Football Party Food! - Handmade in the Heartland

I can think of a lot of things I would rather do than watch a football game, it’s just not high on my “let’s do that for fun” list. However, inviting friends over and having a party for said football game watching is up way higher on that fun list. If I’m going to watch a game, I’d rather do it with friends around, because let’s be honest, then I get to just chat and not really watch the game at all. Hosting may seem daunting to you, but I’ll show you today that you can pull off a fun football party with less effort than you think. I’ve partnered with Farm Rich to bring you some delicious party food. I believe in making your life easier and jazzing things up. Farm Rich brings you delicious ready-to-bake in the oven appetizers that everyone will love, and if you pair them with delicious from scratch sauces, dips and desserts, you’ve got a spread that’s a total winner. You can see several other recipes for an easy game day spread on Kitchen Daily.

For this party I wanted to make the table mimic the football field so I bought a piece of green fabric at Walmart and white duct tape. Its the most simple way to decorate your table for a football watch party, just take your duct tape and place it over the center of the table and then cut either side in half again with another piece of tape. If you want to be really fancy cut out some vinyl numbers “50” and “40” to put on either side of the pieces of tape! So easy and it make such nice base for this party.

The banner was very fun to make, it’s a circuit explore project that of course takes no time at all because that machine is ahhhmazing! I’ll be putting up a step-by-step tutorial later this week on how to make that guy.

This mexican corn salad is seriously delicious and how cute is it served up in little baking cups?!

Let’s talk about the most important part of any party- the food. The Farm Rich jalapeño bites and mozzarella sticks are delicious nice and crisp on the outside with ooey gooey goodness on the inside. I thought it would be nice to make a bean dip to go with them. This spicy black bean dip is not for the faint of heart, seriously, it’s pretty hot. The hot factor comes from the chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, so add less or very little if you’re not a fan of the heat, or just get out of the kitchen. 😉

The meatballs, oh the meatballs! Who doesn’t love a delicious meatball?! I have made my own meatballs from scratch many a time, but let me tell you, I might be cutting this corner more often with these guys. They taste so good that my 3 year old kept sneaking his little hand up on the counter and popping them in his mouth and that was before I put the sauce on them! This sauce is tangy guys, so perfectly sweet and sour, it takes some time to make so do it the night before your party or the morning of, just make sure to let it simmer the entire 45 minutes.

Chicken wings are kind of a necessary for the guys, right? I would much rather bake these babies than pay for takeout wings, they taste delicious and of course, all the men will be happy. Farm Rich carries a boneless chicken wing and regular wings with buffalo sauce and a BBQ sauce.

How do you pull a party together and make it look more magazine worthy and less homemade? In my opinion the secret is all in the details and specifically the colors. Here’s my party planning tip- pick a color scheme and try your best to stick with it, with everything that will be out. Because I wasn’t going for a specific team I chose green, black and white, I picked up paper goods in those colors as well as matching a tablecloth and serving plates. White dishes are a godsend because they go with pretty much every color scheme and food looks great on them.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match- I used stripe plates as well as black and white football helmet plates, black and white napkins as well as green and white. Paper goods might seem like they don’t matter but I think fun color coordinating pieces make a huge impact on the table.

Tablecloths are also a big impact low cost element to the party table, I always purchase a piece of fabric that coordinates my party, sometimes its a solid and other times its a print. Honestly you don’t even have to hem it and make it “finished”. No one will notice if your tablecloth has raw edges, they will however notice the difference it makes on your party table!

Sweet and Sour Meatball Sauce
Ingredients

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan mix all the ingredients together and bring to a bowl over medium-high heat. Let boil for a minute or so and then reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 30-45 minutes, stir it every so often. The sauce will become thick and the vinegar will loose a little of its bite.

2. Once the sauce is done pour it over your already cooked Farm Rich original meatballs and serve.

Spicy Black Bean Dip
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 15oz cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce (from the can), diced small
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until translucent about 5 minutes. Add black beans, garlic, chili powder, a little bit of salt and pepper, chilis in adobo sauce & 3/4 cup of water. Cook until liquid reduces about half.

2. Transfer bean mixture to a food processor or blender and add apple cider vinegar. Blend until smooth. Let cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a large bowl. Top with some shredded cheese if you want!

Compensation for this post was provided by Farm Rich via AOL Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Farm Rich or AOL.