Are you ready? It’s only two days away.  Super Bowl XLV Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Greenbay Packers. Go Steelers!

The super bowl is a much anticipated family event in my house every year. Hubs is a huge football fan, I grew up in the South so football is just kind of a given and even though the boy is only 4, he has a decent understanding of the game already. The boy and the hubs have a great time whooping and hollering when our team scores and the boy likes to point to the helmets of our team through the entire game. It’s great fun.

Along with great fun goes..you guessed it..great food. But since we now have the girl too, I have precious little time to make a fancy football spread. So here’s what I have planned for this year:

French Bread Pizzas

Rotel Cheese Dip and Tortilla Chips

Football Shaped Iced Sugar Cookies per request by the boy

Here are the recipes I’ll use.

French Bread Pizza

1/2 loaf fresh french bread for each pizza

14 oz can diced tomato, garlic flavored

2 tbsp tomato sauce

Lots of shredded mozzerella and cheddar

Sliced pepperoni

Heat oven to 450 degrees

Heat up diced tomatoes and tomato sauce in a saucepan and add any other Italian spices you prefer

Sprinkle cheddar cheese on bread – thinly and toast for a few min in oven

Remove from oven and spread tomato sauce mixture on top of cheese

Top with mozzerella and pepperoni

Return to oven for 5-6 minutes or until cheese melts

Mom Calorie saving tip: Dig out all the bread from the crust before making your pizza for yourself. You’ll save about 100 -200 calories plus have a crunchier crust. You could also make yours on a low cal tortilla or flatbread. Using half the amount of cheese you use on the hubs is a major calorie saver too.  I’ll be loading my personal pizza up with whatever veggies I have around the house and leaving off the pepperoni too. And of course the boy will only eat cheese pizza.

Rotel Cheese Dip and Tortilla Chips

My mom used to make this when I was a kid and I thought she was a genius. She used to add cooked crumbled ground beef to it and pour the entire cheese/meat mixture over a plate of tortilla chips to make the most delicious nachos. I loved it when the chips would get all bendy and soft with cheese. Mmmmm. Comfort food.

I don’t make this for my family too often because honestly, using Velveeta cheese isn’t healthy…but it’s the super bowl so that fake cheese doesn’t count.

1 large box of Velveeta cheese

1 can Rotel – I use the original flavor but if you prefer spice it up with hotter stuff

1 bag of tortilla chips

You can either do this in a double broiler on the stove or throw it in a crockpot.

I’ll be doing mine crock style. Just throw cubed velveeta and Rotel in the pot..cook on high for two hours. Stirring occasionally.

Not only does it mess less pans, now I’ll have time to bake the cookies with the boy…and while making cookies doesn’t take that long..cleaning up the mess after baking with a 4 year old does. Precious memories right?

**You can do this in the microwave too if you need it sooner or don’t want to drag out any pans or the crock. I just don’t like that method..the cooking…the stopping…the stirring…over and over over..the cheese popping all over the microwave. Then once it gets cold its cold. In the crock it will stay warm through the entire game.

Mom Calorie Saving Tip: Instead of pouring yours over a huge plate of chips like the boys do..just put a tiny bit in a cup and dip your chips. Even better if you have time to toast your own low fat/low cal/ low carb tortillas to use. La Tortilla’s low carb brand has only 50 calories per tortilla.  Or if you wanna go really low cal and healthy…..skip the chips all together and dip some raw veggies!

Football Shaped Iced Cookies

1 box/bag sugar cookie mix made to directions for making cut out cookies

1 container chocolate frosting

2-3 tubes of white icing – the thinner the tube spout the better. If you are baking with a child like me..you may need more. They tend to squeeze out way too much icing.

Make your cookie batter following directions on pack….(I told ya’ll this is simple recipe website!)

I’m not a master baker and I don’t even have a rolling pin so I have to do it freestyle.

Roll out dough on floured surface with ideally a rolling pin. If you are a busy mom with a kitchen too tiny for extra things like giant rolling pins  like me..just run a tall drinking glass under warm water and use it as a rolling pin. Keeping the glass warm and floured through the process makes it a breeze.

Once you have dough rolled out nice and thin…let your kids use a football shaped cookie cutter and put each one two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Once your dough is all football-holey just roll it all up again and start over. By now your kids will be bored and you will most likely be alone in the kitchen. :side note – if you don’t have a football cutter just cute out oval shapes using sharp knife:

Bake cookies according to directions..cool and let the frosting madness begin. You should come out with something that looks something like this!