Gaming Food

I made these two recipes for last Game Night - a hit!  They are good finger food and kept well on the counter.

Artichoke Dip Bites
Modified from Delish and What Can I Make In My....

1 (16 oz) pkg frozen spinach, defrosted and chopped (or just buy chopped....)
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
3 tubes crescent dough (or more...so this was 2...and I had extra, so I'm going to buy more and see how many I get time, but at least 3)

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease 12 well muffin pan (they used the mini muffin pan, but I used the larger one).

In a large bowl, combine everything but the dough.  Make sure to thoroughly mix so you get the cream cheese distributed.

Roll out the dough, pinching the seams.  Cut each tube of dough into 24 squares.  Put into the bottom of muffin tins and then add 1 tbsp of filling.  I did one with with 2 tbsp and that worked out okay as well and I might go all 2 tbsp, but do a little more dough...so cut each square larger.  Maybe get like 18 versus 24 per tube.

Bake for 15 minutes until pastry is golden and cheese is melted.

Antipasto Cups
Modified from What Can I Make In My....

36 slices of Genoa salami (they said 24, but I was short a bit on salami, but still would have had TONS of extra filling...so I upped this for next time)
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts
1 jar (8 oz) marinated whole mushrooms
1 jar (8 oz) roasted sweet red peppers
8 oz (2 cups) mozzarella cheese, shredded (they used cubes, I just used shredded)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400.  Press one piece of salami into the well of a 12 well muffin pan (what I would call a cupcake pan).  Loosely crumble aluminum foil to form 2 inch balls, place in cups to keep salami from sliding.  Bake for 6-8 minutes or until edges are browned.  Using tongs, remove from pans and invert on paper towels to drain.  Wipe out pan and repeat. you can reuse the foil balls.

Drain and coarsely chop artichokes, mushrooms and peppers.  Mix in a large bowl and then add in cheese and mix.  In another small bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, garlic salt and pepper.  Drizzle over veggie mixture and then toss to coat.  Using a slotted spoon, fill each cup with veggie mixture.

Makes 36 appetizers.  (Or more, I'll give you and update and see how many I actually get next time). 2 WW points per cup (possibly less after I figure out the actual amount as I had a LOT of filing left and a lot of the point value is the cheese...also an easy way to reduce it is to reduce the cheese.)

Carcassonne Big Box

When we first started gaming, one of our first purchases was Carcassonne, but we almost always play the base game or one of the stand-alones.  But this year we finally got through ALL the expansions. So here are my thoughts!

Base game: This is such a great, simple game.  You can teach it in 5 minutes and everyone loves its.  Only issue is that it takes a lot space. 

Inns & Cathedrals: There is very little here.  It is to throw in if you want a few extra tiles and things going on.

Traders & Builders: I love the builder. You can really run the board if you use him right.  I think this is a cool expansion if you want a little harder game.

Bridges, Castles & Bazaars: This is neat as it allows to put roads where there are none, but is gets complex fast.

Abbey & Mayor: The abbey is cool as it allows you to fill a hole, but honestly this is just so much complexity the games doesn't need.

Princess & Dragon: We HATE this one.  It is so punishing and it makes the games SO MUCH longer.  We will probably never use this expansion again. 

So the gist here - I like the first I listed. I would use them again. We might never do the others.  The next two are okay, I would play them. I'm not sure I'd ever play that last one unless I had to for some reason.

Viticulture Tuscany

We just finished going through all of the Tuscany expansion for Viticulture.  Here is my thoughts on each of the expansions. Tuscany is in "tiers" so that's what I sorted by.

Tier 1
Mamas and Papas: this is the BEST thing ever.  Seriously.  BEST THING EVER.  Everyone starts with their unique set up and you get to pick if you want an upgrade or more money.  This is Ray's favorite part.

Property: This is also really cool because is allows you to give up a field to get your structures built and then you can buy it back later!

Patronage: This is pointless.  Maybe in a larger game (we play it two player 90% of the time), it would matter more, but not in a 2 player.  We did it once, never have used it again.

