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

Game Day Food

A new appetizer to try for game day!

Halibut Dip
Modified from The Alaska Life

1 lb halibut

1 small can chopped green chili's
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup Monterey jack, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced jalapeno (they used jalapeno juice...who juices a jalapeno?!)

Cook halibut (or use leftover) in butter) and then flake it up.  Put in bottom of small crock pot.

Add rest of ingredients on top and turn on low.  Stir a couple of times to mix until completely mixed and heated. This took be about 2-3 hours. 

Serve with chips or bread.

The Wall of Shame....





Our wall of shame....its the middle shelf.  Its our New Year's goal....no wall of shame!  It has gotten out of control over the last year for various years (Area 51 going out of business didn't help us!). 

10 for 10 Update

Well, its halfway through the year and where are we?  Well, I broke my leg in March (AGH!!!), so that's slowed us down plus just work, but with summer coming on we are working on it!  We have completed 1 of our goal, which is actually 20 long because we each chose 10.  Plus we only have one left unplayed from the list.  So our current tally is:

1812: 1

7 wonders duel: 5

Artificium: 3

Carcassonne: 2

Carson city: 2

Dice city: 3

Dominion: 3

Eminent domain: 2

HP: 6

Imperial settlers: 2

Islebound: 1

Lords of waterdeep: 1

Powerplay: 3

Run, fight, die: 4

St. Petersburg: 1

Imperial assault: 11 (we finished our campaign! We are actually restarting this our son as well.)

Suburbia: 1

Ticket to ride: 4

Viticulture: 1

Warhammer quest

Game Group Food

As we were coming home from our first gaming group, both my husband and I commented that we were still hungry, despite it being potluck and felt a little queasy....the gist was that while everyone brought food, most people brought "snacks" and "junk" rather than anything substantial, leaving you feeling out of sorts by the end of the night.  Plus we have little kids - who we want to eat something other than chips and cookies! 

So I always made sure to bring a main dish to share after that....and now that we run our gaming group, I always try to make sure I have something in the crock pot that will actually serve as dinner - versus a snack.  I find my crock pot is my best friend here as the food stays warm all night and people can eat as they come and go.  I've never had the food not vanish!

Next time you go to a potluck...think main dish versus snack!  Snacks are fine....but your group needs more than that and if no one else steps up, why not you? Plus honestly it usually isn't that much more expensive to contribute!

You'll notice a lot of soups - bread usually almost always comes so this typically pairs nicely!

Here are some ideas that I've use (all recipes are from my website and you can browse there for more...no ads on it, this is just my personal file box!)

• Cauliflower Cheese Soup
• Cheeseburger Soup
• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Chicken Tacos
• Wild Rice Soup
• Broccoli Cheese Soup
• BBQ Chicken Sliders

One of my other "go tos" is meatballs. I either buy meatballs in bulk at Sam's Club or I make my own, but then just toss FROZEN meatballs in the crockpot with a jar of spaghetti sauce (I sometimes throw a few spices in, sometimes not...always a little sugar...a trick from my MIL!) and cook on high for 3-4 hours. 

Meatballs (the full recipe is for Salisbury meatballs, which are great, but I just make the meatballs and freeze separately so I can use them however I want)

1 tray (about 6 lbs) ground beef (we mixed in some ground turkey as well the first time, I recently did this with moose meat)

3 cups bread crumbs

2/3 cup milk

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup minced onion

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp black pepper

 

Want some dip ideas for the crock pot (I do love a good dip!)

Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Cheddar Bacon Ale Dip

10 for 10 Update

So we figured out where we are on the 10 for 10 challenge.  We each have four that we haven't even gotten to the table.  With summer coming up, hopefully we should make more progress on this!

Ray:
1812: 1
Artificum
Carson City
Warhammer Quest
Powerplay: 3
Run, Fight or Die: 4
Eminent Domain
Imperial Assault: 9
Islebound: 1
Lords of Waterdeep: 1

Jennie:

Suburbia: 1
Ticket to Ride
St. Petersburg
7 Wonders Duel: 4
Carcassone: 2
Harry Potter: 6
Imperial Settlers
Dice City: 2
Dominion: 1
Viticulture

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I made this over break several times - I love it and it is very easy! I mean what's not to love? And I adore artichokes.....

This is a great game day recipe as it is well liked and stays warm in the crock pot while you are playing.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Modified from Taste of Home

2 cans (14 oz each) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped [this says water packed, but I can never find that so I just rinse them.]

2 pkg (10 oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 jar (15 oz) Alfredo sauce

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

2 cups (8 oz) shredded Italian cheese blend

1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup milk

2 garlic cloves, inced

crackers or chips, for dipping

 

In greased 4 quart crock pot, combine all but the dipping stuff.  Cook, covered on low 2-3 hours or until heated through.  Serve with crackers or chips (or whatever you want).

Serves 32.

Cheddar Bacon Ale Dip

This is quite yummy!

