Teething Baby = No New Recipes or Experiments

Ry guy has been teething up a storm the past 5 days.  Fevers, sleepless nights, and a fussy baby has equated to no time to prepare more than a ham sandwich which I end up having to eat while I'm feeding him.

I had plans over the weekend to try the new tailgate oven for crab dip but that didn't quite happen :-(

Hopefully this week looks up.  I've been investigating the Blacktop 360 for tailgating also.  It has a fryer in the middle, griddle, warmer and grill.  It retails for $249 which is a hefty pricetag though.  I wish coleman still made the portable fryer that you can use with propane.  That would have been perfect for the boardwalk fries.

Here's a link to the Blacktop 360.  Cool concept...high price tag.

Stock Photo above
Blacktop 360

Baltimore Ravens Schedule Posted

So next year's schedule was posted last week.  Our first three home games are a Monday night home opener, Sunday night game and Thursday night game. The Monday and Thursday night game are going to make for some parking and tailgating issues.

We park in a lot that is a private business lot.  Work week they have folks working until 5pm.  I don't even know when the lot is going to be open.  Not much time for festivities or food. 

Baked Tomato, Mushroom, and Spinach Wheels

So this probably isn't a good tailgating recipe in itself.  I haven't tried it yet but I'm thinking that putting one on a piece of grilled chicken would be super yummy.  We'll see if our tailgating crew would agree.

Ingredients:

3 Large Red Tomatoes
Box of frozen chopped spinach
Sliced mushrooms (about 2 cups worth)
1/4 stick of margarine
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
Garlic salt
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

Slice tomatoe and marinate in Balsamic Vinegar for 4-6 hours
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Thaw the frozen spinach and drain water
In a frying pan saute the spinach, butter, few squirts of lemon juice, and mushrooms until tender
Season with a few shakes of pepper, salt and garlic salt.  Set aside.
Bake marinated/slice tomato in the oven for 7 mins
Put a generous scoop of the spinach/mushroom mix on each tomato wheel.  Top with the cheese.
Broil in the oven until cheese is bubbly.

   

I know I went a little cheese crazy.  The baby was crying though so the best I could do was to just toss the cheese everywhere and throw it in the oven :-)  They were good even if they didn't look pretty.

Peaches and Cream Overnight French Toast Casserole

I know you wouldn't normally think of this as tailgate food but if you read the previous post you'll see we now have an oven for tailgate!!!!

So at the 1pm games we start tailgating pretty early (before 9am).  So folks are rolling into the lot hungry since they've been prepping and driving down first thing.  What would be nice to start off the morning??  A breakfast casserole.

I was on Pinterest and found this recipe from MyRecipes.com.  It looked scrumptious so I made it for Easter morning breakfast since I was on vacation with the kids.

So when I make this next time I will sprinkle each layer with cinnamon for a little extra taste.  Even my 86 year old grandmother was going back for seconds so i think that a bunch of hungry tailgaters would love this.

From MyRecipes.com.....

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/overnight-peaches-cream-french-toast-50400000116330/

Ingredients 

• 1 8-oz. loaf French bread, sliced
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 15-oz. cans sliced peaches packed in juice, drained
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Preparation

1.  Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange bread in a tight, flat layer in dish.
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs with milk, sugar and vanilla until blended; pour over bread. Arrange peaches on top and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
3. Remove baking dish from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour cream into a small pan; bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Drizzle over peaches and bake, uncovered, until casserole is lightly browned on top and just cooked through, 45 to 55 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

This was just a yummy concoction!!!

A close up of the peaches and cream!

My New Tailgating Toy!!! An Oven for Tailgating!!!

Every year I buy an addition to the tailgate.  This year I looked and looked for a new thing to make the tailgate special.  After a lot of web surfing I found the "Camp Chef Oven".



http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-Camping-Outdoor-Burner/dp/B0013LLSZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334946741&sr=8-1

Oh yeah this is what I'm talking about!!!  An oven and two stove top burners in one!!!  This opens up a whole new avenue for tailgating!

I found it at Dick's Sporting Goods online for $119 with a $10 off online coupon and free shipping.  Can't beat it!

Baltimore Style Pit Beef

Sometimes life gets in the way of the best laid plans.  Ry guy has been sick with an earache so I haven't gotten a chance to look for the tailgate pictures from January.  But i did take the opportunity when I was preparing the Pit Beef for the Easter Egg Hunt to take some pictures of the prep work.

But as I found out as the guest started arriving I didn't remember to take any actual pictures of the finished product :-(  Maybe next time.

So this is what I used (minus the red wine vinegar that I'll talk about later)...two 2.5lb bottom roasts, Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic, Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt, salt, and pepper.

Here's a close up of the meat package.  I've also used top round and eye round before and its turned out great.

Put down some plastic wrap, coat each roast with the salt, pepper, garlic garlic, and seasoned salt.

Wrap up each roast individually in plastic wrap then in aluminum foil.  Put in the refriderator overnight.

This will help the spices marinate.

Preheat the grill to 350 degrees.  Place the roasts on one side on indirect heat.

I have a 5 burner grill and turn off the right 3 and keep the left two on HIGH.  This keeps the grill at around 350 degrees.

This is where I stopped taking pictures :-(

So turn the roasts every 30 mins.  They should cook in approximately 2 to 2.5 hours.  At the 1.5/2 hour mark I cut the roast in half and check it.  I cook until its medium done.  If you like it more well done leave it on longer.  Just make sure there's still a little pink in it.

After I take it off the grill I brush the outsides of the roast with a little Red Wine Vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes.

I have a cheap meat slicer but a really sharp knife works also.  Cut the beef into thin slices.

To finish it off grab a Kaiser roll and put a nice handful of the pit beef on the bun.  Maryland/Baltimore style pit beef usually gets topped off with either barbeque sauce or horseradish.  Optional are raw thinly sliced onions for a topper.

Enjoy! 

--Purple Tailgating Mama