World Cup Rules!

With all the controversy regarding the deafening drone of the vuvuzela, it may be better that we've been enjoying World Cup soccer from our living room. Apparently the horn that makes the droning sound we hear on our tv's can lead to permanent hearing loss and the spread of cold and flu. Well then.

To celebrate the US VS England game, we had friends over for sports and socializing. What is a good theme for a soccer party? Balls. Like soccer balls. To take the theme to the next level, we also labeled our plates with silly names. Nick also invented a drinking game for our event based on soccer play, cards, and goals. Our menu included:
* cheddar cheese ball + crackers
* goat cheese balls + crackers (aka "goat balls")
* meatballs (aka Nick's "shweaty balls")
* popcorn balls (regular via a Martha Stewart recipe and chocolate via Paula Deane's recipe, aka "sticky balls")
* cherries (for balance of power)
Of course, our friends were inspired by such an amazing theme. We had additions of a soccer ball shaped cake, rootbeer cupcakes, guac (pit dropped in) + chips, mangu, grapes, peanut butter/pretzel/chocolate balls, and sausage balls. I had never had a sausage ball before, but discovered that I love them. Kristy made two versions. The gluten-containing version, and a GF batch made with Bisquick. Thankfully, Kristy left me her recipe.


Kristy's Sausage Balls
3 cups GF Bisquick
4 cups cheddar cheese
1 lb sausage
1/4 teaspoon pepper
EVOO

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prep a baking sheet with a thin coat of olive oil.

2. Mix all ingredients together. The mixture will be crumbly.

3. Form the mixture into balls and place the balls onto the baking sheet.

4. Bake the balls for 20 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!

Cookies, Ice Cream and Rum Balls

My afternoon turned into culinary experimentation yesterday. With a *free* day of no work and no pre-scheduled errands, I had a large window to create a few tasty tidbits for upcoming events. I started with pre-cut cookies in a box to bring to a dinner and charades party at a friend's house. That turned into needing ice cream to make ice cream cookie sandwiches. Once I ate some lunch and finished those two projects, I moved onto rum balls for our soccer-watching get together this weekend. When all was said and done, I was tired.

ICE CREAM
When my sister gave me the ice cream maker for my birthday/Christmas gift, she also gave me the Ben & Jerry's recipe book. I made Jerry's Chocolate to pair with the cookies. Aside from lots of dairy (not so friendly for me), it involves melting chocolate over a (make shift) double boiler before titrating in the remaining ingredients. It's a little time consuming, but melting chocolate slowly can be quite the enjoyable contemplative activity. Once the ingredients are put together, it has to cool in the fridge, leaving a bit of time to: a) bake the cookies and b) eat some lunch. Once it's cool, it's time to throw it in the ice cream maker.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Dad brought me the cookies in a box to try a while back. French Meadow's idea behind the box was that you can make them one by one and have a hot cookie whenever you want one. It's genius. I decided to make the whole box since I was planning on feeding more than one person. They would have been perfect. When I took them out, they needed like 2 more minutes. And then I forgot about them for about 5. Oh well. The bottoms are a bit dark, but the rest of their GF, CF, SF cookiness is great- crumbly, not too sugary.

RUM BALLS
Our theme for World Cup soccer watching (US VS England) is balls. Yes, balls. Meatballs, cheese balls, popcorn balls, and rum balls will all be included. I can count the times I have eaten rum balls on about two fingers. I really didn't know what I was getting into. I used Martha Stewart's recipe. It involved making a brownie (I subbed regular flour for GF flour), then letting it cool. The cooled brownie is crumbed into a mixing bowl and rum is added. What should happen, per the recipe, is a giant ball should form. No clumping happened for me. Clumpage is essential for forming the balls. I added Karo syrup and a little more rum until the crumbs clumped. Whallah! Balls. We'll see how good they are when they get served cold on Saturday.