Cheddar Bacon Ale Dip
Modified from Taste of Home

18 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp garlic powder

1 cup amber beer

2 cups cheddar, shredded

1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

green onions, optional

Pita chips, for dipping

In a greased 3 quart slow cooker, combine cream cheese, sour cream, mustard and garlic powder.  Stir in beer, cheese and all but 2 tbsp. of bacon.  Cook, covered, on low, stirring occasionally until heated through, 3-4 hours.

In last 30 minutes, stir in heavy cream.  Top with remaining bacon and green onion, if desired.  Stir with pita chips or the like to dipping.

Makes 18 servings. 

13 Days Card Game

Okay, everyone, after one play and the expectation of playing again tonight, I would like to give a quick review of 13 Days.
13 Days is a two player card based area control game. Wow, now that I write the description out I can see how many adjectives that game description has, but I digress. You are playing through the struggle of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The general way it works is using influence in different arenas (military, political, and opinion) to gain prestige based on your opponent’s and your own chosen agenda for the round. You will have a hand of 5 command cards, you may play a card for a command or event benefit, using command to add or remove your own influence from different parts of the map. However, if at any time you place more than one influence in one place from a command action you also move your Defcon marker up for each influence beyond the first. You also have a hard cap of 17 influence total and 5 of your influence on each of the 6 locations. If you choose to use the event on a card matching the country you represent (US, Russia, or either can use the UN cards) you just do what it says on the card, often changing influence without changing the Defcon level.

There is a twist to this though, when you play an opponent’s faction card (which you will have to do), you must use it for the command and they have the option to use the event for free on your turn. This really requires you to think about which card you will have left over at the end of the round. After you play through 4 cards each going back and forth you place your last card in an aftermath pile. After three rounds you go through the aftermath pilot and whoever has the most command down based on their factions cards in the aftermath pile gets two additional prestige.

Overall the prestige you get at then of each round and the end of the game is more of a tug of war. You can never have more than 5 prestige over your opponent and each prestige move the marker closer to your side of the scoring track. The game ends either by a person reaching Defcon 1 and staying there until the end of a round or having all of their Defcon markers (3) in the Defcon 2 area causing them to lose, or 3 round are completed and the person with the most prestige after the aftermath wins. If the scoring marker is in the center, the person holding the personal letter token wins (which is how I won).

This is definitely comparable to the game Twilight Struggle, but a much lighter implementation. It has the same feel, the cards have historical images, and there is even a booklet to discuss the events of the Cuban missile crisis. The mechanism is very similar to Twilight Struggle as well. However, 13 Days took 45 minutes instead of 3 hours. It is a much more focused game with a number of choices and a lot of thinking and planning based on what your opponent might do, but it is not nearly as broad or deep as Twilight Struggle which goes through the entire Cold War and deals with the all the world.
I like 13 Days a lot, I know Jennie and I will be playing way more often than Twilight Struggle just because of the time requirements if nothing else. We also will be keeping Twilight Struggle though, the amount of depth and interactions in that game make it worth it, even if it only happens once a year. I would give 13 Days an 8.5 out of 10, I think it great and works well for a two player quick game that requires some thought.

Oregon Trial Game

Remember the old Oregon Trial computer game?  I know I played it middle school all the time!  Anyway, they put out a card game about it!  The game isn't that great - it is co-op and you will die most of the time. It is pretty repetitive and very random.  But for nostalgia is a great game - it feels like the computer game.  We both died first time out!  Anyway, if you remember the computer game with fondness, this is a fun game to try out and for the price point is well worth the experience as it is cheap.

New Year's Resolutions

So last year we aimed to play through our collection and we did pretty good. We have a wall of unplayed still, but we have kept it down and it is mostly relatively new stuff.  This year our goal is 10 games that we'll play 10 times.  So this year we are going to quality and getting the numbers up there.

My 10 are:
7 wonders Duel
Carcassonne (I want to be able to say I've played all the expansions)
Dice City
Dominion
Harry Potter Hogswarts Battle (I want to get through all the decks)
Imperial Settlers
Saint Petersburg
Suburbia
Ticket to Ride (again, all the expansions!)
Viticulture

Ray's 10 are:
1812
Artificium
Carson City
Eminent Domain
Islebound
Lords of Waterdeep
Powerplay
Run, Fight or Die
Imperial Assault
Warhammer Quest

Islebound

This was a kickstarter from Red Raven Games.  It is one of our new favorite games.  It is worker placement and works great two player.  We love the different set ups and the cool choices with the islands.  These games are also just so gorgeous.  There are tons of great choices here so if you like worker placement, you should like this one. 

Game Days

We have a great game group going.  The main thing we been working on is keeping an assortment of games that can play large enough groups.  We usually want to start and end together so that's been a challenge.  7 Wonders has gotten a lot of play recently!  The main thing is to have a good selection and good people!

Other Kids' Games

This is Bugs in the Kitchen - this is quite cute and was a friend's thrifting find.  It is pretty random but teaches trying to get the hexbug to move the way you want with the right patterns.  

Minecraft card game - pretty quick and easy. It really is just resource collection with card sets. 

Old oldest ADORES the Star Wars Risk game and is quite good at it.