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News 12 Staff

252026NJchef_2026-02-05-07-55-04

It's the cost of the Super Bowl this morning for you. Americans spend about $20 billion yeah, mostly on food and drinks, and if you're hosting a party, that's about $95 a guest, but it's not just about money, it's also about time. Joining us now to show us ways to save on both is local celebrity chef Lauren Covas. Chef, thanks for joining us this morning having me. So you know, obviously it's about the cost of this, but time too. We need ideas. That don't take too long. Easy ideas. So just like you're a mom, I'm a mom, and time is very, very valuable, um, so I love that you can do sweet treats on a budget and fast and easy, and this looks amazing. Tell me, tell me about it, and it's kid friendly, guest friendly. You are gonna ease everyone here. So who doesn't love ice cream sandwiches, right? And if you make them ahead of time, then it's gonna melt. Everything, but you can do a DYI bar and have the ice cream on ice with an ice pack homemade Toll House. I did not make these from scratch. Toll House is there to help me and then I just went and picked up some toppings. So when it's dessert time, put it out, everyone makes an ice cream sandwich and we're ready to go. I love that. And even if you just wanted a cookie, you could just just grab the cookie. Yeah, you don't have to have the ice cream, and you could pick different flavors. You can make, you can really bulk up this ice cream bar. Um, my other one favorite is using Pillsbury. Uh, chopping it up and making pulled monkey bread. So this is a play on churros, and who doesn't love a churro for dessert. So we're using, you got, they're sticky. Pull. So they are caramel and cinnamon sugar. We use the Pillsbury, um, cinnamon rolls, cut them up, bake them in little muffin pans. They're great just to grab and go. And then this is one of my kids' favorite because they helped me make them. I make box cake, chop it up, stick it in these little cute glasses. Everything here, all the containers are from the dollar store, so you're saving as well, and you can use jams, preserves, chocolate, caramel, and Ready whip, all easy, easy peasy. And the presentation too, it looks fun. It's social, right? You can grab and go. You don't have to worry about like sitting down, making a cake, serving it, because I feel like with the Super Bowl there's so many people moving in and out. You're in and out of the kitchen, you're in the living room watching the game. This is something quick and easy and it's also entertaining the kids that you're throwing something sweet their way. Excuse us. All right, so that's dessert. Yes, of course, Super Bowl is about the food as well. Oh yeah. In the next half hour you've got some cost saving ideas for us. I do. We have a full spread coming your way on a budget. We are spoiled here this morning. We'll get to that, chef. Thank you very much. In the next half hour. Well, what I wanted to ask was if you want to do some fancier desserts, you actually came out with a book and it has some, uh, you have some recipes in there. I do. I wrote a book, uh, called Little Portugal, and it does have that Portuguese vibe, but it has all different kinds of desserts that are really easy as well that you could serve for any entertaining.

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NJ12 Recipes

Chef Lauren Covas joined News 12 in studio to share ways to create a Super Bowl menu that is both affordable and full of flavor.

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