Killer Nuts Tailgating

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?

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.

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!