Super Spread II

As is our usual tradition, we prepare a Spread of appetizers for this Super day. Having already made some seasoned tortilla chips and salsa yesterday, I am ready to finish preparing the food for our buffet.

First up we have Drunken Hot Dogs. Ingredients are red wine, catsup, barbecue sauce, hot dogs, onion, garlic, brown sugar and celery seed.

The ingredients for the sauce go into the slow cooker. I opted to grate both the garlic and the onion this time around.

I cut the hot dogs into 1/2-inch slices. These too went into the slow cooker.



Now it's time to move on to Beef Barbecue. This, like all the dishes on today's menu, was requested by my family. The Beef Barbecue can either be eaten in a sandwich or as part of nachos.

My mother-in-law, who used to work in the office at an elementary school, got this recipe from a cook there.

The ingredients are 1 pound ground beef, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup catsup, 2 tablespoons chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.

After the beef is cooked and drained, the rest of the ingredients are added and the meat is cooked for about 3-1/2 minutes in the microwave.





The Beef Barbecue is ready.

As are the Drunken Hot Dogs.

While I was working on the meat dishes, my daughter made the Cheese Ball and got out some of the other items for the spread. We sent my husband out to the grocery store to get a couple of items that I had forgotten: namely buns and crackers.

We also have a store-bought veggie tray and chips and dip. Some of these other items seen here will be moved to other Stations.

Here is the Meat Station. The Drunken Hot Dogs are kept warm in the slow cooker and the Beef Barbecue is in the chafing dish. The mini buns await their filling.

The Nacho Station contains plates for the nachos to be heated in the microwave, chopped onions, salsa, shredded mozzarella cheese (my daughter's favorite), shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, Romaine lettuce, and of course the store-bought tortilla chips. The meat is waiting on the Meat Station.


And of course we have to have the Drinks Station. A pitcher of Whisky Sours sits next to some whisky, margarita mix and tequila.

Looks like I'm ready to eat.

Just in case you were wondering, we'll be cheering for the Steelers to win, since Big Ben Roethlisberger is from my husband's and my alma mater, Miami University (in Ohio).

And just to annoy my football-loving family: I hope Big Ben gets a hole-in-one in the ninth inning.