Football Snacks For Your Hungry Fans

It's that time of year!

 

 

The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are turning beautiful colors and if your house is anything like mine, every weekend we're watching

 

FOOTBALL!!

 

Before I post my recipes for today, I have to shout out for my Hubby's favorite team...

 

 

The Tennessee Volunteers

 

 

 

GO VOLS!!!!!

 

 

 

MY FAVORITE TENNESSEE FAN

 

(I snapped this picture of him today while he was watching football!) :)

 

I can't forget about the other Football Fans in my life either...

 

Jamie is our Texas Longhorn Fan

 

 

 

HOOK 'EM HORNS!!

 

 

 

Avery is our Seattle Seahawks Fan!

 

 

 

And... An Alabama Fan!!

 

ROLL TIDE!!!

 

 

 

 

Speaking of Alabama Fans...

 

 

We have a few of those in our house!

 

But... I'd have to say that our truest Alabama Fan

 of all has to be

 

 

this guy right here!!

 

 

While, I am not a true Football Fan of any team in particular, I am more than happy to feed my hungry fans while they enjoy their games.

 

Today, I thought I would share a few snacks that are sure to please your football loving crowd!

 

Let's start with an absolute winner...

 

 

LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN WINGS

 

 

 

Here's what you will need...

 

One package of raw chicken wings

 

 

 

and

 

Lemon Pepper

Olive Oil

Lemon Juice

and

Butter

 

 

The first thing you will need to do is to make a sauce for your wings to marinate in and also for tossing them in after they are fried.

 

Mix  together:

 

1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

3 Tablespoons of Lemon Pepper Seasoning

2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice

1/2 Stick of melted Butter

 

Just mix all of that together and divide it in half.  One half will be the marinade and the other will coat the wings during the baking time. 

 

Set the two bowls of sauce aside.

 

Now, time to prepare your wings.

 

 

 



 

You'll need a sharp knife to cut your wings into drumettes and flats.

 

Once you've cut your wings, go ahead and wash them and pat them dry with a paper towel.

 

Now, I like to use my huge stainless steel prep bowl to mix my wings.

 

 

 

Just pour one of your bowls of sauce over the top of the wings and toss around until they are covered.

 

 

Place your covered wings in a plastic zipper bag and let them marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

 

 

After the hour is up, prepare a large pot of oil for frying.

Your oil will need to be at 375 degrees.

 

Take your wings out of the baggie and deep fry them for just about 6 minutes.

 

 

** WARNING:  These wings are not cooked through!

I will finish them off in the oven.

 

I don't want you to eat them quite yet!  :)

 

Remember the other half of the sauce?

 

Well, now I want you to put these partially cooked wings into a large clean bowl and toss them in the other half of the lemon pepper sauce.

 

After you have them all coated, spread the wings onto a cookie sheet to bake in the oven.

 

 

Bake in a 350 degree oven, turning at least once and cooking only until the wings measure at 165 degrees internally.

 

 

Once they are cooked, remove them from the oven and sprinkle with more lemon pepper seasoning to your taste.

 

Serve them straight from the oven with your favorite dipping sauces!

 

 

All I can say is

 

TOUCHDOWN!!

 

Hahahaha!  ;)

 

I want to share just a couple more quick recipes with you that are perfect for snacking during the big game.

 

This one is so very simple and is nothing more than dumping the ingredients into the crockpot and walking away! 

 

 

 

SWEET AND SPICY  MEATBALLS

 

Here's all you need...

 

 

1 Bag of Fully Cooked Meatballs

1 jar of Chili Sauce

1/2 of a large jar of Grape Jelly

 

Dump it all into your crockpot, stir it together, set the temperature on high and walk away.

 

 

Your finished product will be a sweet and spicy mix of delicious meatballs!

 

I do want to offer a few tips here...

 

*I do not recommend using the Chili Sauce pictured here (Aldi brand).  I LOVE Aldi, but in this particular case, I did not love the flavor of their chili sauce. 

