Archive for the 'Food' Category

11
Sep
13

bread and meat.

By Uncle Crappy 4 Comments
Categories: Food and Recipes
Tags: , , ,

As we packed up after the Buffalo game, I asked Fred if he could come up with an idea or two for the following week’s party. And when he emailed me a couple days later with suggestions for Italian-style sandwiches and Muffulettas.

I think Fred viewed these, which he pulled from Google, as possibilities. But they sounded good to me, and I viewed them as the menu for the San Diego State game.

sammiches

Fred’s notes on the Italian sandwiches:

Italian-Style Sandwiches

• 1 (5.3-oz.) container spreadable goat cheese

• 2 tablespoons refrigerated pesto with basil

• 1 (12-oz.) package ciabatta rolls

• 1 pound variety meats

• 1 1/3 cups firmly packed arugula

• 1/2 cup jarred roasted red bell pepper strips

• 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced

Wasn’t in the mood for onion and decided to use the full loaves instead of rolls. Also, used mixed greens instead

of only arugula.

Fred found delicious stuff at Costco for these, not the least of which was the amazing crusty bread he used for both. The pesto on these, the Italians, also made these stand out.

Fred found delicious stuff at Costco for these, not the least of which was the amazing crusty bread he used for both. The pesto on these, the Italians, also made these stand out.

And then there were the Muffulettas. The olive spread meant that I wasn’t trying these — olives are one of a few foods that I really wish I liked — but everyone loved them. Here’s what Fred did with those:

Muffulettas

• 2 16-oz. jars mixed pickled vegetables

• 3/4 cup pimiento-stuffed Spanish olives, chopped

• 2 tablespoons bottled olive oil-and-vinegar dressing

• 12 small dinner rolls, cut in half

• 6 Swiss cheese slices, cut in half

• 12 thin deli ham slices

• 12 Genoa salami slices

• 6 provolone cheese slices, cut in half

Used Costco Muffuletta spread instead of making my own. Used provolone only (because I forgot to buy

swiss). Used the same rustic loafs that I used for Italian sandwiches.

Olive-y goodness.

Olive-y goodness.

A couple of other tips from Fred:

  • Best secret in making sub-style sandwiches: Slice open and hollow out the top of each loaf, hollow top slice and the fixins fit much better.
  • Went to Wasserstrom Restaurant Supply for foil bins (used for serving) and beautiful bamboo toothpicks.

The next game is a noon start, which means it’ll be tough for Mrs. Crappy and me to cook. Anyone have any suggestions?

Heh.

05
Sep
13

bob evans would be proud.

By Uncle Crappy 4 Comments
Categories: Food and Recipes
Tags: , ,

When Mrs. Crappy mentioned last week that we weren’t going to start the season with our traditional breakfast casseroles, I was concerned. After tasting what she came up with, I have learned — once again — that I need to shut up. As usual, this post is written by Mrs. Crappy, with commentary from me in italics.

OK kids, a new season calls for new recipes. In an attempt to find something new to feed the Killer Nuts, I modified a crescent roll poppers recipe, ending up with what has been dubbed (by Ethel) Biscuits and Gravy Casserole without the gravy for the Aug. 31, 2013, game in Columbus against the Buffalo Bulls.

The original recipe for ground beef poppers came from Pinterest (of course it did). Initially, I thought what the hell, we can have ground beef for breakfast, but then I got to thinking what if I used breakfast sausage instead. And I didn’t want to wrap up 48 individual crescent rolls as the recipe calls for, so casserole pan it is! Hunger and laziness — two great motivators! BONUS: This recipe contains no eggs (Other than what’s in crescent rolls to begin with.), because we have several tailgaters who do not eat them, no way, no how! As Juan says, “Lips that touch eggs will never touch mine.”

Sorry — we did not do the step-by-step photo process when cooking this week. We’ll do better as season goes on! Promise!

Mostly because she was making these at 5:30 Saturday morning, and who thinks of taking pictures at that hour?

breakfast tight

Sausage Gravy Casserole

What you need:

  • Four refrigerated crescent roll tubes (I used store brand).
  • 2 pounds ground breakfast sausage (It’s Ohio, so I had to use Bob Evans regular breakfast sausage in 1 pound packages in the bacon/sausage/hot dog section of grocery).
  • Two 8-ounce packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (Don’t be cheap on this ingredient. Store brands suck!).
  • Butter-flavored cooking spray.

