Alright! Are you ready for some football?!? What?

Oh.

Right. That’s baseball. Well, I don’t have any photos of football.  I do, however, have pictures–AND RECIPES–for football (and baseball, and basketball, and soccer, and curling) SNACKS.

How about this Three-Cheese and Tomato Tart?  It is so easy, you could pop these in the oven one after another, as soon as they get devoured.

This BLT Pasta Salad was a hit with my people.  Try it with your people.

We gotta have something a little low-brow.  Nana’s Tortilla Roll-Up Canapes should do the trick.

If you’re into more of a buffet meal, you can whip up a pan of enchiladas today and just pop them in the oven sometime around the 3rd inning and they’ll be ready for halftime.

It might be a football game, but don’t forget dessert.  Here’s Nana’s Kahlua Cake.  It’s one of my biggest keyword searches on the blog!

Here are some more big time favorites for some big some eating!

Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

Chili-Bean Dip, Nana’s

Fried Stuffed Jalapenos, Nana’s (aka Jalapeno Poppers)

Guacamole

Reuben Dip, Nana’s

Spicy Horseradish Deviled Eggs with Candied Bacon

Sweet ‘n’ Sour Meatballs

Bacon, Pepper and Onion Monkey Bread

Beer-Braised Pork Pressed Sandwiches with Mustard Slaw

Breakfasty Sausage Burgers

Green and White Chili

Uncle Bobby’s Sausage Burgers with Peppers and Onions

What the what? Oh come now, Frito Pie is all over the internets, surely it was just a matter of time before the old UC got her hands dirty with this one. Besides, the “BIG GAME” is coming up, and while you are all glued to the telly you’ll need some nice tasty junk food to eat.

I’ll be out, enjoying the traffic-free roads, crowd-free grocery stores and maybe getting a pedicure.

Frito Pie is sort of a misleading term.  There’s Fritos all right.  But it’s not a pie. There’s nothing that resembles a pie.  No crust.  No filling.  No round Pyrex dish holding it all together.

No.  It’s just a mess, really.  A tasty mess that includes a base layer of Fritos corn chips.

Of course, things go on top of the Fritos.  One constant is chili.  It can be a meat chili, a vegetarian chili, canned chili, 3-alarm chili.  Whatever you like.  I made a quick skillet chili for this Frito Pie though, so maybe you’ll want to try it. It was pretty, pretty, pretty good.

I made it with lean beef but again, you can choose turkey or even those weird soy fake meat thingys.  There’s enough onion and spice that I bet it doesn’t matter all that much.  I bet buffalo would be good.  Or soy thingys!

After all the ingredients are in the skillet, I turned it to low and walked away for 30 minutes.  That gave the chili time enough to thicken up a bit and develop some flavor.  And time for me to shower!  TMI.  Sorry.

I had an internal struggle whether or not to include beans.  Given that I had 3 hungry men to feed, I added a can of black beans (and I’m glad I did—they ate every scrap, I barely got a serving), but pinto beans, kidney beans, or even no beans would be great too.  Put the beans in right before serving or they break up and get gross.  Just heat them through.

Serving in the chip bags is a fun idea but in truth makes them a little hard to eat with this size bag.  Maybe go with the tiny lunch bag sized ones for the “BIG GAME” and put in less toppings.  Otherwise just pour the chips into a bowl.

For the “BIG GAME” you can just put the stuff out for everyone to take their pick of toppings, or do it yourself. Spoon on chili, some shredded cheddar or Jack cheese, avocado or guacamole, salsa, cilantro and sour cream. Whatever your crew likes!

It’s kind of like nachos but with Fritos and chili.  So, better than nachos is what I mean.

It’s high time for another savory Nana recipe, don’t you think?  I made a mess of ‘em this past weekend, with the intent of re-heating them for weeknight dinners throughout the week and let me tell you, that was just a swell idea. I’ve been working a lot, and it’s tough sometimes to have the gumption to fix a healthy and wholesome meal when you feel like a zombie.  More often I just want to pick up a burrito.

Nana is scandalized at my confession, but then again, she didn’t have to work after she had kids.

