Superbowl snacks: BBQ Chicken Sliders and Potato Skins

Recipes #9 and 10:  BBQ Chicken Sliders and Potato Skins

It's not a secret that I don't really care about football. Our team, the Panthers, finished last in the conference, so I tuned out long ago. But, what I do care about is food, especially football-watching food. I love the type of food eaten during games, aka "bar food." This includes the following: chicken wings, nachos, onion rings, potato skins, cheese fries, chili cheese dogs (yes, Tiff, I will eat a chili dog during a game), dips of all varieties, pizza, etc.

So, planning a Superbowl menu was a challenge, because I wanted to make/eat it all. Since it was just Matt and I, I had to limit it to a couple items, barbecue chicken sliders, potato skins, and margaritas (those were for me; Matt had beer).

I know I'm supposed to be using other people's recipes (and not my own) for the purpose of this blog, but calling the chicken sandwiches a recipe is a stretch--it's basically just chicken and sauce on a bun. So, here's my version. I always use Sweet Baby Ray's sauce, because it's my favorite.

BBQ Chicken Sliders
Ingredients:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts 
• 1 can of chicken broth
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp of "jarlic" (jarred garlic--feel free to use fresh if you want)
• 1 cup of barbecue sauce(or more, depending on your preferences)
• Dinner rolls, hamburger buns, or whatever you want to use to eat your meat

Directions:

Cook chicken breasts, broth, salt and pepper, and garlic in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. Drain liquid off chicken, and shred. Add BBQ sauce to your liking. Put on a roll/bun. Eat.

I basically follow the same recipe for pulled pork, but instead of broth I use a can of Coke. The acids in the Coke break down the pork and make it really tender, and the sugars caramelize and give it a nice sweet flavor. I haven't tried Coke on my chicken.

For the potato skins, I followed this recipe, and served them with ranch dressing instead of sour cream:
Potato Skins

For the margaritas, I followed the directions on the bottle of margarita mix (Costco brand).

Golden Gate Grilled Cheese

Recipe # 4:  Golden Gate Grilled Cheese

One of my favorite foods is grilled cheese. Actually, I love any combination of a carb + cheese: grilled cheese, nachos, quesoadillas, macaroni and cheese, potatoes au gratin, cheese fries, etc. I'm sort of a health freak.

So, when I saw this recipe I was naturally drawn to it. It is the illegitimate lovechild of two of my favorite foods, french toast and grilled cheese, with some recessive genes of turkey and avocado thrown in. Back when I first heard of  Monte Cristo Sandwiches, I have been dying to try one. It's basically a ham and cheese sandwich dipped in an egg batter (like french toast), then fried.

This sandwich was love at first bite. It has several of my favorite ingredients: sourdough, avocados, cheese, turkey and of course, butter. Matt gobbled up his sandwich before mine was even out of the pan, proclaiming that it deserved 9 out of 10 stars--a high rating from him.

The parmesan crust was very salty, but the nuttiness of the avocado balanced out the flavor. The only change I made was the addition of some red onions.

Next time, I'm going to add a strip (or three) of bacon. My only tip for this recipe is to use fresh parmesan; the crust has a starring role in this sandwich, and the stuff in the green canister just won't cut it. I got mine at Harmon's, a local grocery store here in Utah, which has an amazing selection of cheeses.

I recommend serving it with a bowl of tomato soup or a nice spinach salad.