 

*My favorite brand of chili sauce would be Texas Pete brand.

 

*You can also add BBQ sauce to your mixture for a thicker

sauce.

 

*This recipe is delicious made with cocktail wieners too!

 

 

Lastly, I want to share a classic favorite that is sure to please...

 

 

 

CLASSIC SLIDERS

 

 

These are basically a "no brainer", but I do want to offer a few tips as to what makes us love these tiny burgers. 

 

Tip #1:  Buy good buns!  We love these from

 Pepperidge Farm!

 

 

 

They are wonderful!!

 

Tip #2: I use only 1 pound of ground chuck, but I press out each patty into thin raggedy patties so that they are super thin and fry very quickly!

 

Tip #3: I make a yummy sauce for my buns!

 

I learned this recipe from my Mama!

 

Here's how you make the sauce...

 

You will need

 

 

Mayonnaise

Ketchup

and

Mustard

 

Just dump a little of each (mostly Mayo) into a bowl and whisk it all together.  

 

 

 

Then, spread the sauce on the inside of the top and the bottom of the bun.

 

 

 

Fry the buns for a few minutes on the saucy sides until they form a crusty surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, you are all ready to build your sliders!

 

Here, you see that I made Anthony a triple and a double cheese burger just like he likes them.

 

 

 

I hope you will give all of these recipes a try as you and your family enjoy watching your favorite teams this football season!

 

As for me... well, like I said before, I'm not really a true fan of any particular team, so the next time that  Anthony's watching the game, I think I will settle down and enjoy my single slider and maybe do a little blogging! ;)

 

 

GO TEAM!!!

 

 

~ Matthew 12: 36-37 "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men should speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (KJV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Sweet Home...Finally!

Finally, we are home again!

 

 

As most of you know, Anthony is a Catastrophe Insurance Adjuster.  This means that when there is a government labeled catastrophe, we head that way to inspect the damages to homes in the area. 

 

 

This year, we've worked in Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Indiana and Louisiana so far. 

 

We are blessed in that most of the time, we are able to travel as a family.  Because we home school, we don't necessarily keep a strict schedule of places to be at certain times. :)

 

There are pros and cons in this line of work, for sure!

 

Some Pros:

 

* We meet a lot of people on our work assignments that become our life long friends!

As a matter of fact, that's how Avery met our

 daughter-in-law, Jamie! They met in a Wednesday night Bible class at the congregation where her Daddy preaches! Technically, they had actually met once before at Bible camp, but they were little guys back then! ;)

 

* We are able to visit areas of the country that we might not be able to visit if it weren't for work!

I only have 8 more states to visit and I will have seen all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii!

 

*The work travel gives us LOTS of home schooling field trips! The Liberty Bell, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Battlefields galore, The Smithsonian Museums in DC, Fenway Park and every factory tour known to man! We've been there and done ALL of that, plus many, many more things!

 

Some Cons:

 

* We are sometimes far away from our family, for months at a time.

 

* We miss out on church growth, activities... in our home congregation.  We  try to play "catch up" as soon as we get home to get involved with church work again.

 

*Lastly, there's just

NO PLACE LIKE

HOME!!

 

Just a few weeks ago, we headed back toward our

Home Sweet Home... Finally!

 

I followed behind Anthony as we left the terrible flooding in Louisiana and I snapped a few pictures along the way!

 

 

 

It started raining, AGAIN on our way out of Louisiana, but I caught this beautiful picture right before the rain started.

 

I thought this picture was really neat, crossing a bridge near Baton Rouge. 

 

 

Then, as we left the rain, a beautiful rainbow filled the sky along our way!

 

I was so happy to be able to capture the rainbow and the camper in the same picture!

 

 

I love this picture!

 

Before we knew it, we were home again!!

 

Home Sweet Home!

 

The first thing I always do when we get home is to clean up and unpack the camper.

 

Then, lots and lots of laundry!

