Game Day Preparations

I am really looking forward to the Seminoles’ opening game on Monday night and while Becks played with Mason I paged through several cookbooks for menu ideas.  I found a couple of interesting recipes in the Seminole Fan Fare cookbook and eventually decided to make grilled pork roast, rosemary potatoes, salad, spinach dip, salsa and chips, onion dip and chips, bacon wrapped venison, and a gooey butter cake. 

After settling on what I wanted to make for the Labor Day showdown I made a grocery list and headed to Tallahassee .  My plan was to get as many things done before our guest arrive so I could have fun and watch the game rather than prepare food.  When I got home I started prepared the spinach dip, salsa, marinade for the pork, venison and the gooey butter cake. Below are all of the recipes for the Florida State v. Miami Labor Day Party:

Quick Spinach Dip (From the Seminole Fan Fare cookbook page 16)

Ingredients:
- 1 10 oz. package of frozen spinach
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tbs of mayonnaise
- 1 tbs minced onions
- 1 envelope of Hidden Valley Buttermilk salad dressing

Instructions:

• Mix the spinach, sour cream, mayonnaise, onion and salad dressing packet in a bowl. 
• Chill until serving time and serve with tortilla chips.

Note:

• I could only find a 16 oz. package of spinach so I doubled all of the ingredients except for the salad dressing packet.  It turned out great and was the hit of the party. 

Mike’s Ridiculously Easy Salsa

Ingredients:
- 1 10 oz. can Rotel tomatoes and green chilis
- 2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 chopped yellow onions
- Handful of cilantro chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 5 dashes of hot sauce
- 1 tsp of salt (about)
- 1 tsp of black pepper (roughly)
- 1 tsp of garlic powder (approximately)
- Juice of 1 lime

Instructions:

• Combine the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, hot sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder and lime juice in a bowl.  Mix well and let refridgerate overnight.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Note:

• With regards to the salt, pepper and garlic powder I add them until it taste good.  So add a little, taste and see if it need more!

Never Fail Onion Dip (Becks’ recipe)

Ingredients:
- 1 16 oz container of sour cream
- 1 package of onion soup mix

Instructions:

• Combine sour cream and onion soup mix.  Stir well and chill.  Serve with potato chips.

Grilled Marinated Pork Loin (From the Seminole Fan Fare cookbook page 33)

Ingredients:
- 1 2-3 pound pork tenderloin
- 1 to 2 teaspoons pepper
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1/2 cup steak sauce
- 2 tbs lemon juice
- 3 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp dry mustard

Instructions:

• Season the tenderloin with salt and pepper. 
• Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and then add the tenderloin.
• Allow to marinate for 4 hours or longer, turning occasionally to coat.
• Grill over medium hot coals for 12-14 minutes per side or until cooked through. 

Notes:

• I used a 4 pound pork loin and doubled the rest of the ingredients. 
• I used regular white wine vinegar and yellow mustard since I did not have raspberry vinegar or dried mustard in my cupboard.
• I cooked the pork loin for 15 minutes and then flipped it over.  Total cooking time was 1 hour and it turned out great!

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:
- 1 5 pound bag of red new potatoes
- 3-4 sprigs of rosemary
- 3-4 tbs olive oil
- 2-3 tbs salt
- 1-2 tsp black pepper

Instructions:

• Rinse potatoes and cut in half and then each half into 6 pieces.
• Cover with olive oil, mix to coat all the potato pieces.
• Add salt, pepper and rosemary.
• Roast at 350 for 2 hours until potatoes are tender and golden brown.

Garnet and Gold Gooey Butter Cake (Paula Deen’s Recipe)

Ingredients for cake bottom:

- 1 18 oz packaged cake mix
- 1 egg
- 8 tbs of butter (1 stick)

Ingredients for filling:

- 1 8 oz package of cream cheese softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 16 oz box of powdered sugar
- 8 tbs of butter (1 stick)
- 1 tsp of vanilla

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine 3 ingredients for cake bottom in bowl and mix well.
• Pat into lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
• Next prepare the filling.
• Beat cream cheese until smooth.
• Add eggs and vanilla.
• Add butter, beat.
• Add powdered sugar and mix well. 
• Pour over cake mixture.
• Bake for 40-50 minutes until the center is a little gooey.  You do not want to overbake the cake!

Notes:

• For my Garnet and Gold Gooey Butter Cake I used a red velvet cake mixture for the bottom. 
• To give the filling a gold color I used yellow food coloring, adding 2-3 drops to the filling until the right hue was reached.

Go Seminoles!