This recipe calls for bottled barbecue sauce.  I normally eschew bottled barbecue sauce but sometimes, for the sake of Nana, I just go with it.  What’s a little bottled barbecue sauce, or cake mix…. or Jell-O, between friends?

Nana’s recipe also doesn’t call for onion, but I always seems to stray where onion is involved. I like it. I think everything should have onions in it. Onions should be invited to this barbecue party. If you don’t like them, don’t include them.

That bottled barbecue sauce is really just the base of this sauce. You really only use a quarter cup. Doctor it up with lemon, Tabasco, oil, sugar and water. It’s a thin mixture that the chicken will pretty much oven-braise in.

Pour it on, and while Nana doesn’t say so, I covered the dish with foil. She says to cook the chicken for two hours too, and I’m going to advise you not to do that.

After about 45 minutes, remove the foil and return the chicken to the oven. You can turn the pieces if you want. I turned the oven up and let the chicken get nice and brown.

It was just as tender and tasty as could be. It reheated nicely too.  This chicken’s a keeper.

This was taken in last December on the North Shore of Oahu on what may have been the fastest ten days of my life.

Hippie food! Yum!

I did it.  I’ve jumped on the hippie quinoa bandwagon.  This shit’s actually good.  It may look like hairy couscous but it tastes nice and has a great texture.  It helps too that it’s dead simple to cook.

Groceries

I wanted to make a salad of sorts, being inspired by my friend Ally’s quinoa salad (and more recently, some crispy quinoa cakes with Sriracha mayo–Yes, please)–but I took a little bit of a different approach….a south of the border approach, I suppose.

Not the most appetizing looking stuff.

First off, I just cooked the hairy couscous according to the package’s directions.  I realize you can use stock or whatever, but I’m going to drench the stuff in dressing so I just cooked it in plain old water.

Not as dangerous as it looks.

I also thought it would be lovely to have some roasty jalapeño flavor in there.  I only used one, as I was taking this to a party, but for my own taste I probably would’ve used two.  Yummy.  Just go ahead and roast them right on top of the gas flame.  It’s easy.  Use tongs to turn them over if you are a chicken.  If you are brave, just grab the little stem.  Let them go black all over.

Steam the pepper in a bowl with a plate over it.

Put the pepper(s) in a bowl and put a plate on top.  Leave them there so the peppers steam and the skins peel off easily.  You can seed them as you choose.  I seeded mine.  Then chop them up in wee tiny pieces.

I also chopped the rest of the ingredients I wanted in there (but failed to photograph it)–red and yellow bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, avocado.  I also rinsed a can of black beans.  I probably would’ve used tomato if they were in season.

Yummy cumin-citrus dressing.

While the quinoa is doing it’s absorbing thing, whisk up the dressing.  It is a basic vinaigrette, using the juice of a lemon and a lime and a little cumin for flavor.  I used a neutral oil like grape seed so I could taste the citrus and spice.  When the quinoa is still a little warm, add the dressing so it absorbs a little bit of it.

Once the quinoa is cool, add the vegetables and taste for seasoning.  You might need more salt and pepper and a squeeze more lime or lemon but that’s up to you.  I think this would be a swell dinner with a handful of tortilla chips and a beer, or a side dish for a picnic or outdoor party.

This is honestly good for you.

I’ve got some great recipes for you coming up but in the meantime I figured I’d share this fab salad I ate at Hot Italian the other day.  I stopped in at 5pm, after working a long and arduous day and since I’d forgotten lunch I decided I’d eat then with a happy hour cocktail.  That was probably the best decision I made all day.

The Canalis salad includes local Del Rio greens, albacore tuna, cannellini beans, red onions, good briny olives and some nice salty pecorino for good measure.  What a tasty and filling combination of ingredients.  I sucked down a Pista cocktail with it–a concoction of vodka, Campari and grapefruit juice and was as right as rain in no time flat.

Hot Italian

Sacramento, CA 95814

Have you had this polenta?   IT IS SERIOUSLY THE BEST POLENTA.