 

We are all so used to living in such a small space together, that it usually takes us a few days to realize that we can move around and all be in separate rooms!   Ha! :)

 

I will fill you in on a few of the things that I've been up to since I've been back home.

 

 First things first, I went to check on my other kiddos!

 

It just so happened that Avery & Jamie and Ashley & Ricky were all moving! 

 

Besides that, both Jamie and Ashley were admitted to the hospital as soon as we got home!

Jamie had a C-diff infection and Ashley had an emergency appendectomy and pneumonia!

 

Thankfully, I was able to be with both of them to lend a helping hand.

 

They are home and feeling better and we got them all settled into their new homes!

 

 

 

 

Now that I can know that they are all cozy in their homes, I can get back to mine!

 

I always go through a "Nesting" phase.

 

The very minute it was officially Fall, I hung my autumn wreath and decorated my pumpkin!

 

 



 

 

I also worked on a few little " no sew" projects that I had been saving up. 

 

During the summer, I had picked up some scrap material for less than $2.00 on clearance!

 

 

I would have liked to have a little more material, but this ended up working just fine for all I wanted to do with it.

 

I made a "Rag Curtain" ...

 

 

 

and

 

I made a table runner...

 

 

 

I've also been enjoying cooking again in my kitchen.

 

Tonight, I made one of Austin's favorite dinners...

 

It's not a fancy meal, but it sure is comforting!

 

 

Austin's Favorite Meatloaf

 

I'll share the recipe with you :)

 

Here's what you will need:

 

1 Pound of ground beef or turkey (I use turkey)

1/4 Cup chopped onion

1 Cup of dry oatmeal

1 Teaspoon of chili powder

1 Teaspoon of salt

1 Teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 Tablespoon of ketchup

1 Cup of milk

and

1 Egg

 

 

 

 

You just mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and place in a baking dish or a loaf pan to bake. 

 

 

I choose to bake meatloaf in a baking dish. 

I feel like it cooks more evenly.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour!

 

While that was baking, I was putting up my spices and decided to show you the struggle that I face in my kitchen. 

 

 

YIKES!

 

 

This is my spice cabinet and it is PACKED!

I have rows and rows of spices that I constantly have to climb up there and dig for what I'm needing!

 

I need more cabinet space!

 

Okay, back to the meatloaf...

 

I spread ketchup all over the top surface of the meatloaf about half way through the cooking.

 

When the hour is up, it's time to eat!

 

 

Now that's comfort on a plate!

 

Before I go, I want to share one more thing that I've been up to!

 

I was chosen by the hospital to be one of their

Newborn Nursery Cuddlers!

 

 

 

I don't get paid a dime, but I LOVE this job!!

 

I plan to participate in this volunteer program when we are home. 

Then, when we travel for work, I'll leave for a while, but as soon as I get home, I will head straight back to the nursery!  <3

 

Well, those are just some of the things that I've been up to since I got back home.

 

Now, if we could just stay here for a little while... :)

 

 

Before I go, I wanted to share a couple of household tips with you.

 

"The Works" brand cleaner to remove calcium, rust and lime from bathroom surfaces works just as well as the name brand cleaner CLR!

 

 

They both do a GREAT job removing rust!

 

But...

 

 

CLR= $4.99+

(You can find it for this price at just about every grocery and department store around.)

 

 

 

The Works = $1.00

(At any Dollar General and Dollar Tree near you!)

 

I was amazed at the job "The Works" did on my camper shower and toilet bowl!

 

 

Just one more tip...

 

Use a few drops of peppermint oil mixed with water in a spray bottle to kill household sugar ants!

 

 

 

This tip came from my Mama and boy does it work! 

I just spray it all over my cabinets and counter tops and it will not only kill any ants that are there, but it will also keep them away!

 

While using this spray, you are not breathing in any chemicals and your house will smell nice and minty! ;)

 

Hope you have a beautiful weekend!

 

~ John 2: 3  "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." (KJV)