Potato Skin Bites

Now that we know who will be facing off in the Super Bowl, we can turn our attention to more important game day matters- The Menu!

Let’s be real, Super Bowl Sunday is as much about game day eats as it is about the touchdowns and tackles on the field.

A friend of ours made this incredible little potato skin bites at a party over the summer, and I knew that they would be perfect with a big pot of chili for game day.

Typically, potato skins are kind of a pain to make and to eat. You bake the potato. You hollow out the potato. You fill the potato. You bake the potato again. Then you go to pop one and they really aren’t a poppable snack. They’re a two-three biter, and may even require a knife and fork. That’s why these little guys are perfect for the game. They’re as poppable as potato chips but a million times better.

Super easy to make too!

You will need

  • 4-5 baking potatoes (I made two cookie sheets worth of potato skin bites from this)
  • 1 stick of butter, melted
  • shredded cheddar cheese (or monterey jack)
  • scallion, sliced thinly
  • bacon bits

Preheat oven to 400.

Cover baking sheets in foil.

Take your washed potatoes and start slicing them into 1/4 inch rounds.

Take each slice and dunk it into the melted butter.

Place the butter-dunked potato on the cookie sheet.

Continue until all the potatoes have been dunked in butter.

Pop in the 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, flip, then bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the golden brown potatoes from the oven and top each slice with cheese, scallions and bacon bits.

The cheese almost immediately starts melting into the potato.

Place the cookie sheets back in the oven for about 3-4 minutes, just so the cheese melts into the potato.

I made these at a party recently as a test run for game day. Good thing I snagged one when they came out of the oven before putting them out because they were gone almost instantly.

 

Veggie Quesadilla

We make tacos a lot in our house.

Usually once a week.

They’re easy. They’re versatile. And they can be made to be relatively healthy if you load ’em up with veggies.

As much as I love tacos, I kind of wanted to do something different.

Since it’s football season, I also wanted to do something that was a little more couch friendly and had a little more of a bar food vibe.

Quesadillas. Bingo.

Cheesy. Handheld. Packed with veggies. Satisfies the need for a healthy dinner that’s also Monday night Football friendly.

You can use a different combination of vegetables. You could also add, say, some shredded rotisserrieĀ chicken or even leftover slices of steak if you wanted to add meat.

Here’s what I used for the filling:

  • Two green bell peppers, julienned
  • Two poblano peppers, julienned
  • One onion, julienned
  • One can of black beans, rinsed and drained
  • One can of corn, rinsed and drained
  • White button mushrooms, sliced

You will also need tortillas, taco seasoning and Mexican cheese blend. You can also add fixin’s like sour cream, salsa and guacamole.

You’re going to want to use a fairly large skillet for this.

Start with vegetable oil or avocado oil (I love this Avocado Oil from Thrive Market)

Add your peppers and onion to the pan and saute until soft.

When the peppers and the onion have softened, add the mushrooms.

Mushrooms are super absorbent so you may need to add more oil. Be sure to stir so everythign cooks evenly.

When the mushrooms have browned, toss in the beans and corn and add your favorite taco seasoning. Or add your own blend of seasonings and spices.

Give everything a stir and let it come together for a few minutes.

In the meantime, let’s get the Quesadilla assembly started.

Line a pan with foil. This is going under the broiler, so use a pan that can stand up to the broiler.

Lay down two tortillas and add a hefty layer of cheese.

Spoon on your veggie mixture

And add more cheese

Pop this under the broiler for a few minutes, until the cheese melts. Do not walk away from the oven. This goes from perfectly melted to burned rather quickly.

Add another tortilla on top and get into fourths. Quesdaillas cut into fourths is a requirement. I don’t even think you can call them quesadillas unless they’re cut into triangles.

Add whatever toppings you like. Guacamole, salsa and sour cream were our toppings of choice.

This amount of mixture ended up making four quesadillas, so for us that translated into two nights of dinners from one pan!