I’d be pretty hard pressed to believe anyone is a bigger Football Sunday fan than my partner. I have learned to make plans around these days or strictly make a morning of plans. So to start off this Football Sunday post, I want to share something that has long been a favorite outing in my family.
Car Rides. They are simple and relaxing, however they can create some deeply needed or funny conversations. It’s a chance to take in scenery, especially this time of year, when all the leaves are changing. I love to look at different style homes and talk about plans coming up. It just gives a slow easy time away from the house that lately it feels we are locked in. It also gets you away from chores or any excuse of “I should be doing something productive.” This section will be short but I wanted to remind everyone that dates really don’t have to be elaborate or cost money really. This is also a great way to connect on Sundays if your partner is like mine and is stuck to the TV screen for a better part of the day!
Now on to hosting Football get-togethers. We had everyone arrive a bit before the first game so we could first do a house tour for those that haven’t been to our new home, introduce those that haven’t met, and of course just talk before the first game started. With so many men together, I knew I needed to keep food coming! So my food looked a bit like this:
Chips out before first game started
At halftime of game 1 I put a chili dip in the oven to heat so it was done and cooled about halfway through the third quarter (made chili the day before and put the layered dip in the fridge overnight so it was ready to bake then served with Fritos Scoops)
When game 1 ended, I put frozen mozzarella sticks in the oven which bake quickly
About the beginning of the second quarter of game 2 I put pulled chicken sliders in the oven to melt the cheese and crisp up the bread (this was made in a crockpot prior then just baked in oven)
At the end of game 2, before everyone started heading home since it was close to 8pm, I had apple hand pies pre-baked ready to be eaten! This was a cinnamon glaze one I found on Pinterest that was amazing!
So about every other quarter I tried to bring more food out, certainly no one left hungry! Everything also was easily made ahead of time so we didn’t have to worry about cooking while we had guests which is always so great. It always more time to visit and allows me to relax and enjoy myself with everyone. We did make it BYOB too to save on money and to make sure everyone had what they personally wanted.
To share a little recipe though, I’d love to share a twist on an Autumn Sangria I made for my partner and I to share. I started this with a bottle of Woodbridge Pinot Noir, then dumped a 200ml bottle of Amsterdam Apple vodka to that. Next I added three sticks of cinnamon, a can of pears, and two different kinds of apples that we had picked the previous weekend! I let it sit for two days prior to drinking so all the flavors mixed really well together and blended.
To me the biggest thing to a football party is the food. Otherwise you’re in good company and conversation always comes easy. I hope everyone an enjoy these simple times together this year. As we are allowed to spend more time with others, safely, we should. We need to stick together and remind ourselves to laugh.
Even though I am not the biggest football fan, I enjoyed listening to the banter and laughter fill my home again after months of being wary of letting anyone in. We need to remember how to be friends again and how to hold on to it each other again. Simple get-togethers are perfect for this. Happy Football and Fall season everyone!