What you do:

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees, placing racks on middle level. Racks on bottom will burn the bottom of crescent rolls.
  • Spray two baking pans with cooking spray (I used glass Pyrex 11″ X 9″). Cover bottom of each pan with a layer of crescent roll dough. Bake for about 6 to 8 minutes. Pull out of oven and let cool.
  • Cook the sausage in a frying pan, breaking it up into a crumbly consistency. And here is where I would like to experiment with this recipe more: this would be a good place to throw in something like a can of drained green chilies (as the original popper recipe called for) or onions, other vegetables, whatever. I did add a little garlic powder and black pepper.
  • When sausage is cooked and drained, with pan on a lower heat setting (actually, we cooked sausage and refrigerated at night. In morning I reheated) add in all of the cream cheese. Cutting the cheese into chunks helps it melt down faster.
  • Stir, stir, stir! Don’t burn or brown the cheese, but blend it in with the sausage. You’ll end up a creamy, thick paste.
  • Then spread on top of baked dough. Spread it to all corners, right up the the edges. Then cover with another sheet of crescent roll dough, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until dough is light brown.
  • Let cool slightly and cut into whatever size servings you want. Since we had 17 at the tailgate, I made small squares that could be picked up and eaten as finger food or cut with fork. I liked mine with a bit of Frank’s Red Hot sauce on top. The little we had left over and reheated in microwave for about a minute and a half, were excellent, so I think this is a recipe that could be made and then frozen for future use.

The finished casseroles — along with two pans of cheesy potatoes — were dropped in the patented Pound Family Tailgating Box (a large cardboard box with beach towels to insulate whatever stuff we’re bringing) and served, still warm, to our fellow KNTers.

kntbreakfast

This one is a keeper, boys and girls. Ethel was dead on when she said it tasted like Bob Evans biscuits and gravy. I was surprised that there was anything left over, although I was pretty happy about it Sunday morning.

Fred and Ethel are taking over for this Saturday’s game in Columbus against San Diego State. Can’t wait to tell you about what they make!

And … LET’S GO BUCKS!

19
Oct
12

seven.

By Uncle Crappy 2 Comments
Categories: Beverages, Food, Football and Recap
Tags: , , , ,

Hi. It’s been a while. Let’s get caught up, shall we?

  • By a narrow margin, we have decided that Ohio State plays in the Pork Division. Excellent decision, you guys.
  • Boy, the Nebraska game was fun. I didn’t feel like there were huge defensive lapses — in spite of Nebraska’s 38 points — and the offense … hooboy, the offense. The weather was gorgeous, the halftime show — that was the video game theme show, the one that went viral in the days that followed the game — and with the exception of Mrs. Crappy’s absence for illness, that was a great time all the way around.
  • Boy, the Nebraska tailgate was, uh, even funner. We had a huge crowd for the all-day party, and we had two excellent meals. Suzanne was the star of the lunchtime show; her Mexican tarts — known to Juan as “our special guests” — were delicious, and the corn I made to go alongside turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. For dinner, we went through about 18 pounds of the family sloppy joe mix. Everyone went above and beyond the call of duty in bringing along snacks and sides, and our other special guests — all part of Lovely Rita Meter Maid’s entourage — were awesome people to hang out with all afternoon.
  • We got home from the night game and finished unpacking around 2 a.m. Sunday. I love night games, but I’m glad they happen just once a year.
  • Recipes? We have recipes. Specifically, the recipes for Suzanne’s tarts and my corn will be coming soon.
  • Bud and Pat visited Pittsburgh for my birthday weekend, which meant we watched the Indiana game at home, accompanied by pizza from our favorite local place. That part was good; Ohio State’s defense was not. But I knew that might be the case when I saw a tweet from Tim May, who saw that Zach Boren was warming up with the linebackers. My folks went to bed with about five minutes left in the game, and joked about me coming to get them if Indiana came back. And they didn’t believe me when I told them the final score on Sunday morning.
  • If you’re ever looking for pizza on Pittsburgh’s North Side, look up Pizza Pescara. Seriously.
  • And now we’re in Columbus, watching the weather and eyeing an early bedtime, so we can be ready to do it all over again in the morning. It’s a little difficult to believe that there are just three more home games this season, but there you go … Purdue, Illinois and our bowl game for the season against the Team Up North. That’ll make for a good finish, boys and girls, even without postseason play — and it’s time to get ready for the 2012 Pork Division Championship.
07
Sep
12

disaster narrowly averted.

By Uncle Crappy Leave a Comment
Categories: Food
Tags: ,

By now, making the eggless sausage breakfast casseroles should be second nature to me. As Mrs. Crappy explained a day ago, it’s something of a standard dish for us.

And yet, I can’t seem to make them without screwing something up.

