Tailgating with Bacon

Sorry about not posting more often...  teaching 2 classes, taking 2 classes (my LAST ones!) and spending time with Jeff and JP have left me with too few free moments where I can share my cooking thoughts, recipes and craziness of my life.

http://aalto.arch.ksu.edu/personal/knoxweb/images/wildcatlogo.jpg

Ever since we moved to Kansas in 2004, Jeff and I have talking about going to K-State football games.  Jeff went to one a few years ago and I had never been to one.  Until this year.  Since I'm a student, I bought season tickets for both of us.  Student season tickets.  We have general admission to the student section.  I doubt that we buy student season tickets again.  Why you ask?  When was the last time you sat stood in the student section of any game?  Do you know how rowdy excited students are at a home football game?  Especially if they've been tailgating for a few hours?  We usually end up moving to vacant seats at halftime.

So anyways, we've been tailgating a lot lately.  We have a lot of fun watching people.  We play a few games sometimes, drink a few beers, hang out with friends and eat good food.  And then watch some pretty good football.  Well, except for last night.  That was just brutal.

Here are a few recipes that I've made for tailgating.  Enjoy~

http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2009/08/18/100-ways-to-use-a-stick-of-bacon/

Bacon Chestnuts
7-9 slices of bacon (I use Oscar Myer Center Cut)
1 can whole chestnuts, drained
1/8 t. garlic powder
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 c. chili sauce
1/4 c. BBQ sauce
2 T. grape jelly
toothpicks

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Cut the bacon into thirds.  Wrap each small piece of bacon around a water chestnut and secure with a toothpick.  I find that if I slightly stretch the bacon, it works better.  Place wrapped water chestnut on a cookie sheets sprayed with cooking spray.  Sprinkle the wrapped water chestnuts with the garlic powder and brown sugar.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until bacon is slightly browned.  Remove the water chestnuts from the pan and place into a small crockpot.  Mix the chili sauce, grape jelly and BBQ sauce together and pour over the chestnuts.  Place the crockpot on warm for at least 1 hour.  Wrap in a towel and take it to the tailgate!  


You can also fix this the day before the tailgate.  After the water chestnuts are baked and cooled, refrigerate.  Four hours before you need the yummy nuggets of goodness, place into the crockpot, pour the sauce (chili and BBQ sauce) and heat on high for about 4 hrs.  Wrap the crockpot in a towel and carry it to the tailgate!

To go along with the yummy nuggets of goodness, there are these bacon bombs, too.  They should fit in the same crockpot, so I make them together.  Bacon makes everything a little better, right??  And with all the jumping, cheering, yelling that you do at the game (or hanging your head like we did last night) you can burn off those bacon calories!  As Jeff said yesterday, what's better than pork wrapped in bacon?

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/12/bacon-wrapped-cocktail-sausages.html

Bacon Wrapped Smokies
1 package Little Smokies
1 lb bacon (I use Center Cut)
1/8 t. garlic powder
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 c. chili sauce
1/4 c. BBQ sauce
2 T. grape jelly
toothpicks


Preheat oven to 350*.  Cut the bacon into thirds.  Wrap each Little Smoky with a bacon piece.  Secure with a toothpick.  Place the wrapped bacon bomb on a greased cookie sheet.  Once all of the Smokies are wrapped, sprinkle with garlic powder and brown sugar and bake for 15-20 minutes until bacon is starting to brown.  Remove from pan and place into a crockpot.  Mix the chili sauce, grape jelly and BBQ sauce together and pour over the smokies.  Four hours before you need these bacon bombs, turn the crockpot on high.  Wrap in a towel and off to your tailgate!  

I usually make both of these at the same time and throw them into the crockpot together.  They are yummy and oh so easy to pop into your mouth.  You can cook them in the crockpot instead of baking them, however, baking them allows you to get rid of a lot of bacon grease.  And the sauce remains thicker if you bake these little gems first.