Categories: AppetizersDessertsgameday fashion

AUBURN vs ULM: FIRST HOME GAME!

WHERE:

Jordan-Hare Stadium

251 South Donahue Drive

Auburn, Alabama

WHEN:

Kickoff: 11:21AM (central time)

Tailgate Start: 8:30AM

Auburn is now 0-2 after a heartbreaking loss to Clemson in the season opener and again against Mississippi State on September 8th. They face a tough Louisiana-Monroe for their first home game. It will likely be a tough game, as ULM is 1-0 after a huge upset victory over Arkansas last Saturday. Auburn is a 16 1/2 point favorite.

It’s an 11:21AM kickoff central time, so we’ll set up very early and make a brunch tailgate for us, some of our friends, and our daughter and her friends.

Here’s how tailgating works at Auburn: our daughter, who is a Senior at AU, will stake (pun intended) out a spot during the week leading up to the game. She will go with a friend or two on Friday afternoon, and using a mallet, wooden stakes and tape, she’ll carve out a tailgating spot for us to use. She’ll add our tent and tailgating chairs, and we’ll be good to go early Saturday morning.

Brunch:

Tequila Chili Almonds

Pimento Cheese Crisps

Buffalo Chicken Hummus with veggies

Turkey Sausage Mini Quiches

Ham sandwiches

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Bloodies and Mimosas

TEQUILA CHILI ALMONDS

Photo Credit: The Runaway Spoon

¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon tequila
1 teaspoon mild chili powder
¼ teaspoon cumin
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
3 cups raw, blanched almonds

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil (preferably non-stick) or parchment paper.

Mix together the lime juice, tequila, chili powder, cumin and 1 Tablespoon salt in a measuring jug. Place the almonds in a bowl and pour over the lime juice. Stir to coat the almonds and leave them to soak for 30 minutes, stirring a few times. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure the chili powder gets onto the nuts.

Spread the nuts in one layer on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle the remaining 1 Tablespoon kosher salt evenly over them. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until a nice amber brown color. Stir the nuts every 5 minutes, flipping them over and spreading them out evenly again. Watch the last bit of cooking carefully, as these can burn quickly. The nuts may feel a bit soft when you remove them from the oven, but they will crisp up. Cool on the pan.

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

The nuts will keep for a week in an airtight container.

PIMENTO CHEESE CRISPS

(Adapted from The Runaway Spoon)

Photo Credit: therunawayspoon.com

1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimentos

8 ounces sharp cheddar

½ cup (1 stick) cold butter
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
Dash of cayenne pepper
A generous pinch of salt
A few grinds black pepper
½ cup chopped pecans

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

Rinse and drain the pimentos and place them on paper towels. Pat them dry and then leave them for 10 – 15 minutes to air dry.

Grate the cheese and the cold butter together in a food processor. Switch from the grating blade to the metal blade, then add the flour, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne salt and pepper. Process until the dough just begins to come together and looks moist and grainy. Add the pecans and process until the dough begins to pull away from the sides and form a ball. Add the pimentos and pulse a few times until the dough is a ball.

Dump the dough onto a piece of waxed paper, scrapping out all the pimento pieces. Knead the dough a few times just to incorporate and distribute the pimento pieces. Cut two more lengths of waxed paper, divide the dough into two portions and place each portion on one waxed paper length. Form each onto a log and roll tightly, pressing in to form a nice solid log. Twist the ends like a candy wrapper. Refrigerate the logs for at least an hour before baking, but you can refrigerate them for two days or freeze them for 3 months.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the rolls from the fridge and slice into medium-thick wafers, about 1/4 inch each. Place on the baking sheet with a little room to spread and bake until golden around the edges and firm on the top, about 10 – 12 minutes. Cool on the pans for a few minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool.

*These would make great Christmas or other gifts, prepared and then wrapped in the wax paper. Just freeze, tie with ribbon and add cooking instructions, and you’re good to go!

