Super Bowl Treat #1 - Bread Bowls
I used this recipe from Chef in Training and let me tell you, buy a new, big bag of flour because you'll probably use the entire thing (I used all but 1 cup from a 5 lb. bag). If you don't want to make 12 bread bowls, cut the recipe in half.
First, combine the following: 5 cups of warm water, 1 packet of yeast (or 2T), and 2/3 cup of sugar. Wait until the yeast has started bubbling (about 10 minutes).
Next, add 2/3 cup of oil, 2 Tbsp. of salt, and 3 cups of flour and start mixin'!
Keep adding flour one cup at a time (no more than 14 cups) until it starts to pull away from the bowl. I ended up using 11 cups before eventually dumping it onto a table and kneading it repeatedly for 6 minutes. Make sure to constantly flour your table or it will stick to it. Not having a bread maker makes things a little more manual, but not impossible.
Break up the dough into 12 balls and put them on cookie sheets. I put down parchment paper first, just so the dough wouldn't stick to the bottom. Also, you're supposed to let them rise but it doesn't say for how long. I let them rise for two different amounts of time, 15 minutes for 6 rolls (top) and 30 minutes for the other 6 (bottom), and the longer you let them rise, the better. See how much a difference of 15 minutes can make?
Once they've risen, put them in the oven at 350 degrees. I ended up having them in there for 40 minutes, but the original recipe says 20-30 minutes. It depends on the size of your dough balls and your oven. Once they're done baking, ;et them cool, cut out a hole, scoop out the inside and pour in your soup, chili, etc. Need a good chili recipe? I used this one and it turned out amazing!
Super Bowl Treat #2 - Mozzarella Sticks
These were so easy to make and really good too! I used this recipe from Recipe Best. Take some string cheese and cut them in half. Next, in three separate bowls:
Bowl #1 - 1 cup of flour
Bowl #2 - 2 eggs and 2 T of milk
Bowl #3 - 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs and 1 cup of Italian bread crumbs
(I had 7 cheese sticks - 14 half sticks - and had SO much leftover flour, eggs, and bread crumbs that I easily could have cut the recipe in half and still had leftovers. So either buy a lot of string cheese or cut the recipe in half!)
Take a cut piece of cheese and first dip it in flour, then the egg mixture, then the bread crumbs and place it on a plate. Do this for all the pieces of cheese.
Next, put that plate in the freezer for 30 minutes, so the cheese has time to harden (and not melt in the oven).
While the cheese is in the freezer, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. After the 30 minutes, place the cheese sticks on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Take 2 Tablespoons of butter and drizzle the butter over the cheese sticks. Place the cheese sticks in the oven for 8-10 minutes (I had mine in there for 10 and they came out great, but every oven is different).
My apologies but this will be my first post where I can't include costs because all receipts were thrown out! First and last time that will happen, I assure you!
Bread Bowls
TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 1 hour, 45 minutes + 30 minutes to cool
EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5
This one is a little more difficult to make because it requires a lot of flour, a lot of kneading, and getting the bowls to be the same size is easier than it sounds.
Cheese Sticks
TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 1 hour
20 minutes to make
30 minutes to freeze
10 minutes to bake
EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
This would be a great activity to kids to help with, however it does get messy so either wear gloves or get ready to make a mess!