Thankfully, it’s a pretty forgiving recipe, and I can get away with making mistakes without you guys ever noticing. Like, say, two seasons ago when we were talking in the kitchen while I was preparing the food — and I realized that I forgot to brown the sausage before mixing it with the potatoes, peppers and all the other delicious stuff. No biggie, though — the sausage was cooked when I baked the casseroles the following morning.

On Friday night, I was dead tired when I started the prep work — but I at least remembered to get out the skillets to brown the meat while we watched Michigan State and Boise State. I diced all the veggies without losing a finger and popped them in the oven so we would only have to heat them in the morning. Dad and Mrs. Crappy both tasted the final product, announced they were pleased and we all went to bed to get ready for a very early start on Saturday.

It was when I was collecting food for the coolers on Saturday morning that I noticed the two bags of shredded cheddar in the fridge. Unopened.

Yep. I forgot to add the cheese.

Fortune continued to smile on me and my breakfast casseroles, though. I had just put them in the oven to get them warm; I got them out, buried the tops of each one with a cup of cheddar, and put them back in to heat. The finished product? The cheese browned beautifully, crusty in some places, melty in others.

Yes, we ran this picture yesterday. BUT JUST LOOK AT THAT CHEESE.

My ass was saved once again.

So when I make these next year, someone remind me to not only put the cheese in the casseroles but to put some on top as well. And to brown the sausage. And to not cut off my fingers.

12
Sep
11

two weeks, one weak.

By Uncle Crappy 4 Comments
Categories: Food, Football, Recap and Recipes
Tags: , , , ,

It was supposed to be like this anyway...

We’re two weeks into the season. The tailgates have been good, the parking has been ideal and the football … well, I’m not sure about the football yet. Here’s a rundown:

The Parking: Hooboy, this has been the best part about the season so far. you’ll recall that we felt pretty good about getting back to our usual lot before the season started, and so far, that’s worked perfectly. We have shade, we don’t have crowds and we have nearly all of the things — with the possible exception of grass — that we’ve enjoyed in the past. It could be that no one has questioned us about being there because no one has noticed us, but with each week, I’m feeling better about the prospects of us just being able to stay there.

The parties: As is often the case attendance was a little light the first week, but we recovered nicely on Saturday. The noon games are tough — tough on me, because I’m up at 5 a.m., and tough on the rest of y’all, because there just isn’t a whole lot of tailgate party to work with before it’s time to pack up and go inside. I am hopeful we won’t have many more noon starts for the rest of the year.

And did we eat well? Yes we did. Bud volunteered to make his breakfast hash for the first week; we’ve covered that recipe here before, and in spite of some technical difficulties with the propane skillet, it was as good as it always was.

I did the Groundhog-standard eggless breakfast casseroles on Saturday, and they were apparently popular. The basic recipe is here, but of course, I made some changes. One was simple — the base, but I substituted two pounds of bacon for the two pounds of sausage. The other was tweaked a little more. I used a pound of regular ground sausage and a pound of spicy; I also added a couple diced jalapenos to the mix, enough for flavor but not so much that it would blow anyone’s head off.

And it was good.

The pigskin: Damn, we looked good against Akron. Bauserman had the kind of day I didn’t know he was capable of, the receivers were sharp — THREE TOUCHDOWN CATCHES BY A TIGHT END WHAT? — and we didn’t appear to miss the suspended starters a whole bunch. It was the kind of game that made you feel good — but you realize that the opponent was good enough that you learned a whole lot about what to expect from your team later on.

And then there was Toledo.

I’m hoping that the near-upset was because of a couple of things: the fact that the Rockets are really good (we’ll find out more about that this weekend, when they host Boise State), and the attention of the Buckeyes was focused more on Miami this week than the game last week. Whether or not that’s the case, here’s one thing that’s certain — if Toledo hadn’t racked up the penalties they had, we would have lost that game. To an in-state team. For the first time since 1921.

Ouch.

I don’t think a lack of focus will be a problem this weekend, but hooboy the competition gets a lot better. We don’t know if the NCAA will let us have the Charity Three — as opposed to the Tat Four — back for the game against the Hurricanes, but their guys who were suspended in Week One, including quarterback Jacory Harris, will be back on the field,  if they don’t crash any more Jet Skis into yachts in the interim.

How good is Ohio State? I think we’ll know the answer to that question by about 11 Saturday night.

28
Dec
10

weak.

By Uncle Crappy 2 Comments
Categories: Food and Yelling and Screaming
Tags:

Even after the last two seasons — when we wrapped up a home-and-home against Southern Cal and started one against Miami — I continue to hear about Ohio State’s weak football schedule.

