8 Game Day Recipes

A round-up of my favorite gameday recipes.  From drinks to breakfasts snacks and meals there is something for everyone.

Yay College Football season has begun.  The first games were Thursday, but my team plays Saturday.   I love football season it's one of my favorite sports to watch and I like to have snacks and/or meals to go with the games.  I thought it would be great to share some of my favorite gameday recipes.  I mostly enjoy these recipes during football season, but they are great for watching any sport.

My #bestrecipes for #collegefootball #gameday  [Tweet this]

Homemade Bloody Mary Mix

Nothing's like a spicy bloody mary to help you wake up.  With 6 AM kickoff (we're 6 hours--5 when daylight savings ends--behind eastern standard time) on Saturdays they are necessary.  My husband recently bought us an espresso machine so I hope to share some espresso recipes during football season this year.  Stay tuned.

A spicy #bloodymary to #wakeup for #collegefootball in the AM.  [Tweet this]

Loco Moco

Enjoy a Hawaiian breakfast of rice topped with a beef patty and fried egg smothered in brown gravy.  Loco Moco is a great gameday breakfast whether you're at home or tailgating.

Wake up with a Hawaiian #breakfast on #gameday  [Tweet this]

Bacon Wrapped French Toast

I love bacon for breakfast...anytime really.  Nothing says football like bacon.  This is an easy breakfast finger food for early morning football snacking.  It can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen until ready to bake.  Then, it only takes 15 minutes in a 350 degree F oven to have a delicious crisp morning snack or breakfast on the go (time will vary if baking from frozen).

Breakfast fingerfood | BaconWrappedFrenchToast | for #gameday  [Tweet this]

Bacon Pecan Maple Sticky Buns

These are not health food but will certainly make early morning football viewing a treat.  These buns are decadent and delicious.  Made with 3 sticks of butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar/maple syrup, and 1 pound of bacon these are not ideal for everyday consumption, but great for a special gameday treat.

Bacon Pecan Maple Sticky Buns: a yummy start to #gameday  [Tweet this]

French Onion Dip

Late morning and afternoon games need to be served with dip.  When it's late enough to not want breakfast anymore; dips are a perfect snack food for gameday.  This is a homemade version of my favorite potato chip dip.  It's beefy, oniony, creamy, and delicious.

Dip into #collegefootball w/ French Onion Dip  [Tweet this]

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

This dip is like a loaded baked potato on a chip.  When it makes an appearance at a gameday party it disappears in no time.  What's not to love?  It's made with football snacking staples; potato chips, sour cream, cheese, and bacon.  I think this could easily be called gameday in a dip.

Loaded Baked Potato Dip it's #gameday in a #dip  [Tweet this]

Loaded Baked Potato Skins

If you like Loaded Baked Potato Dip then you will love these skins.  They are basically just dip on hollowed out pieces of baked potato.  They may be simple, but they taste awesome.  Again, bacon and potato products are great gameday foods.

#Bacon & potatoes are great #gamedayfoods Loaded Baked Potato Skins  [Tweet this]

Slow Cooker Roast Beef Sandwiches

Most of our football watching is over by late afternoon, but I know that's not the case for most of the U.S. so I had to include a meal in my gameday round up.  During a football game, simple slow cooked meals and sandwiches are the best (you don't want to spend too long in the kitchen and food that doesn't require utensils is preferred).  This recipe incorporates slow cooked beef, beer, and sandwiches making it a staple for football fare.

#Slowcookedmeals and #sandwiches are best #footballfare  [Tweet this]

Sit back, watch some football, and enjoy.

Go Pirates!

For more gameday recipes check out:

Guinness Barbecue Brisket Sliders

Bacon Wrapped Potato Wedges

Blue Cheese Buffalo Chicken Dip

Linked to:  Pretty pintastic, Best of the Weekend, 2 Cup, J&J, Lou Lou Girls, Tickle My Tastebuds, Whimsy, Wonderful, full Plate, Freedom, Foodie Friends

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Loaded Baked Potato Skins

Warm potato skins loaded with cheese, bacon, sour cream, and green onions.  A delicious gameday snack.

The first College Football Playoff National Championship is tonight (this afternoon for us in Hawaii) so I thought I'd share a football snack.  These Potato skins really hit the spot.  They are slightly salty and crisp baked potato skins loaded with all my favorite toppings.  These skins are baked and not fried so they don't get as crisp as the deep fried kind you can get at restaurants but they are delicious and easy to make.

Declicious #bakednotfried Loaded Baked #PotatoSkins  [Tweet this]

First off you need to start with great baked potatoes and I have a trick that makes them awesome.  You rub the potatoes with olive oil and sea salt before baking them (it's super simple but makes a huge difference).  Click the link for more details.  Then cut into wedges and slightly hollow each wedge.  Now you have the base potato skin.  Don't throw away the potato insides.  I saved them to make Gnocchi (I'll post that recipe eventually) or add them with some eggs and sausage/bacon to make a breakfast hash...there are plenty of things you can make with it.

Start with great #bakedpotatos for Loaded Baked Potato Skins  [Tweet this]

Loaded Baked Potato Skins

Ingredients:

4 baked russet potatoes, cooled (even refrigerated over night would be fine I think)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Bacon, cooked and chopped
Sour cream
Green onions, sliced

Cut each baked potato into wedges.  I had medium to small potatoes so I cut them into quarters (cut in half long ways then cut each half in half again--longways) if you have really big potatoes you may be able to get more.

