Saying that I am behind on the Friday Football Foodie is a bit of an understatement, but in a weird way my performance is not that different from how many teams ended the season.

Week 16 - Dec 20, 22, 23 - In a Thursday night game against the Rams, Steelers running back and league leading rusher Willie Parker goes out with a broken fibula. FFF is not posted due to food poisoning from a bad turkey sandwich. (It was going to be about the above Steelers sugar cookies* with buttercream frosting and these great pumpkin spice cookies** that are perfect for the holidays. Sent batches out to all of the Ladies and Tuffy.)

Week 17 - Dec 29, 30 - Every playoff bound team is resting their starters if they can. FFF is not posted due to lack of internet at a spa retreat. (Athletes get deep tissue massages and feel a great sense of relief; I get a deep tissue massage and am sore for two days.) There is something to resting your starters though. Who knows when injury can happen. The FFF's camera which had been on the fritz for awhile was dropped onto a marble floor at the spa from which it will never recover, thus hurting the FFF's playoff run.

Wild Card Playoffs - Jan 5, 6 - Pressure, pressure, pressure, come up with a game plan THAT DOES INVOLVE BRUCE ARIANS HOW CAN YOU SAY HE'S COMING BACK NEXT SEASON. FFF is not posted due to poor clock management, stress, and more stress.

Which means the Friday Football Foodie is much like the Colts right now; Haven't had a game that tested them since Week 14 against the Ravens and are completely beat up.***

But we solider on. No step-by-step directions. Instead of the usual 16-24 pictures that make up the Friday Football Foodie there is one photo, and camera phone picture at that.

Like the Colts though, it is still solid.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip with Harry & David Multigrain Chips and Dance Off, Pants Off Drinks

This recipe was given to me from a friend - who can be seen in the background of the homemade corn dog FFF - who got it from Cooking Light magazine. It is possibly the best spinach dip recipe I've ever come across and works just as well if you make it their "light" way or if you go ahead and use full fat cheese and sour cream. Which I do. And I use way more spinach than they call for.

You will need -

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided (Double this.)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened (Or just two regular cream cheese packages.)
1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry (I use two whole packages of spinach.)

Combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup) Parmesan, and next 6 ingredients (basically everything except for reserve cheese) in your baking dish and stir until well-blended. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 2 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup) Parmesan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. (Depending on the oven, it can take up to 45 minutes.) ****

In that bowl is the greatest tortilla chip known to mankind; The Harry & David's Multigrain tortilla chip.

How great is it? They try to keep them all for themselves as they are not even listed on their website. (Some guy in Michigan has even noted how many people look for these chips online.) Apparently, the only way you can get them is if you stop at one of their stores. Which means 3 out of 5 times we drive back from Santa Barbara, we stop at the outlet stores just to buy some of the chips.

Something about them - maybe it's the black sesame seeds - is just downright magical. Sturdy enough to hold up to most dips and salsas and yet still light in texture.

Pants Off, Dance Off Drinks

We keep full bar at our place, which is good because what is the point of owning so many books about cocktails if you can never make them. You cannot taste pretty pictures.

Sometimes you just want to poor a bunch of different things in a glass and see what happens next. (The old college football just heave-the-ball-down-field-and-hope-it-works mentality if you will.)

Which is what we call the Pants Off, Dance Off in our place. Will light rum, cognac, and Frangelica mix? What about amaretto and vodka - which is called a Godmother - be ok if I cut it with a splash of ginger ale? What about grappa and... no. Not the grappa. You get the idea.

This is the weekend to Pants Off, Dance Off. Show them something that they have not seen before.

* The whole broken camera / dead memory card means that I don't actually have the pictures from the cookies I sent out to everyone. This picture is from a batch I made for the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.
** If you make the pumpkin spice cookies, add a pinch of all spice to the batter to give it more depth. It also makes too much frosting if you go by that recipe, so half the amount so you can just drizzle it over the cookies.
*** I have to say Ravens because they nearly beat New England and they defeated the Steelers JV squad. Really, the Colts have had an easy stretch since Week 13 against the Jags.
**** TSB made this particular batch for the NHL Ice Bowl, marking at least the fourth or fifth time I've seen him cook in five years.

