This is it!  It has come down to just two teams, the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, playing in the Super Bowl.  And it has come down to two sisters in Boston and New York competing in the ultimate Game Day Recipe Throwdown– Sister M vs Sister K!  The big winner of the throwdown will be you- our readers.  We will be giving away two sets of two round-trip tickets on BoltBus, our favorite way to travel to Boston to NYC or NYC to Boston!

It’s simple to enter- just post a comment below with both of the following items:

1. Vote whether you like Sister M’s (representing Boston/New England) or Sister K’s (representing New York) recipe better.
2. Post your favorite Game Day recipe (you can post the whole recipe or just a link to it if it’s already somewhere online).

The giveaway has officially started today and the comments will be open for entries until the start of the Super Bowl on February 5th at 6:30pm EST.  We will then randomly pick two of the entries through random.org.

Sister M (representing Boston/New England)- Lobster Nachos
To represent Boston/New England, I decided to make Lobster Nachos.  Sounds too fancy for football?  Come on- you know Gisele is noshing on these in her luxury box while she watches QB12 take down the Giants.

We cooked up three lobsters to make these.  Not all lobsters have names, but coincidentally ours were named Eli, Victor, and Hakeem.

Lobster Nachos

Ingredients:
24 wonton wrappers
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
3 ripe avocados
1 shallot, diced
1 lime, juiced
2-3 small live lobsters, (or pre-cooked lobster meat if you prefer not to steam them)
1/4 cup chives, minced
kosher salt
pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Melt the butter in the microwave or a small sauce pan.  Brush both sides of each wonton wrapper with the melted butter and place on a baking sheet (I used two baking sheets and was able to fit 12 wrappers on each sheet.)  Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for 5-8 minutes, rotating the baking sheet if one side appears to be cooking faster than the other.  Keep an eye on the wonton towards the end of the baking time so they don’t burn.  Remove from the oven when golden and cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, begin cooking the lobsters. Lobsters can be boiled or steamed. I think the meat has a better and less soggy texture when they are steamed. To do this, fill a pot with less than 2 inches of water and bring up to a boil. Place the lobsters in (always head first- if you put their tail in first they will flip it up and you will be sprayed with scalding hot water!)  Generally cook at least 7 minutes per pound of lobster in the pot (we cooked these three for about 28 minutes).

To test when they are done, try pulling out one of the antennae. If they do not detach easily, the lobster is not yet done.  This photo shows how to pull off an antenna:

While the lobsters are cooling, peel and dice the 3 avocados and place in a small bowl.  With a fork, coarsely mash the avocados.  Mix in the diced shallot and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Once the lobsters are cooled, remove the meat from the shell and roughly chop it up.  Spoon the avocado mixture onto each wonton crisp and top with lobster meat.  Sprinkle with the minced chives.

 

Sister K (Representing New York): Buffalo Chicken Bites with Homemade Zesty Blue Cheese

I have been thinking all week about what I can make to represent the New York Giants.   What is New York known for?  Pizza, bagels, nuts for nuts, hot dogs, pretzels… the list goes on.  What I love about football the most is drinking beers and eating Buffalo wings while I watch the games.   These three things are imbedded in my head as a package deal so my appetizer recipe for a football game has to involve Buffalo wings. Since the Patriots get all New England states,  I picked a Buffalo wings themed appetizer since technically wings were invented in Buffalo, NY (love the Anchor Bar) and that’s part of New York state.  I bet you didn’t know you were going to get a little geography lesson today. :)

Recently I found a recipe that I was pretty psyched about making and better yet, it isn’t as unhealthy as actual Buffalo wings.   Are you READY?  READY?  READY?   WOOO!!!  Go Giants! (Sorry, that was a flashback to my high school and college lacrosse teams getting ready for a game in our huddle.)Buffalo Chicken Bites with Homemade Zesty Blue Cheese
**Makes 9- 4 piece servings
Ingredients:
3 cups of cooked shredded white meat chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken)
1/2 cup of hot sauce plus additional to drizzling (I used Franks)
4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
1 3/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar
1/4 cup of sliced scallions
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
2-3 cups of Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick silicone mat.   Prepare three bowls with flour (both all-purpose and wheat in one bowl), 1 egg and 2 egg whites whisked together, and then the panko.
In a large bowl combine the shredded chicken, cream cheese, and hot sauce.   At this point you can taste the mixture to see if you want to add additional hot sauce.  Next stir in shredded cheese and scallions.   Using a medium cookie scoop or a rounded tablespoon form the mixture into balls a little smaller then a golf ball.  This should make 36 balls.   Place the balls on a large plate or platter.   Once all the balls are formed take each ball and dip in flour mixture,  shaking off excess flour.  Then place chicken balls in the eggs and finally panko crumbs,  making sure to press some of the panko into the chicken balls to stick.   Next place onto lined baking sheet (*look at tip at bottom of recipe.)  Bake for 20-25 minute until lightly browned and crispy.  Drizzle with extra hot sauce and serve with Zesty Blue Cheese, carrot sticks, and celery sticks.
*If you don’t want to make all 36 Buffalo Chicken Bites,  you can freeze them before you cook them.  I placed them on a separate baking sheet and allowed them to freeze for about 30 minutes then placed them into a freezer bag.  When baking frozen bites- add an additional 5 minutes to baking time.
Source– adapted from Pennies on a Platter

For Zesty Blue Cheese-
**Makes about 8 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. fresh crushed black pepper
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2-3 minced cloves of garlic
Milk or buttermilk to thin down dressing if needed

Directions:
In a medium bowl,  combine all ingredients.  Add milk to thin out dressing to the desired consistency.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Source–  adapted from Our Best Bites
**Serving Size-
4 Buffalo Bites– 6 Weight Watchers PointsPlus (this was calculated by measuring the flour and panko not used after dipping and not including those in the calculation)
2 tbsp. Zesty Blue Cheese– 3 Weight Watchers PointsPlus

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Voting is now closed!  Thank you all for voting and submitting some fantastic game day recipes!  We’ve tallied the votes and NY has squeaked out yet another win.  K’s Buffalo Chicken Bites beat M’s Lobster Nachos by one vote!  The big winners though are two of our readers- I summarized the votes and assigned each commenter a number.  Using random.org, I picked two random entries to win two round-trip BoltBus tickets!

Contest Entries:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Caroline (commenter #10) and Brian (commenter #5)!  Please check your e-mail for more information on how to claim to your 2 BoltBus tickets.

-m & k

The Rules: One entry per person, U.S. residents only.  No entries will be accepted after Sunday, February 5th at 6:30 pm, EST.  Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered.  Two winners will be chosen at random and announced on Monday, February 6th.  The chosen winners will then have 30 days to respond by e-mail to claim their prize.  The BoltBus round-trip tickets must be used by March 31, 2012. Void where prohibited.