Carefully scoop out, you don't want to tear the skins, all but about 1/4-1/2 inch of the potato insides making the wedges concave so they can hold toppings.  At this point I refrigerated them to make the next day (or just make them the same day) but I bet you could freeze them laid out on a sheet pan for about 1-2 hours then store in a freezer bag until you want to use them too.

Lay out the skins, skin side down, on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle on as much cheese as you like and bake at 400 F for about 10-15 minutes.  Then switch to broil and broil for a little while until cheese is well melted.

Remove skins from oven and top with bacon bits, a dollop of sour cream, and some green onions.
(alternatively just use a dollop of Loaded Baked Potato Dip on top of the re-baked skins)

Serve immediately.  Makes about 12 skins which was fine for 2 people but we would have liked even more...they're delicious.

Enjoy.

Linked to: 2 cup, Teach Me, Lou Lou Girls, Ticke my tastebuds, Tasty, Merry Mon, Wed Roundup, Cook Craft share, Full Plate, Freedom, Foodie Friends, Best of the Weekend

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Baked Potato Salad

A potato salad side dish made with baked red potatoes, celery, and dill.

I really like potato salad but I don't make it very often.  The main deterrent for me is boiling the pieces of potato.  I'm not able to get around very easily and it is really difficult/dangerous for me to lift and carry large pots of boiling water.  When I'm making a pasta dish the pasta can wait til just before serving to be cooked and I get my husband to do it.  With potato salad I like to get it cooked and refrigerated for at least an hour before we eat so I'm usually preparing it before my husband gets home.  So this time I decided to bake my potatoes instead of boiling.  I just put the whole potatoes in the oven to bake but I believe this would be just as good and maybe less time consuming if you cut up the potatoes.  You can also bake the potatoes the day before and refrigerate until ready to put the salad together.  I really liked the texture of the baked red potatoes more than boiled.  The interior was very smooth and creamy but did not fall apart as well as the potato skin had more texture.  This is my new favorite potato salad.

Baked Potato Salad

Ingredients:

8-12 medium-small red potatoes
1 cup celery, diced
1/4-1/2 cup mayonnaise
1-2 Tbsp mustard
dried dill to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Wash/scrub the potatoes.  Toss the potatoes in a little olive oil until thoroughly coated and sprinkle with sea salt.  Place the potatoes on a sheet pan and bake at 350-400F for 1 hour.  Allow to cool thoroughly.

Chop the cooled potatoes into bite sized pieces.

Toss everything together in a large bowl (I usually try to use less mayo, and I just sprinkled on dried dill until I was happy maybe about a teaspoon worth).

Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Serve cold.  Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy.

*linked to:  much ado about monday, In and Out of the Kitchen

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Baked Samosas

Another great recipe from With Love from Mom's Kitchen.  Spicy potatoes and peas stuffed into hand sized pastry then baked until golden.  A great snack or appetizer.

Samosas are a great savory snack.  I have only had them fried from Indian restaurants before with the potato and pea filling, and loved them.  Apparently they can also be stuffed with lentils too, or if you want a meat filling, lamb, chicken or beef.  This recipe is healthier and simpler (for those of us who find it difficult to deep fat fry at home) in that the samosas are baked rather than fried.  Since I do not have an Indian restaurant nearby, these are great.  They hit the spot and really curb the craving and they are pretty simple.

Ingredients:

Filling

4 medium boiled potatoes
2-3 Tbsp peas
1 tsp green chillies, minced
1 tsp amchoor powder (again I subbed some lime juice)
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 Tbsp cilantro, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Roughly mash the potatoes, they should be broken into smaller pieces but you don't want them to be like mashed potatoes (they should still be kind of dry).  In a frying pan heat about 1 Tbsp of oil and add the cumin seeds until they sputter.  Then add the frozen peas and potatoes and all the spices, stir until mixed and peas are thawed.  Put aside or can refrigerate over night or until ready to stuff the pastry.

Pastry

2 cups flour
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 stick of butter
about 1/4-1/2 cup milk

Using a food processor (this makes it so easy) cut the butter into the flour until it resembles bred crumbs (for this I used the chopping blade).  Then (switch to the plastic dough blade) add the egg whiles and enough milk to bring the dough together.  Knead the dough until it is smooth and soft, but firm.  It is very important to have a firm dough, you do not want it sticky.  It is kind of like an over worked pie dough.

Cut the dough into about 6 pieces and roll into balls (should be about golf ball size...maybe a bit smaller).  Roll out one dough ball at a time to circle about 6-8 inched in diameter (I rolled them on waxed paper, but the dough is firm enough you need no extra flour to keep it from sticking).  Keep the dough you are not working with under plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out.  Cut the circle of dough in half and seal against the straight side into a cone shape (I used the egg yolk to help seal the seams).  Stuff the cone with the potato mixture and seal closed (the dough is surprisingly sturdy and you can really press a bunch of the potatoes into it).  Lay out on an aluminum foil covered baking sheet and bake at 375F for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
For better step by step instructions and pictures see With Love from Mom's Kitchen.

Makes 12 samosas.  Can serve with chutney of choice or alone.  These are great the next day too.  I just tossed the leftovers into a ziploc bag and left them at room temperature for 2 days, the pastry softened,but they still were great.

Enjoy.

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