The affection for something soft and sweet in a crust seems to be a purely American trait, and when you add chocolate to the mix, it becomes a full-fledged love-affair. Chocolate Cream Pie is a perfect example of this; velvety-smooth chocolate custard topped with billowing mounds of fresh whipped cream in a crisp crust is about as classic and homespun of an American dessert as you can get, but its appeal never wanes.

This recipe has more chocolate in the filling than most, making it dark and deeply flavored, and the chocolate pastry crust adds a double-chocolate punch. Offset by the pure, sweet whipped cream, one bite of this decadent pie and you'll know why it has withstood the test of time as one of America's most beloved desserts.

Photo K. Kingsley

It seems everyone is a football fan on Super Bowl Sunday. Even folks who don't know a field goal from a first down somehow end up in front of the flatscreen with a group of friends, debating referee calls and critiquing the half-time show. And when it comes to game day food, the Super Bowl is "super" indeed; consider that 1 billion chicken wings are consumed by Americans on Super Sunday, as well as 325.5 gallons of beer and 28 million pounds of potato chips. Now those are some astounding numbers!

If you think these facts are interesting, Treehugger has compiled a list of amazing Super Bowl stats, and here are a few more:

• 53.5 million pounds of avocados will be consumed.

• 8 million pounds of popcorn will be consumed.

• 20 million Americans will attend a Super Bowl party.

• 40% of Super Bowl viewers are not football fans.

• 10 million man-hours will be spent preparing food for the Super Bowl party.

• 10 million man-hours were spent making the movie Avatar.

If you were wondering where all this festive football frivolity leads to the following Monday -  there's a 20% increase in sales of ant-acid and an estimated 7 million employees will not show up for work. Go Super Bowl!

Great Game Day Grub:
5 Easy Super Bowl Recipes
Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork
Firehouse Chili

Photo Getty Images

The Anchor Bar, owned by the Bellissimo family in Buffalo, NY, has been serving up their famous Buffalo Chicken Wings since 1964, and not much has changed with the recipe since then.

The restaurant was run by Frank and Teresa Bellissimo back then, and the story goes that one Friday night their son Dominick asked for a snack for some of his late-night friends. Teresa was making stock with chicken wings (just about the only thing you used them for back then) and decided to deep-fry a batch. To add some flavor, she doused them in hot sauce and melted margarine and served them with the house blue cheese dressing and celery sticks grabbed from the antipasto trays. And as they say, the rest is history!

The brick landmark on the corner of Main and North still serves up their famous wings, but the recipe is a closely guarded secret.  This All-American Buffalo Wings recipe comes close, but the wings are roasted not deep-fried, giving them lots of flavor with less fat - and you MUST serve them with the Blue Cheese Dressing or they are just not considered Buffalo wings.

I dispelled with the notion of New Year's resolutions years ago - mostly because I know myself too well. However, this year I decided that I would start eating more fish, especially in the winter. For some reason, I seem to cook fish and seafood mostly in the spring and summer months. Probably because I live in New England, where winter means chapped cheeks and frozen fingers and toes, and as a result, all you crave is the cozy comfort of a warm bowl of soup. So I created this Salmon and Corn Chowder to 1) try to stick to my New Year's resolution and 2) combat the chill of a northeast winter. I'm happy to say that it's a winner on both counts.

Serve the chowder with some crusty bread and a big green salad and you have an easy and hearty supper - and it's ready in just 40 minutes.

Photo Getty Images