ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???

That’s right football fans; it’s that time of the year again! As coach, Chuck Pagano readies the Indianapolis Colts to battle the Denver Broncos this Sunday, we are preparing our stomachs for the buffet that is expected with tailgating. If you always struggle with what food to make or where all the fun happens during Colts games, we have your answers!

Tailgate food, of course, is all about preparing your buffet in advance. One of my family’s favorite finger foods to have is my world-famous Hawaiian Sandwiches. These easy-to-make sandwiches combine ham, Swiss cheese, and a super secret sauce on a Hawaiian roll. Recipe to follow along with a few others so keep reading! For more fan favorite tailgate recipes you can visit the Food Network website here.

Touchdown Town is one of the great perks that come with tailgating outside Lucas Oil Stadium. This tailgate utopia includes a plethora of food trucks, flat screen televisions to ensure you don’t miss a second of pregame coverage, PLAY60 Zones to see how you match up with your favorite NFL players, and if you’re lucky enough to run into the Colts Cheerleaders, you might just go home with a picture or autograph. This is a family friendly area that everyone needs to check out!

For more information on when Touchdown Town is open to the public, Colt’s Fan Club and all the other numerous activities during games, visit the Colts website.

For a FREE refrigerator magnet of the Colt’s schedule as well as Notre Dame, IU, and Purdue, contact me here and leave your address in the comments section. Or message me on Facebook and I would be happy to send you one! As a BONUS, it also includes the schedule for Sunday and Monday Night Football games!

GO COLTS!

 

Hawaiian Sandwiches
– Hawaiian sandwich buns
– Sliced deli ham – any flavor will do!
– Sliced baby Swiss cheese – cut in quarters
– 1 stick of butter
– 1 heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard
– 1 heaping tablespoon of minced onion
– 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds
Slice buns and layer backing dish with the bottoms. Layer one slice cheese, ham and another slice of cheese, and then top of bun. Melt butter and add, mustard, minced onion and poppy seeds. Generously brush mixture over the top of sandwiches. Bake at 375 until lightly brown and cheese is melting. Approximately 12-15 minutes.

 

Tomato/Mozzarella Bites
– Grape or cherry tomatoes – cut in half to make bite size if necessary
– Mozzarella balls or fresh mozzarella cut into bite size pieces
– Fresh basil
– Balsamic vinegar
On a tooth pick, layer grape tomato, basil and mozzarella – place on serving dish or Tupperware container for traveling. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve. Super quick, super easy, and super good!

Need 1.. Make 2… Recipes That Are Perfect for Storing or Sharing

With many recipes you need a dash of this spice, maybe half a cup of this, a tablespoon of that and by the end you have a lot of leftover ingredients that will inevitably go bad.  Why not the next time you are whipping up something delicious in the kitchen go ahead and double the recipe.  The amount of time you are adding to your task is almost non-noticeable but the result will be.  Below are some of my favorite meals that you can either freeze for later or bring to your elderly neighbor, cousin who just had a baby, or your child’s teacher.  I’ve even frozen meals in advance to give to people… so often during funerals, births, etc many people bring meals to a family, to the point they end up wasting food.  Bringing a home cooked meal that’s frozen allows them to use it when they actually need it.  I’d love to hear some of your favorite, easy to store meals.!

* Chicken Potpie Bowls: This one I will make in small, aluminum foil bowls that come packaged with lids. By using dishes that are disposable it takes the pressure off of the meal recipient to wash and return the dishware.

* Lasagna Primavera: This recipe is one of my favorites because even after pulling it out of the freezer and cooking it the ingredients and vegetables still taste fresh!

* Grown Up Prosciutto and Cheddar Pockets: This is the perfect take on the “hot-pocket” but with real wholesome ingredients.  This is ideal to make if you or a friend is a busy mom to keep stored in the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner.

* Breakfast Burritos: Having a healthy, frozen breakfast is a working moms best friend!

