Recipe of the Week

This week I thought I would try out a new site for finding recipes from delish.com. Figured I would change it up a little bit since I had been going with what I new was good. This still sounds really good. When I get the chance I definitely want to try this one out!

Herbed Chicken and Hot-Pepper Sandwiches

From Country Living
This sure-to-please dish is easy to prepare and travels well — perfect for both autumn picnics and everyday meals. To save time, purchase a rotisserie chicken from the deli counter or use good-quality sliced fresh turkey breast and make this entire dish in under 15 minutes.



Ingredients

* 2 (about 1 pound) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
* 3 tablespoon(s) lemon juice
* 1/3 cup(s) olive oil
* 3 teaspoon(s) rosemary, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon(s) salt
* 1 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground pepper
* 1/2 cup(s) mayonnaise
* 3 ounce(s) hot capocollo or salami, thinly sliced
* 1 cup(s) pickled hot pepper, thinly sliced
* 6 ounce(s) fontina cheese, sliced 1/4-inch thick
* 4 (10-inch) baguettes


Directions

1. Roast the chicken:

Place the chicken, lemon juice, olive oil, 2 teaspoons rosemary, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours. Heat oven to 400°F. Remove chicken from marinade (discard marinade) and roast until cooked through -- about 25 minutes. Thinly slice the chicken breasts; set aside.

2. Make the sandwiches:

Split each of the baguettes horizontally using a serrated knife. Stir the mayonnaise and remaining rosemary together and spread on each slice. Layer the capocollo, peppers, chicken, and fontina on half of the sliced baguettes. Top each sandwich with the remaining slices, cut in half, and serve.

Serving size = 1 sandwich

Tips & Techniques

Timesaver: Purchase a rotisserie chicken from the deli counter or use good-quality sliced fresh turkey breast and make this entire dish in under 15 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good morning everybody and a Happy Thanksgiving! There is a full slate of football games schedule for the day while you sit around and enjoy your feasts. I know I cannot wait. I am looking forward specifically to the Dallas game. They play every year and I have been a fan since I was a kid. Plus I have Miles Austin going this week in fantasy football, so it has other implications. Hopefully he will have a big week. Need all the help that we can get. I am trying to make a playoff push these last few weeks before the regular season ends. In another league that I joined I have a guaranteed playoff spot, but I am still battling for the number seed. I guess it does not make that big of a difference. It would just be nice to be the supposed “weakest” team.

Anyways my plans for the day are nothing short of spectacular. I plan on eating so much food that I will probably just wear sweat pants to lunch. Since I am eating dinner at my house I do not see the need to get overdressed. It is just the family. I would rather be comfortable and ready to stuff my face full of bird. Then move onto the several options that dessert offers…usually something in pumpkin sounds about right. My mom makes a pretty good pumpkin roll. If I ever to remember I will have to post that sometime. I think you will really enjoy it.

Again enjoy the holidays and be safe out there this weekend. Always want to make sure to have fun, but still be aware of what you are doing.

Happy Turkey Day!

Recipe of the Week

I also think I have used celebrations.com before to find recipes, and was fairly happy with the results. So, I decided to comeback for more. This sounded like a tasty twist on your typical cheeseburger. With all the ingredients you might think it makes cooking a burger way to difficult, but if you actually read the directions they extremely easy. Not much more than throwing ingredients, the right ones of course, together and mixing. Then for your burgers you just have to form the patties. Cannot get any simpler than that!

Mediterranean Burgers

The Sun-dried Tomato Basil Mayonnaise is excellent as a topping on these burgers and would taste great on a vegetarian version as well.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 3 oz. Feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup pitted, finely chopped Kalamata olives
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper
• 4 grilled onion rolls
• Sun-dried Tomato Basil Mayonnaise
• 1 Cup mayonnaise
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes (hydrated)
• 1 tablespoon minced basil leaves

Steps

• Add ground beef into a bowl and mix in cheese, olives, salt and peppers until throughout. Form 4 patties and place in an airtight container for transport to the tailgate site.

• To make Sun-dried Tomato Basil Mayonnaise: Add mayonnaise and sun-dried tomatoes into blender and process until smooth. Stir in basil leaves and transfer into an airtight container.

Note: Keep mayo in the cooler on hot tailgating days for maximum freshness.

• Grill burgers on a lightly oiled rack over medium-high heat, 5 minutes on each side for medium burgers. Top with Sun-dried Tomato Basil Mayonnaise and serve on onion rolls.

