Game day entertaining

It’s the biggest sports day of the year – are you ready for the Big Game? It’s time to grab a few of your favorite sports fans and get ready to party on Sunday.
The Big Game is great excuse to enjoy some casual winter entertaining. Classic commercials, historic plays and close company are all quintessential elements to the perfect game-day get-together. The biggest obstacle for many Super Sunday shindigs is how to best tackle the menu. Ideal dishes need to be finger-friendly, universally appealing and well suited to feeding hungry groups.
Here are ways to sidelining game day stress, as well as some recipe ideas guaranteed to be the MVP of your party planning playbook:
Game Plan Greatness: Plan ahead and prepare as much of the food as possible before the blitzing begins, so you don’t have to miss any of the pre-game fun shut-out in the kitchen.
Supe-up Team Spirit: Use colorful team jerseys, posters and pennants to create a festive field of decorations. Build a little friendly rivalry by decorating one side of the room for each team, or line table tops with green turf in place of coasters and table clothes. Have fans sit on whichever side represents the team they’re rooting for. Start that friendly rivalry going the second your guests walk in the door and you’re sure to have a lively crowd from the very beginning.

Give the fans at your party another way to express their passion for the game and their team. Pick up a couple of soft foam footballs that can be hurled at opposing fans at the party when a big play is made.
Got a printer and a package or two of plain white t-shirts? Create a custom t-shirt commemorating your party using iron-transfer paper. Better yet, create two – one cheering on one team, one for the other. Everyone will love to have a souvenir of the day.
Stock Your Roster With Reserves: Game day parties bring hungry crowds, so when planning for food quantities, think big to avoid a grocery store rush at fourth quarter. In addition to your starting line-up of dishes, you may also want to consider preparing items that you don’t bring out until half-time.
Avoid Penalties, Safety First: Make sure to offer a variety of “mocktails” (non-alcoholic beverages) for kids and designated drivers.
Be Replay Ready: Set up your digital video recorder the night before the Big Game so you can be sure to capture close calls and commercials for a second look or laugh.
Simplify The Sideline Set-up: To save time and money, choose hearty shareable favorites, bowl dips and finger foods.

Touchdown Italian Sausage Chili
1 package (19.76 ounces) Italian sausage links
1 cup onion, chopped
3 celery ribs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large sweet red pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) Italian recipe stewed tomatoes
1 can (16 ounces) dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 ounces) butter beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
3/4 cup black olives, sliced
1/4 cup cream sherry (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons baking cocoa
1/2 to 1 teaspoon pepper

1. Grill Italian sausage according to package directions; cut into half moon slices and set aside.
2. In soup kettle, saute onion, celery, sweet pepper and garlic in oil until tender. Add sausage and remaining ingredients; bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until flavors are blended.
Sprinkle chili with grated Asiago, Romano or Parmesan cheese before
serving.Makes 12 servings.

Cheeseburger Bowl Dip
2 16-ounce loaves King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Bread (or other type of round bread)
1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey), cooked and drained
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
24 ounces American cheese
7 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup peeled cooked tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/3 cup hamburger dill slices, chopped
Thousand Island salad dressing

1. Carve out center core of bread within two inches of bottom and sides, keeping bread intact.
2. Cut reserved bread and other loaf into 1-inch cubes for dipping.
3. Cook ground beef, season with seasoning salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cut American cheese into chunks and add to cooked beef and stir until melted.
5. Add crumbled bacon and diced tomatoes, stir to mix well.
6. Spoon warm mixture into carved bread bowl.
7. Top with red onion and pickles (to taste). Drizzle with Thousand Island dressing (if desired).