The One with the NACHO BAR

Guest Post: Shanna

I grew up in the deep South and now live here again after 11 years of following my husband and the Army around. In the South, the vast majority of us love football. I did not say “all”; calm down, basketball fans. Many of us live and die for football season. Even if you don’t particularly love watching it, you have a team that you root for and will tell everyone that you love (and you probably even own a shirt or two). I think aligning yourself with a team may be a residency requirement, to be honest.

I happen to like watching football AND cheering for it (War Eagle!), but only college football. Once the players are being paid cash money, I can’t seem to get very excited about it. So, you can imagine my dilemma when it comes to the Superbowl: It’s a big game day (yay)! It’s NFL (meh). However, one thing I CAN get excited about is football food, no matter who’s playing. The junk that you eat while you cheer on- or pretend to cheer on- the team you love. So, I picked a team to get behind- the Seattle Seahawks, because…reasons- and planned the ultimate nacho bar.

This is a great setup for any party- especially for a more casual setting with kids and teens. Or when you just really, really, really want nachos for hours.  Crockpots are your friends. They keep the food warm and let you enjoy the game or the company. I used my large (7qt) Crockpot for the meat and my triple dipper (which warms three 16oz dips at once) for my setup, but, looking back, I could have also used my regular-sized (2.5qt) Crockpot for the bean dip.

Here’s the lineup for the game:

• Tortilla Chips- I bought 3 kinds: Scoops, Rolls, and the weird Artisan ones my husband likes.
• 3 lbs ground seasoned beef
• White cheese dip
• Queso Dip
• Bean Dip (recipe follows)
• Toppings
  • refried beans
  • cheese
  • chopped tomatoes
  • sliced green onions
  • sour cream
  • guacamole (recipe follows- true guac lovers may prefer to call this “avocado dip”)
  • salsa
  • taco sauce
  • olives (jarred)
  • jalapenos (jarred)

To make my life a little easier, I bought a 9 foot football-themed tablecloth and placed it over my bar. The meat was cooked with a diced onion, drained, and seasoned with my preferred taco seasoning, then placed in the Crockpot on warm until everything else was ready. To prevent it from drying out, I also put a bit or water in. For my dips, I used purchased my white cheese dip and made queso dip (the Velveeta plus Ro-Tel kind)- in my third dipper, I heated my refried beans.