Tailgate Time

Spring is in the air! Spring, baseball, and tailgating! This also means it's time to start smelling the smells of sizzling food on a hot charcoal grill.

This past week my brother and I prepared and organized a tailgate for Opening Day for Brewers baseball. Besides having the obvious and necessary sausages and beers, I had made some finger foods and a French onion dip to go along with the staples.





French Onion Dip

Homemade French onion dip is not only relatively easy, but I think tastes much better than the already prepared dip from the store.

2 tbsp butter
2 onions, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp Worcestershire
chopped green onions
salt and pepper

In a pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat. I also added a tablespoon of bacon grease I had laying around from breakfast just for good measure.

Add the onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized. Add the shallots and continue to sauté, until the onions and shallots are dark brown. I also added turmeric, celery salt, regular salt and pepper. Then add the garlic and sauté a bit more. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a bowl, mix the sour cream, mayonnaise, a bit more celery salt, turmeric, salt, pepper and Worcestershire. Fold in the onion mixture once it's cooled. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. You can garnish with green onions or just mix 'em in like I did. Serve with chips.



Tortilla Roll Ups

The other snack I made has been a new favorite of mine and those I cook for, tortilla roll ups. Of course I made way to many, as I like to do and took my left overs to work. They were devoured quickly and I was even offered money to make more.

 

So these are easy, but time consuming. I made two kinds, Italian and Southwest. Both start with a flour tortilla, I used 10 inch in size. Spread cream cheese on the tortilla, sprinkle with shredded cheese and layer lunchmeat. Roll up and secure with plastic wrap or tin foil. Keep in the fridge for a couple hours and cut into bite sized pieces, cutting off the ends and eating while making or save for later.

For the Italian variety I used chive cream cheese, mozzarella shredded cheese, salami as the lunchmeat and added chopped fresh basil.

For the Southwest I used chipotle flavored cream cheese (it's new from Philadelphia, it's amazing and gives a nice kick!) cheddar jack shredded cheese, turkey for the lunchmeat, bacon pieces and some green onions.

I even brought in the ends to work the next day and they were almost all eaten before lunch time in my office. This has become a new go-to snack for me.