This week's Friday Football Foodie dish was submitted by Dave's Football Blog, home to anything foot and ball. Soccer of every color and stripe, rugby, Aussie rules, CFL, and of course, American gridiron. (Dave also runs a chill music podcast over at Dave's Lounge, which I highly recommend.)

Dave first posted the recipe for the Hot Beef Dip back for Super Bowl XL - predicting a Steelers' win, naturally - but this recipe is really too good to wait for a special event game, especially as we head into fall and heartier football snacking.

You will need...

1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup chopped onion (Two onions are pictured here, but I really used only one.)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (I used much more.)
3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (And of course anyone who has been reading FFF all season can just assume I doubled this amount of cheese.)
OPTIONAL BUT TOTALLY KICK ASS EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE MUSHROOMS AND NOT IN THE ORIGINAL RECIPE
3/4 to 1 pound of fresh mushrooms (In general, I am not a big fan of mushrooms, but this dip seemed similar to a beef stroganoff, so adding them just seemed natural. Also helps makes the dip taste just a touch more "meaty.")

Finely chop the mushrooms so they reach the consistency of ground beef.

See? It even looks like beef. Now that I think about it, if you were a vegetarian, you could probably just skip the beef and make a hot mushroom dip that would be just as delicious. Good to know if you're having Joe Namath or Ricky Williams over to watch the game.

Confession time. I am not a fan of ground beef. At some point in my youth I got it into my head that they probably did not grind up the good meat and why would I want any part of that. I was tempted to make this dish with round, aka "breakfast/sandwich" steak strips, but instead I bought some sirloin that I ground up myself in the chopper.

Chop onions. Realize the tears they draw sting less than the tears shed by the Bills as they let victory slip away from them on Monday.

Salt and pepper your meat. (STOP GIGGLING, HOLLY. You should have seen the Ladies emails this week when I said I was doing making the HOT! BEEF! DIP! for the FFF. Laughing like schoolgirls. Until I accidentally slipped up and typed "beet" instead of "beef." Nothing puts a downer on locker room talk like beets.)

Heat a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat.

Add the peppers, onions, and garlic. Cook until the beef has browned and the onions are tender.

Throw in the mushrooms incorporate into your meat. (STOP GIGGLING, HOLLY.)

Grind up your dried oregano to release the oils and add along with the sugar, ketchup - DEAR GOD THAT BETTER BE HEINZ KETCHUP AND NOT THAT HUNTS TASTES LIKE VINEGAR NONSENSE - and tomato sauce. (Yes, the tomato sauce can be Hunts.)

Add Parmesan and cream cheese.

Yes, I know there is something wonky in this photo. After almost five years of me beating the shit out of my little Canon, (really, the thing never leaves my purse and has hit the ground more times than David Carr), it is starting to go out on me. So Mom, if you want to know what get me for my birthday, a nice Amex or Visa gift card to help buy a new camera would be nice. Anyway, stir until all the cheeses are melted and let simmer for a good 10-15 minutes so it has a chance to thicken up some.

If you can, try to keep your dip warm in either a chafing dish or a fondue pot. Since I own neither, (yes Mom I know you have offered to buy me a fondue pot before, but I still do not want one) I just stuck it in my Crockpot, despite it being a little too deep for the job. Serve with crusty bread and chips.

This recipe yielded a lot of dip, so later on that night after the football guests had left, TSB made a nice Hot Beef Dip Sloppy Joe sandwich to eat while he did his Sunday night reading.

New Product Review: Kettle Bakes Salt & Pepper Pita Chips

The salt and pepper potato chip is one of great innovations in snacking the past few years, and the Kettle people were smart to take what has worked in their chips to their new pita chip line. In the past I've provided the portion size, calories, and salt content of what each new product. Unfortunately, the bag of these we bought went so fast there was no time to take a picture.

Sorry there is no new cocktail this week. On the day I made the Hot Beef Dip, I did it for an afternoon game that where we only had beer and such. This picture was from the morning game when we had good old Kahlua and coffee to go with our cinnamon rolls.

FFF gives a big shout out to Clare for getting the pics up for this week's post. Our guest poster for this week had to reschedule for a later date. I couldn't have done this without you, especially after the long night at Barney's Beanery to watch baseball last night! [Editor's note: You're welcome.]