Advanced Visitors: This is cool. I love more visitors. But you can't play them with the regular ones. You have replace them.  These are too much more powerful than the "regular" cards. I alternate these with the Moors/Rhine expansions and never use the base visitors anymore.

Tier 2
New Visitors: Same here - don't mix.  I have these mixed in with the Rhine and Moors expansions and, as I said, I alternate with the advanced.

Extended Board: I like this, Ray doesn't.  It adds in all 4 reasons and "stars" which you can get victory points from at the end of the game (its area control). I just love the big board with the new wake up chart which you get a lot more bonuses from. 

Special Workers: These are really cool. At this point, we've used all but the innkeeper (because you can't use her 2 player) and some are definitely more powerful than others, but I love the variety.

Structures: I love this expansion.  I like building my own little spots or having a cool power. 

Tier 3
Mafia: Much like Patronage, this might be useful in a larger game.  We played it once, never have used it again.  It is all about getting the best "gift," but again it a 2 player it just isn't that exciting.

Arboriculture: We hated this. Like really hated it.  To get the "benefit," it is very punishing and it just felt like you never had enough time to do all the stuff you wanted each turn when you trying to do any of it.  I like the took new vines you can put on your field, but the morale just sucked.  We did it once, will probably never use it again.

Formaggio: This was better than arboriculture, but still not great.  Again, it was just too much to do so it felt that you were always stuck trying to catch up to get anything done. But it wasn't punishing so this was better than the other one.  We would play this again, if we felt like it for some reason, we wouldn't the other. 

So the gist - Tiers 1 and 2 are awesome. I could have went without Tier 3. 

10 for 10 Update

We've been trying to do the 10 for 10, but it just doesn't seem to work that well for us.  But it does work well if we want to play through the expansions or something like that, but 10 is just too many. We just want to play too many other games!  And there is all Wall of Shame to try....

Anyway, here is our current tally:
Battle for Five Armies: 2
Carcassone: 10
Downforce: 8
Emiment Domain: 4
Near and Far: 8
Dice Throne: 13
Saint Petersburg: 1
Scoville: 3
Suburbia: 3
Viticulture: 9

We had New Bedford on here, but we ended up selling that game as we took it off.

Taco Meat

This is a good way to serve tacos or taco salad at game day.

Taco Meat

Modified from Prairie Homestead

2 lbs ground beef (or moose...)

1 can (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes with juice

1 can (7 oz) mild green chilies

1 small onion, diced

1 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

Place all ingredients in crock pot.  Cook for 2-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low (make sure meat is browned).  It does help to stir a few times along the way. 

Gaming Food

Here is a good choice for game day! My biggest complaint is they are hard to prep ahead as you have to store the sheets of wontons then.

Italian Wontons

Modified from Weight Watchers

cooking spray

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

3 tbsp pesto sauce (I used my own, which I had frozen)

3 tbsp roasted red peppers, chopped

2 tbsp mozzarella cheese, shredded

16 wonton wrappers

marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 425.  Coat baking sheet with cooking spray (I did this on parchment paper). 

In a medium bowl, mix ricotta, pesto, peppers and mozzarella.  Place 1 tbsp of ricotta mixture on each wrapper and then fold over and use water to seal.  Spray finished wontons with cooking spray.

Bake until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.  Serve with marinara sauce.  Each wonton is about 2 WW points, including some sauce for dipping.  I didn't feel this necessarily needed the sauce. 

10 for 10 Update

We are actually making some progress on our 10 for 10.  As you can see, 2 are done!

We also set out to play through two of our game "sets" - Academy Games and Ryan Laukat.  We've done 2 of the Academy Games and 4 of Ryan Laukat.

Battle of Five Armies	2
Carcassonne	10
Downforce	8
Emiment Domain	2
Near and Far	4
Dice Throne	13
Saint Petersburg	1
Scoville	2
Suburbia	2
Viticulture	4