Makes 4 servings

"Tailgating Fanatic"

Tailgating Fanatic

Tailgating Fanatic is a web site dedicated to selling merchandise for the tailgating fan. They have items for sale from four sports categories that include NCAA, NFL, MLB, and NASCAR merchandise. Some of the items up for sale are chairs, suit cases, coolers, and other various products with your favorite team’s logo. They are plenty of options for choosing your favorite teams. You can basically select any major division I college school from the NCAA merchandise list and have their team logo put on your item. It carries all NFL and MLB teams which means another 60 something options to choose from, roughly. Finally, it carries numerous drivers from NASCAR, but it is does not include all the drives in the series.

Items that they carry range from backpacks, blankets and throws, chairs, coolers and accessories, to heaters, lanterns and lights, and other portable appliances. They also have an entire section dedicated to your typical tailgating games. The bag sets, also known as cornhole I believe, that they had looked really nice. If I had some extra income to spend I would not mind buying me a set of those. They are always fun to play when you need to kill some time on a nice day. Not as fun when it is could outside. Other games include bulls-eye washer and 3 washer games, finger football, and frizby football. The frizby football actually looks like a lot fun. Another game where you can stand around drinking and still be able to throw a disc with your other hand. The object of the game is to throw a frizby through a set of goal posts. Something similar to bags, but at the same time a little different challenge. Should try it out.

Recipe of the Week

I found another knockout from myrecipes.com, but this might be more suitable for a night at home watching the game on the tube because it calls for baking the wings instead of grilling. It might be possible to make them the night before if there were some possible way of reheating them at the game the next day. Even though I cannot really think of too many options when it comes to this other than getting dish or pan and heating on the grill. This would reheat the wings in a rather short time frame, and allow you to still keep the sauce on the wings. You could even make up another batch the night before and bring it with just in case. You can always add more flavors, but you cannot take the spices out after the fact.

Honey Chicken Wings

You're sure to get a standing ovation when guests sample this sweet-hot salsa, honey, and ginger marinade. Bake the wings during the first quarter and serve at halftime with blue cheese or Ranch dressing.

Yield: 4 appetizer servings

Ingredients
• 1 cup salsa or picante sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken wing pieces

Preparation
Stir together first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Add wing pieces, tossing to coat. Place on an aluminum foil-lined 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan.

Bake at 400° for 55 minutes or until chicken is done, turning once.

Another quick and easy recipe…that is why I love this site. Enjoy!

Bud Light! Wheat Beer...

Another exciting rendition of the Bud Light! Tailgate Tested. Tailgate Approved. Although this time they finally came out with a new beer and not a semi-sarcastic product. I have yet to try it but I have heard from several people that it is fairly decent. No big remarks that it is fantastic and is a must buy. Even so I will probably eventually cave in and go try it. I guess you really have to. No other ways to form your own opinion about it until you try it. The only real details that I have heard about it are that is basically taste like Bud Light! with a slight wheat flavor. I was wondering if the taste is somewhat similar to the pales or wheat ales or if the taste is not as strong as say a Samuel Adams Wheat beer.

That also was not a bad marketing strategy from Bud Light! Nothing to brilliant but none the less can still be effective. Create hype about their company by producing commercials about not to common tailgate products, and then eventually x months later roll out a new flavor of beer. It caught my attention. Although, I still have not went and bought any. Maybe it is not that effective after all. Hopefully they will come out with another flavor in a few months or so. Then I will have a new beer on my list to try. Cannot wait until I go buy some, and I think I will actually go right now.

Recipe of the Week

I found this while searching tailgating.com. Looked like a unique meal compared to your normal eggs and pancakes breakfast. Philly scrapple sounds like something you might not want to eat, but at the same time I bet this is delicious. Never tried it myself, but you never know until you try.

This is basically what scrapple is:
Scrapple (Pennsylvania Dutch) is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and flour, often buckwheat flour and spices.
Philly Phavorite Eagles Breakfast

Ingredients:
o 2 to 3 lbs Philadelphia Scrapple
o 2 to 3 lbs Sausage Patties
o 2 to 3 lbs Bacon
o 2 lbs sliced American cheese
o 4 dozen eggs
o 4 dozen English Muffins
o 5 lbs potatoes
o 2 large onions
o 2 large peppers
o Worchestire sauce

Instructions:
Need a hot grill and skillet ....slice scrapple about 1/4" thick, grill on very hot skillet (the hotter the skillet, the better the scrapple cooks), grill sausage patties and bacon (meat can be cooked at home and prepared at parking lot) ...fry eggs on skillet, flipping one time, place on toasted english muffin, cover with slice of cheese and meat and/or meats of choice, add ketchup to taste and eat away ...

