As one New Orleans broadcaster so succinctly phrased it “the pigs have flown, hell has frozen over and the Saints are going to the Superbowl.”

Finally after all these years of Sunday afternoons of misery, season after season of ridicule, wearing paper bags and being called the “Aints,” we are going to the Super Bowl.

I don’t use the word we lightly, face it, most of us in this area have been Saints fans forever.

In the wake of Katrina’s devastation to New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast people all over America have become Saints fan. Watching them bond with their fans and become more than just a football team to New Orleans has been a tumultuous ride.

My late husband, David, was a Saints fan when I met him way back in 1980. He used to tell me at the beginning of every season, “this is going to be a better year.” He believed in them then and after he passed away our son Matthew took up the mantra.

Over the last several years Matthew has been telling me “this definitely could be the year.” At the beginning of this season Matthew said the Saints were better and they could do it this year, he and thousands of other believers have been rewarded.

So between now and Feb. 7, you need to plan your Super Bowl party, and I’ve got some great ideas for that event.

First start with these unique cheese appetizers. I got the recipe from Holly’s mother-in-law, Laurie, in Dallas. A friend of hers served them at a couples shower before Holly’s wedding. They are like little spicy cheese toasts and they need to be made ahead and frozen so what could be better and easier?

Stacked cheese appetizers

3 loaves Pepperidge Farm very thin white bread

4 jars Kraft Old English cheese spread

1 pound butter

1 teaspoon Tabasco

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Dill weed

Cayenne pepper

Trim the crusts of your bread. I stack up several slices at once and use my electric knife.

Mix the cheese, butter, Tabasco, Worcestershire and garlic powder. Spread on the bread slices, stack into four layers, sprinkle with the cayenne and dill weed and cut each stack into four squares. Place the squares on a cookie sheet and freeze.

When they are frozen, place in plastic storage bags until ready to cook. Each loaf makes about 24 squares.

To cook, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, place frozen squares on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t let them get too brown.

Nothing will feed your Super Bowl crowd better than a pot of soup. This hearty pasta and sausage soup will be perfect on the big day. Serve with corn muffins or crusty rolls.

Tortellini and sausage soup

1 pound Italian sausage, remove the casings

1 cup chopped onion

2 large garlic cloves, minced

5 cups beef broth

2 cups chopped tomatoes (I use the canned diced ones)

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

1 large zucchini, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 medium green pepper, diced

1/4 cup chopped banana peppers

1/2 cup red wine

2 tablespoons basil

2 tablespoons oregano

8 to 10 ounces fresh tortellini

Salt and pepper to taste

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Brown the sausage in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat until crumbly and cooked through. Transfer the sausage to colander to drain. Remove all of the fat in the pan except for one tablespoon. Sauté the onion and garlic in the pan until the onion is tender. Return the sausage to the saucepan. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, bell pepper, banana peppers, wine, basil and oregano.

Simmer for 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. You can prepare up until this point two days in advance and store in the refrigerator.

When ready to serve, bring to a simmer, add the pasta and mix gently. Cook for 8 minutes or until the pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish your bowls of soup with Parmesan cheese.

More for your Super Bowl party next week.

CHristina Hall writes a weekly column for The Democrat. She can be reached at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com.