Fun Twists on Thanksgiving Day Favorites

While I am a huge fan of the traditional Thanksgiving day foods I find that tweaking a recipe or adding some pizzazz to the presentation can really liven up a holiday meal.  This year I have found a couple of ways to doctor up a few of the dishes that I am in charge of making and look forward to seeing the reactions from my family and loved ones.

One of my family favorites is deviled eggs.  In fact it seems like no holiday would be complete without these simple side dishes.  This year I thought I would spruce up their appearance and make them look like little pumpkins for some added festivity.  I was amazed at how simple this little transformation could be.  All you need to do is make your deviled eggs like normal except when you are mixing up the filling add a couple drops of red food coloring to turn the filling a light orange color.  The easiest way to fill the eggs is by putting the filling into a plastic bag, cutting off one corner, and then piping it in.  If at all possible smooth out the filling as much as possible and then make small indentions with a knife or spoon to resemble the skin of a pumpkin.  Lastly, place a small piece of green onion at the top and voila…. a beautiful and still tasty deviled egg that is sure to impress!

Another Thanksgiving day staple that I like to tweak from time to time is mashed potatoes.  While traditional butter flavor is delicious there are so many other flavors out there that can really give your potatoes a kick.  One of my favorite ways to prepare our Thanksgiving mashed potatoes dish is by making mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and mascarpone cheese.  Simply take 3 pounds of potatoes (diced and peeled) and boil.  Then drain and mash potatoes.  While the potatoes are cooking, combine the milk, garlic puree and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Stir the milk mixture into the potatoes until combined. Fold in the mascarpone and season well with salt and pepper. If this isn’t your ideal flavor check out this entire list of potato flavors!

 

The Perfect Snacks for Your Football or Fall Party!

I thought I would venture off a bit from discussing real estate to indulge in one of my other favorite activities and that is trying new recipes.  With that being said, due to my busy schedule I don’t have time to slave away for hours in the kitchen so finding a quick, easy, delicious, and still eye catching is always a goal of mine.  Recently I have come across 2 recipes that are ideal for entertaining and perfect for Colts football parties! Plus I have become infatuated with the whole “mini” idea when it comes to food… mini cupcakes… mini quiches…. etc, so this fits right in.  I also like making these next two recipes at the same time because you can use many of the same ingredients.

The first recipe is for mini BLT cups.  All you need is…

*a package of cherry or grape tomatoes

*mayonaisse

*bacon

*a lettuce of your choice… I would recommend spinach leaves as they hold their shape the best

Directions:

Simply slice of the top of the tomato (you made need to sliver off a bit off the bottom to make it stand).  Roll the tomato between your fingers or on the counter to force the pulp out.  Once the tomato is empty add a bit of spinach making sure the leaves are long enough to stick out.  Then add 1/4 tsp of crumbled bacon and last but not least top it off with a quirt of mayo.  I have found that putting the mayo in a plastic baggy and cutting off a corner to pipe into the tomatoes work the best.  If you are having a particularly hard time getting the tomatoes to stand you can try serving them on a layer of coarse sea salt.  The flavor will compliment the mini BLT cups and give you some traction on the plate!

The next recipe is for bite size burgers on a skewer.  The ingredients you will need for this recipe are:

*hamburger

*cherry tomatoes

*bacon

*sliced cheese

*lettuce

*skewers

*flat bread

The first thing you will want to do is get everything cut to a small bite size.  So you will want to find a small cookie cutter or use the cap to a spice for about a 1 1/2 inch in diameter.  Cut the flat bread with this circular cutter (2 for each skewer) and use the same size for your cheese piece.  Then cut small pieces of lettuce and cooked bacon.  Slice the cherry tomatoes in half.  Next comes the burger, use the same size cut out for your hamburger meat as well and then flatten down.  I choose to then pan fry the mini burgers until cooked through.  The last step is assembly.  Just skewer the ingredients in the same way you would see them on a hamburger.  To add a little more flash to this dish I like to use a head of lettuce with the bottom third cut off as the dish… simply stick the skewers into the head of lettuce that is now laying flat.  These are a huge hit!