HAIL TO THE CHIEFS!

As some of you already know, and others would never suspect, I am a fool for the Kansas City Chiefs. I know, I know, I am not a football fan.... unless it involves the Chiefs or the Iowa Hawkeyes. What can I say? I am more than a little biased.

Well, you can imagine how pleased and surprised I was when I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Rams vs. Chiefs game this weekend in St Louis. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!!! And, also, to my girl Ginny, who promptly packed her bags and drove out from Iowa to join me at the game, as she is a Chiefs fan, herself.

I’ve been lucky enough to have these same seats once before, and I was certainly not complaining to have this view of the field:

Likewise, being so close to Christmas, the fans were in fine form, evidenced by the group sitting two rows in front of us.

Too bad they were Rams fans, but at least they were good sports when we KICKED THEIR TEAM’S BUTTS!!!!

Yeah, ok, I was trying to be a good sport, too. I kept as much of my enthusiasm over our win INSIDE my head as I could. It did spill over just a touch when we came across this Kansas City Santa (one of many Santas in the crowd) and couldn’t resist having our picture taken with him.

As an extra bonus, although it took us til halftime, we found the vendors that actually carried our favorite local beer, Schlafly Pale Ale, which we promptly brought back to our seats, to the utter dismay and jealousy of our football neighbors who were stuck with the Bud Light that was available in our section. We took full advantage of the amenities and had some great stadium food as well.

So, I know I haven’t been posting much lately, and I’ll be taking a little hiatus over the holidays since I’ll be on a mini vacation. I hope to accomplish a lot while I’m away and have lots and lots of good stuff to post about when I get back. The same goes for The Bacon Games.

Have a great Holiday season, everyone! See you in 2011!

Go CHIEFS!

Last week, I was lucky enough to have someone give me their seats to the St Louis Rams vs Kansas City Chiefs preseason game in St Louis. Now, it always seems to be my luck that whenever and opportunity like this cones up, circumstances always prevent me from taking advantage of it. Well, this time, for once, I was not about to let that happen. You see, I am a HUGE Chiefs fan, and we had planned to get tickets to the Dallas Cowboys @ Kansas City Chiefs game in October at Arrowhead stadium, but it did not end up working out that we could get tickets (Still working on that). Me, being the Chiefs fan, and the hubs being a life long Cowboys game, its bound to be a very interesting game, if we get to go.That being said, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take Little Man to his first pro football game. Free tickets….close to home…..and it’s a preseason game, so I wouldn’t be missing out on any great action if it proved to be too much drama for Ty and we had to leave early. It ended up being a great night, if not a great game, with my good friend Chris in tow (I’m not sure who enjoyed their foam fingers more, Ty or Chris). We didn’t end up staying for the whole game, but the boys sure had a great time, and Ty got his first introduction to pro football. He also learned a very important phrase…. GO CHIEFS!!!

Tailgater Stromboli!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made Stromboli for my husband since that first time I introduced him to it many, many moons ago. Usually it is a simple Italian sausage Stromboli with mozzarella and marinara. Occasionally it’s a breakfast Stromboli with scrambled eggs, sausage (or bacon) and cheese sauce).
I’m sooooo bored with Stromboli. But, at the same time, I do love it.
Well, Stromboli was up next in the batting order last night and while I was wandering the aisles at the grocery store last night looking at the piss poor selection of sausage, a brain child was born.
Brats.
We love brats….its basically sausage….and the wheels began turning.
What I came up with was a new variation on our traditional Stromboli with brats, caramelized onions, a dab of barbecue sauce and cheese. It couldn’t hurt that I have tailgating on the brain since we’re planning a trip to Arrowhead in October to see my Chiefs kick Dallas’ ass. I have no doubt we’ll be noshing on some brats that day!

Tailgater Stromboli
1 tube Pillsbury Pizza dough
1 package uncooked brats, meat removed from casings
1/3 cup barbecue sauce
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Velveeta cheese, for topping
1 egg

In just a drizzle of vegetable oil, cook the onions over medium heat sloooooowly, stirring them only occasionally, until they are lovely and golden, about 20 minutes. Set aside.
In the same pan brown the crumbled meat in a skillet and drain off every bit of grease that you can.
Mix in just enough barbecue to lightly coat the meat, about 1/3 cup, but you don’t want any excess to drip out the edges of the pastry.
Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Open the can of pizza dough and either roll it out gently into a large rectangle, or press it out with your fingers, being careful not to tear it.
Pile the meat onto the dough in a line down the center of the dough.Top with the caramelized onions. Then with slices of cheese. Yes, you heard me right, I said Velveeta. It’s a staple in our house and for this it melts nicely without pouring out everywhere.

Now, with a small knife, cut slits along the long, exposed edges of the dough, trimming off the four corners. (Save the dough you just cut off in case you tear one of the strips, you can patch it in to cover the torn spot.)

Fold one of the short edges of the dough over the end of the meat and, one strip at a time, braid the dough strips, one over the other, left, right, left, right, etc. Do this about halfway down the stromboli, then turn the pan and repeat, starting at the opposite end until all the strips are braided, and tuck the last tail into one of the holes.

Beat an egg up in a small bowl with a fork and rub it all over the braid. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the dough is nice and golden.

***For more detailed pictures and instructions on assembling the stromboli, see my original post.

***I considered cooking the brats whole and then slicing them for the meat layer, but I was concerned that it wouldn't give me enough pieces to thoroughly cover the bottom of the stromboli. I might try it that way next time.

Enjoy! And GO CHIEFS!!!