I don’t know what’s in it.  I don’t know why it’s so good.  I don’t think I even want to know.  It’s probably illegal.

Magpie Cafe and Caterers

1409 R Street, Sacramento

The cure for what ails ya.

Oh come on, let’s face it, we’ve all been there, even if you don’t drink.  You can have a hangover just from being exhausted, overloaded or stressed out. Sometimes you wake up and you just need a little TLC.  A little protein, a little gooey cheese, starchy potato, maybe some hot sauce…..yes, that would equal a hangover scramble.

Before you do anything else, make coffee.

First, make coffee.  Trust me.  You will need it.  How do you think you are going to muster up the endorphins or energy or whatever to make breakfast with all that leftover wine, beer or booze rolling around in your gut?  You need caffeine.  Several cups.

Ingredients may vary.

You can put whatever you want in this thing, but these things are clear:  You need eggs.  You need cheese.  You need potatoes.  I like onions.  Other than that, the options are wide open–I used a bit of bacon this time but in times past have used bits and pieces peppers, tomatoes or ham.  Whatever you have on hand for flavor.  But eggs, potatoes and cheese are crucial to this thing.  And maybe hot sauce.

Browning.

Because of the nature of the hangover, I am not patient enough to fry potatoes in the pan for 20 minutes.  Either steam them, use a leftover baked potato or microwave a potato and cut it up.  I microwaved them here, and cut them up leaving the skins on.  I like the skins but you can do whatever you like.  I fried the suckers in bacon fat and oil until they browned then tossed in the white parts of some scallions.

Not proper egg technique.

Listen, this isn’t really the proper way to cook eggs, in a gunky pan to pick up all my potato peel nonsense, but listen, when you have a wine-soaked brain it’s the least of your concerns.  Scoot the potatoes to the side and turn the heat to low.  Put a chunk of butter on the empty side and pour in the egg.

Please don't overcook.

Cook slowly so the eggs at least cook properly and don’t get scorched and turn brown and gross.  Scramble softly and season with salt and pepper.  They actually don’t look too bad.

Add the life-reviving ingredients.

When the eggs are nearly cooked, add in whatever you are adding in–for me it was some cooked bacon, the green tops of the scallions and of course the sharp cheddar cheese–and fold it all together.

It's really kind of a mess.

It may be ugly but if it helps bring you back to life and tastes good, who cares?

Add Tabasco and tortilla.

Lots of cool events to check out so I hope to see you all out and about this weekend. Go over to the Baconfest Facebook page for updates on some of the unofficial events going on around town too.  Oink!

I can't believe I've never posted banana bread before.

I’ve been amiss with the Nana recipes for a while, I know!  Sue me.  The holidays, my vacation, work….excuses, excuses. But Nana’s back and better than ever and this week I’ve brought you this here lovely banana bread recipe. Which I am totally shocked I’ve never posted before.  It’s not for my lack of making it.

Nana can't believe it either.

Because I’ll admit it….I’m an old banana hoarder.  Are you?  Or do you have someone in your life that is an old banana hoarder?  I don’t know if it’s a sickness or not but when bananas get overripe….well, no one really wants to eat them anymore.  So I stuff them in the freezer.  Where they promptly turn black and live the rest of their days amongst the frozen duck fat, variety meats, frozen peas and puff pastry and wait to be made into banana bread.

My frozen banana secret is out.

They’re really ugly, aren’t they?  It’s kind of embarrassing.  It’s some kind of chemical reaction that makes them turn as black as my soul, but they still taste fine and are nice and mushy–perfect for baking into breads and muffins.  They hardly even take any time at all to thaw out–just a few minutes really.

You probably have all this stuff already.

Just mash the banana up with a fork, cream the sugar and butter in a mixer and add the dry stuff.  Add the banana then the nuts.  Then put it all into a greased pan.  Not too taxing.

Batter, greased pan.

Bake it for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  That is it.  Nice warm banana bread.

The best of bread.

That you made out of some funky old hoarded black freezer bananas.  That’s economical!

Hooray for frozen black bananas!

Nana would be proud.

Butter recommended.