The Last Tailgate of the Season

This past Saturday was
the annual IU vs. Purdue (hiss) game,

otherwise known as the Oaken Bucket game.

The winner of the game gains possession of 

the Oaken Bucket for the next year.

Each year, a link with the winning team's initial

on the chain is added to the bucket.

Then, the winning team's initial is proudly displayed

outside the oaken bucket until it is claimed by the

next winning team.

Enough of the football:

on to the food.

Our theme this week was "Thanksgiving Leftovers".

So I adapted my recipes to match that theme.

First up:  Brie en Croute.

1 puff pastry sheet

1 8-ounce round of brie

3 to 4 tablespoons F.R.O.G (Fig, Raspberry, Orange, Ginger) Preserves

Allow the puff pastry sheet to thaw and roll out to a square.

Place the brie in the center.

Spread enough preserves on top to mostly cover the top of the brie.

Then, gather the corners of the pastry together and tuck in "artistically".

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Normally, one would let this sit for 20 to 40 minutes before serving with sliced apples and/or crackers, but this is a tailgate.  At this point, the baked brie en croute went into the refrigerator.  I will heat it back up over low flame on the mini grill at the tailgate.

Next up are the Krab Bites.

I sliced each fake crab leg into four sections.  Then the "pre-cooked" bacon is cut in half crosswise.  Each crab section is wrapped with a half piece of bacon and secured with a tooth pick.

The final dish of the day was Ina Garten's French Apple Tart.

1 puff pastry sheet
3 Honeycrisp apples
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup F.R.O.G. (Fig, Raspberry, Orange, Ginger) preserves
2 tablespoons rum

After thawing the puff pastry, roll out on a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Peel, core, and slice the apples and arrange in diagonal rows on the pastry.

Sprinkle with sugar and dot with the cubed pieces of butter.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning halfway.  If the pastry begins to puff up, stab with a knife (gently, not like Norman Bates would stab Marion).

Let cool for a few minutes before gently (there's that word again) prying off the parchment with a spatula. Wait any longer and you run the risk of the tart becoming one (and not in a good way) with the parchment.

Heat the preserves and the rum together until melted.  Pour over the top of the cooked pastry.

After the tart has cooled, cut with a pizza cutter.

We really need to work on figuring out a way to prevent the spillage of the sugars over the edges, resulting in burnt caramelized edges.  Ina doesn't address this problem.  Well, this isn't the first time I've had problems with an Ina recipe.  Too bad I don't work for her, because I could save her much embarrassment.

Can you believe it?  The last Saturday in November and the temperatures were in the low 60s.

The feast is spread.  Besides our contributions, our tailgate buddies brought regular chili and chicken chili, sliced BBQ pork loin, turkey, stuffing, iced pumpkin bars (cake, really), apples with caramel, and cheese spread and crackers.  Later, more food arrived with more tailgate buddies.

Already, half the French apple tart has disappeared.

The crock pots are working their magic.

This is a mighty feast.

Meanwhile, our tailgate neighbors had made their famous spam and bologna egg sandwiches for breakfast and later had venison/beef burgers and brats.  Sadly, I missed out on the venison/beef burgers. 

Once again I opted to stay outside instead of going into the game.  This allows the others to know that I am there to guard things while they are watching the Hoosiers lose once again, I was able to sit outside without fear of getting another migraine (after just finally getting rid of a month-long one) I had the chance to get some writing done. 

After writing for a bit, I grew restless and wandered next door.  Our very nice neighbors invited me over to watch the game on their TV and to eat some food.

And back to some food.  I love stuffing.  This stuffing was super moist and very well seasoned.

On the left is the brie en croute.  It may not look pretty, but it is oh, so delicious.  Especially on a thin slice of apple.

The tailgates were going strong.

Everywhere you looked.

Except for the student section.  Seems that many of the kids were still at home with their families. 

Despite a few sprinkles and a bit of wind, this was a wonderful day for a tailgate.

