It was a beautiful fall day in Chicago and a perfect time to get together with girlfriends. Our foodie theme du jour is fall & game day snacks! One snack that's great during fall (and well, all year round,) and a must for game day is... popcorn. We soon learned how popcorn is quite versatile for both sweet and savory flavors. Read on to see how we transformed this simple snack into something even more delicious!Homemade Caramel Corn
The first thing we made was caramel corn due to the length of time for it to bake. You can find the recipe I used HERE. To give it a twist, you can also add your choice of nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc) too.Old Taylor St. Cheese Popcorn
This cheese seasoning is one I picked up from my favorite spice shop, The Spice House. Just add 1 1/2 teaspoons of this flavorful seasoning to 3 cups of popcorn for a great cheese & herb flavor!
Buffalo Blue Cheese Popcorn
The Spice House also carries this amazing Blue Cheese seasoning, which we used. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons of the seasoning with 3 cups of popcorn, we drizzled 1/8 cup of buffalo wing butter and tossed to coat. The buffalo wing butter was made but combining 1 cup Frank's hot sauce and 3/4 cup melted butter. Unfortunately, this popcorn was such a hit I couldn't get a picture of it!Chocolate Popcorn
For some sweet snacks, we got creative with various kinds of chocolate and nuts. I provided three types of chocolate including: peanut butter and chocolate; semi sweet chocolate and white chocolate. For the nuts, we had: almonds, walnuts, and pecans. I also had some dried cranberries as well. 
To prepare the chocolate, I used large packages of melting chocolate and white melting chocolate. Simply melt the chocolate in the microwave or double boiler until smooth. For the peanut butter chocolate, I combined creamy peanut butter and 1/3 package of melting chocolate. Heat both the peanut butter and chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until smooth.
In a gallon sized plastic zip bag, add 3 cups of popcorn, 1/4 cup of melted chocolate, 1-2 tablespoons chopped nuts of your choice. Zip bag closed and shake until popcorn is fully coated.Here are the chocolate popcorn creations I made:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pecan Popcorn
White Chocolate Walnut & Cranberry Popcorn
To add to the fall snacks line up, we also made some chocolate covered pretzels with the chocolate we used for the popcorn!
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
For lunch, I stuck with the game day theme and offered some of my favorites including:
To join in the fun, my fellow bloggers have submitted their favorite muffin recipes! As I do with each blogging event I host, a lucky blogger receives a giveaway related to the food theme. This event's winner is Karen of Loves to Eat Weblog! Karen will be receiving packets of the same seasonings we used today for popcorn including Old Taylor St. Cheese seasoning and Blue Cheese seasoning! Congratulations Karen and thanks to all those who participated. Read on to check out the recipe submissions!
Karen of Loves to Eat Weblog
from Florida
Cheese Ball with Blue Cheese
If you're a cheese fan like me, then you definitely have to check out Karen's Cheese Ball with Blue Cheese. She and her husband love this snack and is perfect for watching the big game. Check out her blog for the recipe and give this a try for the next game you'll be watching!
from Florida
Cheese Ball with Blue Cheese
If you're a cheese fan like me, then you definitely have to check out Karen's Cheese Ball with Blue Cheese. She and her husband love this snack and is perfect for watching the big game. Check out her blog for the recipe and give this a try for the next game you'll be watching!
Kate of Paved With Good Intentions
from California
BBQ Tortilla & Tortilla Dog
Kate gets creative with tortillas as she uses them for a BBQ Tortilla & Tortilla Dog! I love that these are not only a fun twist on traditional recipe ideas, but are perfect snacks if you're craving for something quick and easy! Check out Kate's blog for the recipes!
Everything looks so good! I'm putting that fresh fruit pizza on my list of things to make. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteEverything looks delicious, especially the fruit pizza and the cheese ball. Yum!
ReplyDeleteA delicious get-together, I'm sure! Everything looks fabulous :D
ReplyDeleteLooks like so much fun! You always throw such good gtg's. I so wish you lived in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteUm, I don't know where to start! I've been craving half the stuff you posted about for awhile now!
ReplyDeleteThis is my kind of food! Yeah! The popcorn and the pretzels....mmm mmm mmm mmm mmmmm. It's such a SHAME I don't live in Chicago! Ack!
ReplyDeletePerfect timing on your post. We just got an air popcorn popper and I was telling my DH I wanted to figure out more ways to jazz up the popcorn.
ReplyDeleteAll that popcorn looks great! I think the white chocolate/cranberry/walnut would make good holiday gifts for hostesses!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great ideas!
now you're making me wanna watch a movie and grab some popcorn :) sounds like a fun time
ReplyDeleteYummy, yummy, yummy... and yummy. Thanks! ;) Love the blog, btw.
ReplyDelete