There are two things to point out here. First, the Big Ten finished the regular season with three Top 10 teams, and the conference has eight teams playing bowl games, seven of which will play on New Year’s Day or later. Like any conference — including the SEC, which plays more than its share of 1-AA opponents every year — we have our weaknesses, but that’s a good sign that the conference schedule is becoming solid.

And then there’s this, the apparent announcement of a home-and-home series with Georgia down the road. For anyone who’s not keeping track on their own, here’s what the non-conference schedule offers for the next decade or so:

  • 2012-13: Cal
  • 2014-15: Virgina Tech
  • 2016-17: Oklahoma
  • 2018-19: Tennessee
  • 2020-21: Georgia

Also consider that starting this fall, Nebraska (No. 17 in the AP, playing in the Holiday Bowl this week) is added to the conference schedule.

And then if you want to talk about weak schedules? Feel free to kiss my ass.

24
Nov
10

makin’ meat.

By momsbrain 1 Comment
Categories: Food, Football and Traditions

I’m just the clean-up crew, but I am here to post some photos of Fred’s weekend sausage-making extravaganza.

Supplies: slabs of meat and fat, spices, stand mixer and accessories.

Essential helper: Spencer the chocolate lab.

Not sure which flavor: either hot Italian or maple.

Cajun sausage - unusual because its contents are cooked. "This one smells best," says Spencer.

More makin' of the Cajun sausage.

All ready for sampling on Saturday morning.

20
Nov
10

iowa got smoked.

By Uncle Crappy 2 Comments
Categories: Food
Tags: , , ,

About a week ago, I was trying to figure out where Mrs. Crappy and I were going to watch the Iowa game.

And then Matlock and the Coochie Doctor said they were going to fire up the smoker for the game. And we found ourselves driving to Columbus to watch an Ohio State game on television.

Oh, and eat huge piles of freshly smoked pulled pork. Here’s the CD explaining the sauces and Matlock — with the help of Mrs. Crappy and Juan — picking the meat he just brought inside:

18
Nov
10

hang those chads.

By Uncle Crappy Leave a Comment
Categories: Food
Tags: , ,

A quick reminder: I’ll close the voting on our Michigan meats of choice tonight, so if you have a strong preference, get your votes in now.

17
Nov
10

ode to cheese.

By Uncle Crappy 3 Comments
Categories: Food and Recipes
Tags: ,

I know I made a big deal when we started KNT about the fact that we’d post recipes here; I know that some of us *coughmrscrappyahem* haven’t really gotten around to posting about what they’ve cooked.

I have a recipe, used just last Saturday. I’m not sure it qualifies as cooking — and in the interest of full disclosure, I should say that Mrs. Crappy actually made this while I was loading the truck Saturday morning — but it was everything I was hoping for and more.

Ladies and gentlemen — the Official Queso Dip of the Big Ten Network:

You take two cans of this:

Dice 32 ounces of this:

And put them all in a bowl in the microwave until it’s all melty. Kind of like this:

Not a picture of our presentation, which involved a crock pot and an open bag of Fritos Scoops sitting next to it.

I wanted to try this for the cheesiness factor alone — not the cheese factor, because, let’s face it, no actual cheese is involved here — and I would have happy with just about any result. But, uh, I can happily report that this was actually good. We broke out the bowl with a bag of Fritos Scoops and the KNTers killed the whole thing in about an hour. The Ro*Tel tomatoes and chilies have a pretty good amount of spice by themselves; unless you really wanted to go big, you don’t have to adjust for that kind of heat.

There is a variation I will likely try for the Michigan game. When I tweeted last week about making this, my friend Jennifer mentioned her standard additions to the standard recipe — a pound of cooked ground sausage and a brick of cream cheese. Dude — there’s no way I’m not going to give that a shot.

Best part? We’ve finally come around to supporting the advertiser that single-handedly kept the Big Ten Network afloat for its first year of existence. And I have a feeling we’ll be doing that again and again and again.

« Previous Entries

2017 schedule

Aug. 31: vs. at Indiana, 8 p.m.
Sept. 9: Oklahoma, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 16: Army, 4:30 p.m.
Sept. 23: UNLV
Sept. 30: at Rutgers
Oct. 4: at Maryland
Oct. 7: Maryland
Oct. 14: at Nebraska
Oct. 28: Penn State, 3:30 p.m.
Nov. 4: at Iowa
Nov. 11: Michigan State
Nov. 18: Illinois
Nov. 22: Indiana
Nov. 25: at Team Up North, noon
Dec. 2: B1G Championship, 8 p.m.

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