Super Bowl Skillet Gathering

Our Super Bowl Skillet Gathering was held on February 1, 2009 and it was the perfect opportunity to focus on men and enjoy the Super Bowl! On the men’s team: a college student, a recent college graduate, two college professors, a construction and trucking contractor. On the ladies team: a doctor, a writer, an entrepreneur, a retiree, and Hot Pepper & Thyme. As usual, we outnumbered the men! Go Team Ladies! I (Thyme) digress and got a little carried away, excuse me.

During the course of our conversation, the men’s team let us know that they do cook. They are trying to get a balance between eating out and eating at home. They are interested in eating healthy but it’s hard due to work schedules. They expressed interest in cooking at home more often and cutting out fried foods. Even though the guys were there to watch the game, they knew they had to be engaged in a conversation about food. It turned out to be a lot of fun and was quite revealing for them and us.

Thyme: I hosted this Skillet Gathering in my home because of my love for men and sports. I chose a menu that would be appropriate for the occasion. Burgers and hot dogs are sports food, but to put a spin on it with mini burgers and hot dogs made them a little more “healthy”. Smaller portions of any food is better than supersizing your food. To make sure everyone had their veggies, I disguised them in the pasta salad (black beans, corn, red peppers, green peppers, onions, olives, green peas), and no one was the wiser. Then just in case they didn’t eat salad, everyone was encouraged to decorate their mini burgers with little tomato slices, little lettuce slices, and little slices of cheese. The mini burgers looked so cute when they were done up like that. Stay tuned for our next skillet gathering which will be held March 20th.

Menu
Appetizers
Pickled Okra
Chips & Salsa
Guacamole
Cheese & Crackers

Main Course
Green Salad
Pasta Salad
Lemon Pepper Wings
Mini Burgers (turkey & sirloin)
Mini Salmon Burgers
Mini Hotdogs
Condiment tray (lettuce, tomato, pickles, and cheese)

Beverages
Modela Negra
Citrus Punch

Inauguration Skillet Gathering - Some Additional Tidbits

We chose our menu because we wanted it to be healthy, colorful, and most of all, delicious. It was cold that day! But, Hot Pepper still ran in and out of the house to grill the chicken. To her surprise there was no barbecue sauce in the pantry. But you can’t keep a good cook down, so she whipped up some, “not on your neighborhood grocery shelf” barbecue sauces. This meant combining ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, hot sauce, garlic powder, a little red wine, and chili powder for the chicken. Not to be outdone, Thyme hooked up her version of barbecue sauce for the salmon. This meant combining chili powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, cumin, salt, and lemon zest. Needless to say, and not to brag, everyone licked all 10 of their fingers over our masterpieces.

Menu
Appetizers
Roasted garlic hummus & pita chips
Pickled Okra
Olive mix
Boursin Cheese & Crackers

Main Course
Barbecue Chicken
Barbecue Salmon
Green beans with garlic
Roasted Root Vegetables (turnips, butternut squash, and yams)
Roasted Peppers & Onions
Salad with Mandarin Oranges
Cornbread

Beverages
Sangria Punch
Juice
Modela Negro