was very appealing.  Plus, I’ve been dying to try out the new immersion blender my boyfriend just bought me!

The most common pairing I came across was leeks and potatoes.  I generally try to avoid potatoes (they aren’t South Beach friendly!) and I wasn’t happy at the idea of wasting these creamy leeks in a mess of pureed potatoes.  After reviewing a couple different leek soup recipes, I decided to venture out on my own.  The resulting creating is a hybrid of a couple different recipes, with my own added twist.  I’m proud to report that the result was utterly delicious!!

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I have a confession to make.  I eat a lot of hummus.  The term ‘a lot’ probably doesn’t accurately depict the level of addiction I have to hummus.  I’m embarrassed to admit that there have been weeks where I’ve eaten nothing but hummus for dinner.  And lunch.  I practically buy it in bulk . . . yes, this clearly garners a variety of questioning looks from the grocery store employees when I deplete their entire stock of Tribe garlic hummus.

Perhaps the biggest problem of all is that I don’t see this hummus addiction as a problem!  Hummus is delicious, healthy, contains no weird chemicals or foreign substances and can stay in the fridge for weeks without going bad.  It is a perfect, no-effort required meal!

However, there are times when too much hummus is too much hummus.  My boyfriend’s mother recently asked me if I had ever made baba ganoush as an alternative to hummus.  I’ve eaten baba ganoush at various Middle Eastern restaurants but I had never ventured to make it myself.  Her suggestion inspired me to search around the internet for the easiest, tastiest, and most appealing baba ganoush recipe.  Success!

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We are major mushroom fans.  Sauteed mushrooms, stuffed mushrooms, sliced mushrooms all make frequent appearances in the kitchen.  It’s been so cold lately that I’ve been looking for more soup recipes and when I saw Kalyn’s Double Mushroom Soup I knew it would only be a matter weeks before I was making it myself.

The trickiest part was locating the dried mushrooms. Not a single employee at our decent-sized grocery store could say whether they carried dried mushrooms and if they did where they would be located. Luckily, I have an extremely patient boyfriend who searched high and low until finding a box of dried porcini mushrooms.  I had never worked with dried mushrooms before but was pleasantly surprised to find that the rehydration process was painless and they added a nice extra mushroom-y dimension to the soup.

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I had never tried spaghetti squash until a few months ago.  In a quest to find a healthier “pasta substitute” last fall, I stumbled upon several recipes calling for spaghetti squash in place of traditional pasta noodles.  To be honest, I’m fairly certain I had to Google a picture before going to the store to make sure I grabbed the right type of squash.  Even still, I’m pretty sure I nearly bough a butternut squash instead.

My initial intention was to transform this non-pasta item into a mac and cheese dish.  However, as I began working with the squash I decided to abort the mission and instead of trying to make it something it wasn’t (pasta) and make it delicious as itself!  I would caution people that want to use spaghetti squash in a dish that calls for marinara or red sauce (or some other traditional pasta dish).  The squash has a distinct flavor that I think would likely clash with the red sauce.  That being said, when you accept that it’s not pasta, it’s never going to be pasta, and begin working with flavors that compliment the nuttiness of the squash, it’s truly delightful.

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