And yes, IU managed to lose yet once again.  But hey, we almost managed to have a perfect season!  A perfect losing season, that is.  We won one game against a minor team from South Carolina.  Whoot?

On the bright side, downtown is brightly lit.

I'm already looking forward to next year.  Maybe we'll even have some wins to go with the good food and great company?

Girls' Night In

The Foodie Daughter has a couple of important tests this week, so with the dear husband at a meeting and the Foodie boyfriend banished for the evening, it was just us girls for dinner tonight.

But what to make?

Aha! The Foodie Daughter has had to give up shrimp since the boyfriend is allergic to the little critters, so that is what we will have.

As usual, I turned to the Internet to find a recipe for shrimp.

I had already decided on bacon-wrapped shrimp,

so I just needed a flavoring for the dish.

*

I found a recipe that calls for:

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon brown sugar

The ingredients were mixed together and added to the shrimp.

The shrimp can be left in the marinade for up to an hour before being cooked.

The shrimp were then put under the broiler in the toaster oven.

The temperature was set to 425 degrees and the shrimp were taken out when they were just done.

Don't overcook shrimp as they become rubbery.

Shrimp are done when they just turn pink and opaque.

By just, I mean just and not a moment after.

Meanwhile I made my famous BBQ Bacon Krab Bites.

The Foodie Boyfriend loves these so much that I usually have to fight to get any when I make them.

The Bacon Wrapped Shrimp are ready.



While at the grocery, I picked up a box of Tostada Bowls by Rio Rancho.
There are four 6" bowls in each box.
*
I heartily recommend this product if you can find it, as the only ingredients are:
corn masa flour (made with whole grain white corn), enriched wheat flour, rice flour, cellulose gum, expeller pressed high oleic safflower oil and/or expeller pressed mild oleic sunflower oil and a trace of lime.

Don't you just love a salad bowl you can eat?



I have decided to start rating the new recipes that I present on this blog.
Each recipe will be rated one to five stars, with five stars being the highest rated.
*
The Foodie Daughter liked the shrimp, even though she thought the lemon and oregano flavors were a bit overpowering. Thus, she gave the dish four stars.
I thought the amount of dried oregano was a bit much given the ratios of the other ingredients and that the recipe was missing something, so I too gave it four stars.

My daughter told me that was what I get for actually following the recipe.
*
Still, the Foodie Girls are very happy tonight.
It's not often we get to spend time together without testosterone getting in the way.

Labor Day Weekend in Bloomington

This is always a special weekend in Bloomington. The students are back in town and Bloomington celebrates by hosting a nationally noted arts festival. I make sure to clear my calendar for this festival every year.

I was a bit sluggish this morning and didn't arrive until after 10:30 am. Things are already hopping.

A band is playing along one side street. Hm, that's an interesting place to put the port-o-lets.

Yep, definitely glad that I got here early.

I decided that since I was already going to be downtown, I would finally finish out my Asian culinary tour by eating at an Indian restaurant. I had earlier chosen the Bombay House Restaurant on 4th Street.



They had a menu posted outside the door, but for lunch they ran a lunch buffet. Well, why not? Let's be adventurous. And it's all you can eat for $5.99.

I found that the only meat on the menu was chicken, so I opted to go vegetarian for my lunch. Now, I knew better than to expect beef on the menu, but I had been hoping for some lamb. But that's okay. I can do vegetarian. And, hey, many in the population in India are vegetarians, so it's gotta be good, right?

I chose: curried potatoes
butter naan
garlic naan
chick peas masala
fried potato slices
green salad
chick pea salad
veggie biryani

These were all very good. For dessert I had a vermicelli dessert, which as far as I could tell was short pieces of cooked pasta in a sweet cream sauce. This was a nice finish to a somewhat spicy meal. The biryani was by far the spiciest thing I had picked out, but was child's play compared to some of the Thai food I have eaten in the past.

Now, would I go back? Based on this meal, perhaps not, but then again, India is a large country and this was but a small buffet.





Like many of the restaurants on 4th Street, this place was once a private home.