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

Makes about 3 dozen

BUFFALO CHICKEN HUMMUS

Photo Credit: Tasty Kitchen

1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans (19 oz)
2 THIN cut pieces of chicken breast, grilled or previously cooked
2 cloves of garlic, cut into quarters
2 TBSP of liquid from the can of chickpeas
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP olive oil
1 1/2 TBSP sesame oil or Tahini
3 TBS wing sauce

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

In your food processor, combine the chickpeas, chicken and garlic and pulse until pureed, add in 2 TBS liquid from the chickpeas, lemon juice, olive oil, sesame oil/Tahini and wing sauce and pulse until incorporated.

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

Adjust to your taste (add more wing sauce or red pepper, etc).Chicken is optional, as it will still have that buffalo taste without it. Serve with pita chips, veggies or crackers.

TURKEY SAUSAGE MINI QUICHES

(Adapted from Eating Well)

Photo Credit: Eating Well

These are so good and have no crust, therefore they are carb free!

8 ounces turkey breakfast sausage, removed from casing and crumbled into small pieces (or you can use pre-cooked turkey sausage crumbles)

1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup sliced scallions

1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

5 eggs

3 egg whites

1 cup 1% milk

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Coat a nonstick muffin tin generously with cooking spray.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes (or use 1 bag of pre-cooked turkey sausage). Transfer to a bowl to cool. Add oil to the pan. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to the bowl with the sausage. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in scallions, cheese and pepper.

Whisk eggs, egg whites and milk in a medium bowl. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the sausage mixture into each cup. I had a bit of the sausage mixture left over, as I used a 9.5 oz. pkg. of precooked turkey.

Bake until the tops are just beginning to brown, 25 – 30 minutes or so. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Place a rack on top of the pan, flip it over and turn the quiches out onto the rack. Turn upright and let cool completely.

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

I’ll refrigerate them, and then reheat (as you would a regular quiche), wrap in foil, and head to my tailgate party! Makes 1 dozen mini quiches.

BAKED HAM SANDWICHES

Photo Credit: Navy Wife Cook

1 12 pack of King’s Hawaiian Original Rolls

1 lb. deli ham, shaved

1 lb. Swiss cheese, thinly sliced

1 stick butter

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 teaspoons of poppy seeds

1 onion, chopped (OPTIONAL)

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

Heat oven to 350. Melt butter and mix in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, onion (if desired) and poppy seed. Simmer for several minutes. The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 sticks of butter, but I think that’s too much, so I reduced it.

Cut the entire pack of rolls in half, horizontally (keeping all top and bottom halves in tact).

In a greased 9×13 pan, place bottom half of rolls and spread 1/3 of the onion mixture over thebottom of the rolls followed by the ham and cheese. Replace the tops of the rolls and spread the remaining onion mixture over top. Cover and bake for 15-20 minutes and, once finished, separate for serving, and wrap in foil to take to your tailgate.

FRESH FRUIT IN WAFFLE CONES

Is this picture not fabulous? Such a great idea to serve fruit!

Photo Credit: Uploaded from Pinterest

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

BLUEBERRY BREAKFAST CAKE

(Adapted from Alexandra Cooks)

Photo Credit: Alexandracooks.com

I wanted to have something navy blue (since Auburn’s colors are orange and blue), and this dessert/breakfast cake fits the bill! I’ll bake it the day before, and then I’ll take it out of the refrigerator first thing Saturday morning allowing it to come to room temperature by our tailgate start.

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Photo Credit: Cate Bogue

BLOODY MARY BAR

Photo Credit: Foodgal.com

Love to set up a Bloody Mary bar, so that people can tailor make their bloodies. Include a bloody mary mix and set up:
*limes
*lemons
*horseradish
*olives
*banana peppers
*pickled green beans and/or carrots
*celery sticks
*tabasco and anything else that sounds good to you. It’s practically liquid lunch in a glass!!!

Now for the other decisions: what to wear to support Auburn???

WAR EAGLE!!!!

Photo Credit: Polyvore by Cate Bogue

***LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

How cute is this framed chalkboard? I’m using it each game to spell out the tailgating menu!

Photo Credit: Etsy

Next week it’s back to Atlanta where Georgia Tech faces Miami – hoping for some fall weather!

***After game notes:

The tailgate was a big hit! Everyone loved the food and drink, AND Auburn won the game!!! Here are a few shots of the pre-game: