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With the 2012 Super Bowl fast approaching, everyone is gearing up for the big game parties. With so many options of party foods to make, it can be hard to determine what variety of food to provide your football fans with. To help narrow it down UniversityDecisions.com has come up with our favorite Super Bowl Recipes for your party.

Buffalo Chicken Dip:

2 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 cup blue cheese or ranch dressing
3/4-1 cup of Monterrey Jack cheese (Or white cheddar, or mozzarella, or whatever you have handy, aside of maybe gouda)
1/2 cup blue cheese (optional)
fresh chives or green onions to taste
3/4 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce Original (Yes, the Original. They make a buffalo style sauce, but there is no need for “soybean oil and buttery flavoring” when you have next…)
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons chopped garlic – use as much or as little garlic as you like.
2 cups shredded chicken

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake or poach 2-3 chicken breasts and then shred. Saute garlic over medium low heat. Add chicken and Red Hot sauce and heat thoroughly. Layer chicken in a casserole dish. Melt cream cheese on top medium-low heat. Reduce heat and add blue cheese dressing. Pour mixture over chicken then bake for 20 minutes then add blue cheese on top and bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos:

6 fresh jalapeno peppers (halved lengthwise and seeded)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
12 slices bacon

Spread cream cheese into the jalapeno halves. Wrap bacon around the stuffed jalapenos and secure with toothpick. Place on grill or in fry pan and cook until bacon is crispy.

Sriracha Fried Pickles:

1 24 ounce jar of Rick’s Picks Hotties, or other spicy pickles marinated in sriracha sauce
12-14 ounces of pilsner beer, preferably highly carbonated variety like Miller High Life for a light batter
2 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted for batter, plus 1/2 to a 3/4 cup of flour for dredging
2 teaspoons garlic powder, plus a dash more for the flour dredge
2 teaspoons chili powder, plus a dash more for the flour dredge
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of ground pepper
Oil for frying

Mix together the flour, garlic powder, chili powder, salt and pepper into a medium sized bowl. Work in the cold beer a few ounces at a time. Cover with plastic wrap and let the batter rest in the fridge for at least 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure the pickles are dry then toss them with flour, garlic powder and chili powder. Put the pickles in the freezer for at least 20-30 minutes, then dip them in the beer batter and drop in hot oil. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side. Wait until they cool down then serve!!

If cooking is a passion of yours, research how to become a chef or a prep cook and turn your passion into a career! If cooking is just a hobby, we hope you enjoy some of these tasty recipes at your Super Bowl party and have a great Super Bowl weekend!

Cupcakes seem to be everywhere these days, and it is beginning to look like we’re amid a cupcake craze. You can find cupcakes on TV with shows such as: “DC Cupcakes,” “Cupcakes Wars,” and “The Cupcake Girls.” You can find them on most street corner shops and specialty cupcake boutiques are popping up all over the country. Well, now it’s time to try your hand at decorating some fabulous cupcakes- just in time for the Halloween season.

No doubt you or someone you know is having a Halloween party. What better way to get that party started than with some stunning Halloween cupcakes made from your creative hand?  I will show you the step by step process on how to create these magnificent cupcakes and get you on your way to “wow-ing” your friends in no time at all.

Difficulty Level: Medium

What you will need:

-          Cupcakes
-          Ice Cream Cones (used as a guide and template)
-          Icing
-          Black Fondant
-          Pre-Made Black Icing (I use the premade stuff since it’s so hard to color yourself and get a deep enough black)
-          Moss Green Coloring
-          Sugar
-          Toothpicks
-          Decorating Bags
-          Butter knife or Pizza Cutter
-          Round Cut Outs

Directions:

1.       To start you simply need to make your favorite cupcake recipe, even a box cake mix will do. Bake as directed and let cool.

2.       Mix your icing, again your choice – I used a cream cheese frosting as it went perfectly with my cupcake recipe creation, with Green to get a witch perfect green icing.

3.       Ice your cupcakes

4.       Roll Out the Black Fondant 1/4 inch thick

5.       Cut out a round shape a bit larger than the ice cream cone

6.       Using the Cone as a guide cut a triangle large enough to wrap around the cone.

7.       Wrap the fondant around the cone and attach edges with a bit of water.

8.       Also, cut out a thin strip large enough to go around the largest diameter of the cone

9.       Use sugar and water to decorate the round cup out that will become the brim of the hat

10.   Let the Fondant dry a bit and then take the cone out, or you can leave it in. Leaving the cone in will make the hat heavier so be sure your cupcakes and icing are thick enough to support the hat with the cone inside.

