Menu ideas for football season

Football season is now underway, which may mean several gatherings of friends and family. Send some party invitations to your guests to get them ready for the big game with this Football Invite. Let them know that you'll be supplying the appetizers, and they can bring over their beverage of choice.

To keep all of your guests happy even when their team isn't doing as well as they had hoped, stock your kitchen with these easy and delicious finger foods perfect for a football Sunday get-together:

Beer-soaked buffalo wings
Game day isn't complete without beer and wings, so why not combine the two with this tasty recipe? These wings are baked, creating a much healthier alternative to fried wings. Here's what you'll need to make them:

Ingredients:
1 5-pound package chicken wings
2 12-ounce cans beer
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground red pepper
3/4 cup cayenne pepper sauce
1/2 stick butter, melted

Directions:
Save 1/3 cup of beer, and pour the rest into a shallow dish. Add the chicken wings to the beer, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for four hours. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 425 degrees, and line two baking sheets with aluminum foil coated in cooking spray to prevent your wings from sticking. Use the ground red pepper and salt to season the wings, then bake for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, flip over each wing and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until crispy. Finally, combine the butter, cayenne pepper sauce and remaining beer, and toss the wings in the mixture.

Mango salsa
You can never go wrong with chips and salsa, but try something new this year with a sweet mango recipe. Your guests will burn through this dip, so you may even want to double the recipe, depending on how many people you're planning on having over. All you need is five minutes to prepare this salsa.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno
1/3 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/3 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 mango, peeled and diced

Directions:
Find a decorative bowl you would like to serve the salsa in, and mix together the cucumber, jalapeno, red onion, mango, lime juice and cilantro leaves. Finish it off by seasoning it with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with tortilla chips.