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.

Blogging from the Deck

In what has become a yearly tradition, except for when it rains, my husband and I are sitting out on our back deck, while listening to the radio coverage of the Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of living in beautiful Southern Indiana is that we cannot watch the Indy 500 live. And then, when it is broadcast on television, we will be watching the NASCAR Coke 600 instead.

Anyway, back to the present. It is a very nice day. After spending an hour out working in the garden this morning, I readied the deck for our afternoon. I opened the umbrella, brought out the chair cushions, the radio and the cat on his leash. Then, I brought out my laptop computer.

Back into the house to make my lunch and to make the veggie pizza while my husband made his famous cheese ball. Yesterday we made whisky sours, so we were ready.

And while sitting here enjoying this fine day and listening to the race, I decided I needed to take some more pictures. Ooh, and hey! I am online - even out here - so I can blog! Woo hoo! Life is good!

The other day, I had my daughter snap this picture of the new entrance to the Bloomington Tibetan Cultural Center.

The new entrance and these Tibetan style tents were erected just before his Holiness visited last year. The Dalai Lama's brother and his family live here in Bloomington.

Another bearded iris in my garden. I had yet another one blooming today and was going to take a picture of it for you, but then my husband happened. Grr. So I will have to wait for another one to bloom before I can photograph it.

My verbena are blooming off the back deck. As these hanging pots are in full sun, all day, I am constantly searching for plants that can handle these severe conditions.

After several disappointing experiences with heliotropes, I am pleasantly surprised with this plant. It is paired in a pot with a purple leaf sweet potato vine.

Life on the back deck.

Midnight is relaxing in the shade.

Now, this is the life.

Happy Memorial Day and best wishes to all of our brave service people!

A Super Spread

Even though I rarely watch the Big Game, I like to prepare several finger foods for my family. This year there will be four of us as my daughter's friend is coming over to watch the big game on the big screen.

I started working on the food on Friday: chopping vegetables for the veggie pizza.

Then, last evening after we got back home, I got the beef roast into the slow cooker so it could cook slowly all night long.

The beef roast is ready to be seared and then slow cooked.

The beef roast and a cup of beef consomme in the slow cooker.

Now it's time to shred the meat. I ended up picking it apart by hand.

The shredded beef in the homemade barbecue sauce.

Some of the potential players for the sauce. I opted to not use the balsamic vinegar. But I did add some pre-made barbecue sauce to the mix.

Really, you can add anything to your barbecue sauce. And before you ask, Rosie, yes. Even those smelly old gym socks. For the rest of you, that's a joke. Smelly gym socks do not make for a good sauce.

I reduced the beef consomme from the roast and used some of it in the barbecue sauce.

The finished sauce.

Now, this is looking good. And it tastes even better. I'm good. Oh yeah.

Today I baked the crust for the veggie pizza. I bet you can't tell what whack-a-dough product I used for this.

I spread a light ranch veggie dip on the reduced-fat crust. Healthy, isn't it?

And here we have the special teams members. Pre-shredded cheddar cheese, broccoli florets, cauliflower, sliced carrots, chopped sugar snap peas, diced red onion, and celery. I sometimes also add bacon, but as my husband points out, then it is no longer a veggie pizza.

Looks like we have a touchdown, folks!

And now for the adult libations. Cocktail time is the best time of the day!

One cup water and one cup granulated sugar. Bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. This should give you about 1 1/3 cups of simple syrup.

Meanwhile, measure out 2 cups of whisky and juice about 8 lemons.

Strain the lemon juice and add 2 cups of the juice to the mix. Add about 3 cups of ice and stir.

And we have whisky sours. Please notice the lack of choking hazards (besides the ice).

Cheeseball and crackers, cheese cubes and cut fruit with dip round out our dinner. Play ball! (Oops, wrong sport.)