I would say that we were sitting in what was once the front parlor.

And now we fast forward a day. A favorite new show of mine on Food Network is "What Would Brian Boitano Make?" Based on the recent decline in the quality of the programming on this network, I, like many others, expected a glorified train wreck. Imagine my great surprise and delight to find instead an intelligent and entertaining program. Bravo, Brian.

One of his recent shows centered around bacon, and given that bacon is one of the Foodie Daughter's favorite and most important food groups, I knew I HAD to make at least one of these recipes. I chose to make the Bacon Cups with Sweet Potato Hash the first time out. Surprisingly enough, I pretty much followed the recipe, except that I only made ten pancetta cups and I used only two celery stalks. Of course, I had extra hash left over, but I have plans for that, so no worries on that front.

See, just a bit of hash left over. I think that will be a nice side dish for dinner.

They turned out rather well, don't you think?

Meanwhile, I had put the Foodie Daughter and her boyfriend to work on the BBQ Bacon Krab Bites.

We decided, quite by accident, that a bit of the barbecue sauce with the Bacon Cups with Sweet Potato Hash was pretty good eats.

Oh, and the only thing spoiling our appetites? Sandra Lee* and her "Money Saving Meals". I'm still not sure how it saves money if no one will actually eat the food. Isn't that "Money Wasting Meals"?

*Click on the picture for the full effect.

And now you see the down side to having your daughter being the manager to her old high school's football team. Too bad they haven't invented smell-ernet. You'll just have to believe me when I tell you that the "aroma" from dozens of sweaty teenage boys wafts throughout the entire house. *Gack* *Cough* *Choke* *Gasp* *Errk.....*

Clean Up on Aisle Three

Once again I find that I have several items that seem to bear little resemblance to one another, and yet they each begged to be blogged. Well, who am I to disagree?

First up, a Pennsylvania Dutch favorite: marinated cucumber and onion salad.

The ingredients are

cucumbers

red onion

white vinegar

sugar

pinch salt

pinch black pepper

I peeled and thinly sliced the baby cucumbers for the salad.






Before slicing some red onion.



Then the vinegar, sugar, salt and black pepper were added until the desired taste profile was achieved. This is easy if you consider this to be a fresh pickle solution.




Next up are BBQ Bacon Krab Bites.



For those of you who have been following this blog, you may recall that I am allergic to chicken. This is not the only food allergy that I must deal with as my niece is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and my daughter's best friend is allergic to turkey.

Now I must also deal with the Foodie Daughter's boyfriend's shrimp allergy. It is so severe that we have banned him from feeding the fish as the fish food has shrimp meal in it and he has reacted from handling fish food in the past. The odd thing is that one of his brothers is allergic to crab while another is allergic to lobster. I have told him that I will not feed him any shell fish, just to be on the safe side.



However, krab, or surimi should be safe for the Foodie Daughter's boyfriend.

Be sure to check the ingredient list as different brands often do add crab, shrimp and/or lobster to the mix.


I had an idea for an appetizer using a safe surimi, based on something I had found at a Chinese restaurant. However, I decided to serve the surimi cold rather than warm.

The initial ingredients are

surimi
fully cooked bacon
barbecue sauce
sweet and sour sauce




First I sliced the surimi chunks into one-inch sections.


Then I sliced the fully cooked bacon in half length-wise.



I then carefully wrapped each surimi section with a piece of bacon and secured with a toothpick.



After some mixing and tasting, I expanded the ingredient list for the barbecue sauce for the krab bites. I added some honey as well as some orange juice to the mix. This all of course, was done to taste. Is there any other way?


And what can I say? This was an immediate hit and there were no leftovers to be found.




Minx, Minx, Minx. You really are a little rascal, aren't you?



Minx, I'm pretty sure that the fish don't want to play with you.















Why is there a coaster on my glass of ice tea?





Perhaps this might answer the question?

Minx! Kitties don't drink ice tea!





Minx, you're not old enough to drink wine, you silly kitty.