One cold February night, let’s say in 2013, my roommate and I had some people over to watch the Super Bowl. Among those attending was a girl I was considering liking who was a vegetarian, so I set myself to the challenge of making all vegetarian foods that didn’t taste gross or sacrifice in flavor. Thinking it was going to be a difficult task, I asked myself what are regular Super Bowl foods, and how can I make them from foods without a soul? It was surprisingly easy.
Fortunately for this blog, all of the foods had some kind of cheese in them. And fortunately for me, I did not make everything from scratch. On the menu were pizza, hot wings, meatball subs, and nachos.
Pizza
For the pizza, I used a store-bought crust, homemade sauce (recipe below), and freshly-grated mozzarella, then covered it with thinly-sliced onions, green peppers, and black olives, then cooked it until it was brown and bubbly. Easy enough, but also the weakest of the Super Bowl foods. It gets better.
Wings
For the wings, I cooked Gardein brand crispy tenders (texture and taste similar to baseball guts, but altogether not disgusting) according to the package directions, then tossed them in the following ingredients warmed together on the stove top, and served with celery and blue cheese dressing.
- 1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot Original sauce
- 1/3 cup butter
- 2 cloves garlic (or up to 6), minced
With the garlicky hot sauce, they were so good I lost my voice during most of the third quarter.
Meatball Subs
For the meatball subs, I prepared some marinara sauce (also used on the pizza, recipe below), and tumbled in some Gardein brand meatless meatballs (also surprisingly good). Once the meatballs were warmed, I hollowed out some sub rolls, lined one side with provolone cheese, dropped on a couple of meatballs and sauce, then wrapped the whole sub in aluminum foil and kept them warm in the oven until the cheese was melted and gooey. These were so good the power went out at the Superdome during part of the game.
Marinara Sauce
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1-3 splashes of red wine
- 1 28 oz. can of Redpack crushed tomatoes
- salt and pepper
- 1 handful of fresh parsley, chopped
In a large pan, cook the onions until they are translucent, maybe 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the red wine and cook until it has reduced, maybe 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper, and parsley and cook for another 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt if necessary.
Nachos
For the nachos, on a large sheet tray, I arranged tortilla chips, then black beans, then pickled jalapenos, then salsa, then grated cheddar cheese. I roasted the tray in the oven at 450 until the cheese was melted and the chips began to turn brown. Keep an eye on it, or it will burn. Once out of the oven, I topped it with hot sauce, several scoops of sour cream, and fresh cilantro. These were so good I lost my vision for a third of the night.
If that sounds like too much work you could always just make this, or eat this.
There is no way I took all of these photos. They are not mine. If they are yours, let me know, and I will delete them forever.
A Peak Inside 