Super-Easy Dishes for a Crowd — Football Fare
Game Day is just hours away, and whether you've been planning your tailgate-ready menu for days or have just started thinking about what you'll serve, rest assured that Food Network has easy recipe ideas to see you through your big game bash. Perhaps more than anything else on Sunday, it will be important that you have enough food to feed the mass of hungry football fans gathering in your living room. But while you want to offer a super-large spread of eats and drinks, you surely don't want to spend your evening in the kitchen cooking it while your friends are cheering about the latest touchdown. To make sure that you enjoy game day too, stick with fuss-free recipes for slow-cooked classics and easy-to-make sandwiches to feed the whole group without a lot of time or effort. Check out a few of Food Network's favorite crowd-pleasing recipes below, then find a complete game-day menu with Alton's meatballs, maple blondies and Bobby's margaritas.
While most macaroni and cheese recipes require plenty of hands-on time for cooking and draining the pasta, whisking in handfuls of cheese and milk and then transfering everything from stove to oven, Trisha Yearwood's Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate in do-ahead cooking. She starts with precooked macaroni (what you have left over from last night's dinner is a-ok to use), then mixes it with milk, butter and more than a pound of cheddar cheese in the base of a slow cooker and lets the machine do the work for her. Prep this meal in the late afternoon, and by the time you're ready for dinner during the first half, all you'll have left to do is quickly stir the macaroni before serving.
If you don't have a slow cooker but still want to take advantage of stress-free meal prep, try Paula's BBQ Pork Sandwich (pictured above). After rubbing a pork shoulder with a mix of brown sugar, cayenne pepper and paprika, she lets the meat marinate for a few hours, then slowly roasts it in the oven. After a few hours, the pork becomes juicy and tender, able to be easily shred and piled high on a bun.

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Looking for a no-cook option that can be ready to eat in a flash? Food Network Magazine's 20-minute Italian Party Sub (pictured right) is the solution. This top-rated sandwich boasts layer after layer of Italian deli meats and cheeses like mortadella, capicola, prosciutto, provolone and more, plus a tangy bite of pickled vegetables and salty olives. After assembling, just slice it into pieces for an eat-with-your-hands dish that's hearty and simple to prepare.
Visit Food Network’s Big Game headquarters for more easy recipes and quick entertaining tips to help you host your best game-day bash yet.