Superbowl Snack Throwdown – Week 2

I mentioned last week that Hubby and I love watching college football. We also enjoy the NFL, and even though we live in Beantown, we are NOT Patriots fans. In fact, we sort of have a strong dislike for the team in our house. It’s tough being an anti-Patriots fan in Boston, but we hold our ground. If you remember, Hubby is a Giants fan and I’m a Colts fan.

No matter what kind of football you prefer, everyone thinks of all the delicious football food when football season is starting. This week brings another great couple of recipes from Kate and Lauren for the Highlowaha’s Super Bowl Snack Throwdown. This week’s secret ingredient is mushroom. As a reminder, recipes are to be judged on the following criterion: Creative use of the ingredient, most likely to be eaten first, best photograph, and reproducibility. So now, on to the recipes (be sure to click through to check out the entire recipes).

Kate made Longest Yard Mushroom Dip with Baguettes and Instant Replay Mushroom Pockets.

Lauren made Marsala Potato Skins.

Being a celebrity judge is turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be! Kate and Lauren produced great recipes again this week. When it comes to creative use of ingredient, I appreciate Kate’s enthusiasm shown by making two recipes, but I really think Lauren’s idea of using the Marsala flavor in a potato skin is pretty darn creative. I do however think both of Kate’s recipes would be easier to reproduce as the Lauren’s was quite a bit more involved. When it comes to most likely to be eaten first, I have to call that a tie. Some people love mushrooms, others hate them, but either way, I think all of these appetizers would fly off the plate very quickly. The last judging criteria is the photograph. Again, the balance has to tip towards Lauren. Her photograph looks like it could be from a magazine.

Congratulations Lauren! I can’t wait to see what you and Kate come up with next week using the secret ingredient: Cheddar Cheese.

I’ve placed my vote, now it’s time for you to cast yours! Be sure to go to Highlowaha to vote for your favorite of these two recipes.