Peel and dice potatoes into bite size pieces, sprinkle w/seasoned salt, cover w/ sliced onions and peppers, add 1/2 stick of butter or margarine and a splash of Worchestire sauce, cover pan w/aluminum foil and place on grill...cook for about 1 hour (stirring to prevent burning) ...makes a great side dish to breakfast sandwiches.... Potatoes can be pre-boiled to speed cooking process Sandwiches can be wrapped in aluminum foil and taken into game to eat as a half time snack ....

After years of tailgating w/an all-male crew, I've been selected and elected as the "tailgate wife of the year(s)" and the mess cook ...suddenly men who have been eating hot dogs/burgers for years cannot cook for themselves ... it is fun to cook for so many who appreciate a good meal and great football

That was from Maryann R. an Eagles Tailgater…

How to Prepare for those Cold Winter Games

Now that we are getting closer to winter it is especially crucial to bundle up for those outdoor activities. For those of us that do not have the luxury of year round warm weather or domed stadiums we have to bear the cold to support our teams on Sunday or Saturday if you prefer. I am a bigger NFL fan than college football. Anyways, there are few ways you can go about your preparations in order to stay warm.

For the typical fan you probably are going to want to be the warmest you can possibly be. For this I say it never hurts to pack extra things. Bring a few blankets that you can have while tailgating that way you are not completely frozen by the end of the day, and if they allow you to bring them into the stadium I say go for it. Put on plenty of layers of clothing. You can always take stuff off if you get hot, but if you fail to bring something you can put in back on. I always like to keep these parts of my body the warmest: your head, hands, and feet because they are the furthest away from you heart where your blood is obviously being pumped. For me anyways, they tend to get the coldest. Usually I am I wishing I had a ski-mask to help keep my entire face covered. Bring hot drinks: coffee, tea, cappuccino, or whatever. This will help keep your blood circulating and give you warmth.

Or you can be that other guy….you know the one. It is the guy that has no shirt on and is in a line as a letter to spell out a word. I definitely do not have the motivation to do this. That would be a long day for myself. I do respect that they are willing to stand out in the cold for the day though. My question is do they even get cold?

Best College Football Stadium to Tailgate

In my personal experience I have tailgated at a couple of college football games. Since I am from the Mid-west the only games I have gone too are a few ISU and U of I games. I have never actually tailgated and gone to the game at the same time though. I have either solely went to the games or tailgated and didn’t have tickets to go. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but does it really need too? Oh well…. it did not make a big difference to me because from a competition standpoint I wasn’t too excited for either games because I am not really a fan the teams.

If possible, when I do go to other games I generally like to tailgate before the game with the intuition that I am actually going to the game also. I just think it is more fun that way because it creates an entire experience where you spend your whole day around with friends and family to support the team. Otherwise you are just drinking in a parking lot with a bunch of other people, which can be done basically anywhere. I am kidding where else can masses of people get together to drink without any intrusion from the law, but seriously how can it be tailgating if your intention is never to go into the game. In addition, games just are not the same without tailgating before. Do get me wrong both leisure activities are great by themselves, but combined it is the best time.

I have always wanted to go to a Michigan Wolverines game because as a child I wanted to go to their school for some reason. I think it was because I have been a fan of their football program since then. They were always on ABC and a good team to watch. Hard not to like something that wins all the time and also when you watch all the time. Hopefully I can make it to a game sometime. For me that would be the best college football stadium to tailgate at.

Recipe of the Week

This recipe comes from myrecipes.com. They have a wide variety of foods to prepare, and I think I have found another recipe from their website before. Great selections! This looks like a tasty appetizer that is fairly simple to prepare. The directions are easy to follow and there is no more than a few steps. You will love these and so will your guests!

The three-cheese filling is a nice complement for the spicy peppers. You can also use a milder chile, such as a cherry pepper. Shredded cheddar cheese can take the place of Parmesan, if you like.

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 2 pepper halves)
Ingredients

* 1/2 cup (4 ounces) soft goat cheese
* 1/2 cup (4 ounces) fat-free cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
* 1/2 cup finely chopped seeded tomato
* 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 16 jalapeño peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded (about 1 1/2 pounds)
* Cooking spray
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl, stirring well. Spoon about 2 teaspoons cheese mixture into each pepper half. Place pepper halves, cheese side up, on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill peppers 5 minutes or until bottoms of peppers are charred and cheese mixture is lightly browned. Carefully place peppers on a serving platter. Sprinkle with cilantro.