11.   Attach the cone shape to the round shape using a tad bit of water or black icing. Then wrap the thin strip around the bottom edge of the hat.

12.   Let the hat completely dry and attach to your cupcakes by sticking toothpicks inside the cupcake to support the hat.

There is no doubt in my mind that these cupcakes will send everyone oohing and ahhing at your next Halloween party. Have fun with them and be as creative you want! Remember that being creative doesn’t always mean following directions but using your own style to create a masterpiece.

If you’re interested in honing your cupcake skills, check out culinary arts degrees on UniversityDecisions.com.  Or maybe learn how you can become a pastry chef. Happy Halloween… and happy baking!

Memorial Day weekend is fast approaching- a time for friends and family to enjoy the warm weather and acknowledge the sacrifice of U.S. soldiers who died during military service. Memorial Day weekend also kicks off the start of the summer picnic and barbeque season with patriotic flair. To point you in the right culinary direction, we’d like to share with you a beautiful, delicious, and healthy Memorial Day recipe: Patriotic Berry Salad. (This goes great with grilled chicken.) Bon appetit!

Memorial Day Patriotic Berry Salad Recipe

What you’ll need to get started:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 head butter lettuce (or bag of spring mix greens), washed & torn
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/3 cup sliced, toasted almonds
• Poppy seed dressing

To prepare:

1. In a large salad bowl, combine the strawberries, blueberries, lettuce, goat cheese crumbles and almonds.
2. Drizzle with poppy seed dressing and toss to coat. Serve immediately & enjoy the festive look and summer taste of this dish.
3. To make your own poppy seed dressing: combine ½ cup sugar, 1 tsp. dry mustard, 1/8 cup wine vinegar, ½ cup salad oil and 1 tsp. poppy seeds (add poppy seeds last).

Do you have a passion for cooking? Perhaps a career in culinary arts is for you- check out UniversityDecisions.com to discover your inner chef.

Mardi Gras is upon us, meaning it’s time for costumes, celebration… and of course, gumbo.

Most of us know about Mardi Gras and the annual voyage everyone makes to New Orleans but are unclear on the origins of the event. So here’s a quick overview of Mardi Gras history. Mardi Gras is French and when translated means Fat Tuesday, which is tomorrow. Two other common names for the celebration include: Paczki Day (Polish), and Carnival (Brazil). Fat Tuesday refers to eating rich, fatty foods on the last night before the Lenten season, which starts on Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras has been a part of North America as a French Catholic tradition since the late 17th Century. In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans, the mega site of today’s celebrations. Nowhere is Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday bigger than in New Orleans, where people take to the streets and gumbo is poured into bowls at eateries throughout the French Quarter.

At UniversityDecisions.com, our favorite thing about Gumbo is that there’s no wrong way to make it. This famous New Orleans dish inspires culinary creativity! Start with a basic recipe, and add (or nix) whatever you like. Most gumbo dishes begin with a Roux base (Roux is a mixture of fat and wheat flour and acts as the “thickening agent” in most gumbo recipes). The “meat” of any gumbo could be: crawfish, shrimp, sausage, chicken- you name it, it goes in gumbo.

Below is a very basic gumbo recipe for you to start from (courtesy of native New Orleanian Chuck Taggart), and then get creative- good luck exploring your culinary aspirations, and heureux mardi gras
(happy Mardi Gras)!

Basic Gumbo Recipe
(makes about 12 large servings)

Ingredients ->

1 cup oil
1 cup flour
2 large onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
4 – 6 cloves garlic, minced
4 quarts chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 large chicken (young hen preferred), cut into pieces
2 pounds andouille or smoked sausage, cut into 1/2″ pieces
1 bunch scallions (green onions), tops only, chopped
2/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
Filé powder to taste

Directions ->

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning and brown quickly. Brown the sausage, pour off fat and reserve meats.
In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium to high heat (depending on your roux-making skill), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of coffee or milk chocolate for a Cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style roux, cook it to a medium, peanut-butter color, over lower heat if you’re nervous about burning it.

Add the vegetables and stir quickly. This cooks the vegetables and also stops the roux from cooking further. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.

Add the stock, seasonings, chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then cook for about one hour, skimming fat off the top as needed.

Add the chopped scallion tops and parsley, and heat for 5 minutes. Serve over rice in large shallow bowls. Accompany with a good beer and lots of hot, crispy French bread.