Ideas To Make Your Next Tailgating Grilling Party a Fun Time

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With todays many different venues of activities such as Pro Sports, College Sports, Concert venues, even a day at the park picnic venue, the tailgate party has become synonymous with them all. Heck, tailgating is even fun to do in your own backyard for that matter.

If theres a reason to have a party then theres a reason to get your grill out and lower down the pickup tailgate and git-r-done. Along with your favorite beverage and good grilled food, theres plenty of great games to be played either while watching your big game or before it or even after it as well.

We all love to have a tailgating party and thats what I'll try to do in this article is give you some good ideas and maybe even some good recipes to help you have a more fun time at your next tailgate venue.

Tailgate Definition:

Just in case someone reading this has no idea what a tailgating party is, I'll give some definition as to its meaning to get them started. A tailgate party is an event held on and around the open tailgate of a vehicle. Usually a pickup truck is the norm, but it has been done also out of the back of SUV's, the trunk or on the hood of cars as well.




It involves grilling your favorite foods. Drinking your favorite beverage and that includes adult beverages. And playing your favorite tailgating games such as Corn Hole. These are usually held in the parking lots before sporting events. Basically a fun time!

So, people that party like this are said to be tailgating. Oh, and try not to confuse this type of tailgating to following to close to the vehicle in front of you. Also known as tailgating. Thats dangerous. We're talking about having fun here folks.

Social Event of the Day: 

I don't think its necessary to give you any ideas to the partying aspect of tailgating, most people already know how to party and have a good time. There are 2 ideas that I can help you with to make it more fun and interesting and that is games to play and recipes to great grilling food.

Lots of times depending on the sport your at to watch such as football for example, you'll see a bunch of people playing flag football right there in the parking lot while cooking out. Same with all the other sporting events where their tailgating.

Even at a concert event people will be playing music of the band their going to see. Even playing their own instruments. It becomes a social event of fun for everyone.

Here are some other game ideas that you can play at your next event of tailgating.

• Corn Hole - as mentioned above

• Horse Shoes 

• Washeroos

• Pub Washers

• Sholf

• Stickzee

• BecoBall

• Plastic Ladder Toss

These are a few to get you started.  Can you think of anymore?  You can find out more about these games and others here http://www.tailgatingideas.com/ .  I have no affiliation with that site.

The Sweet Delights: 

Now for the best part, the food.  Of course there are many types and meats and fixin's you can have at your tailgate party.  Tailgate food can be some of the best you have eaten or some of the worst depending on how good a cook you are.  Or how good a cook your friend is that you're eating from also.

Tailgating recipes are in abundance.  In fact your imagination is the limit.  But I have some good ones that I want to share with you.  So sit back, relax, and sink your imagination into these juicy recipes.  Just don't drool on yourself!  Go ahead and copy these recipes if you want.

•  Grilled Chicken Divine
  
  Ingredients
  4 to 6 Chicken Breasts
  4 cup Broccoli
  4 tbsp Butter
  1 cup Mozzarella*, Shredded or Cubed, Fresh
  4 oz Parmesan, Grated or Shredded
  2 oz Romano, Grated or Shredded
  2 oz Cheddar, Shredded
  8 oz Sour Cream
  
  Grill the chicken breasts with you favorite seasoning. Steam broccoli. Once cooked, cut chicken and broccoli into 1" bites. Melt butter in skillet. Mix chicken and broccoli in butter on low heat for a few minutes. Remove chicken and broccoli and place in 9x12 casserole dish.
  
  Mix mozzarella, parmesan, romano, sour cream in skillet with remaining butter and let melt. Pour over broccoli and chicken. Sprinkle cheddar over top and place in oven at 350 degrees or on closed grill for 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
  
  For extra fat man yum, roll biscuit dough into long , thin strips and work into cheese mix before cooking.
  
  *Quesadilla cheese can be used in place of mozzarella.

• The World’s Best Hoppin' John Recipe
  The title pretty much tells it all
  
  2 ½ cups Dried Black-eyed Peas
  
  2 cups Uncooked Long-grain White Rice
  
  2 large Ripe Red Tomatoes, Chopped
  
  1 pound Thick-cut Slab Bacon
  
  1 meaty Ham-hock or Seasoning Pork
  
  1 large Yellow Onion, Chopped
  
  1 medium Vidalia Onion, Chopped
  
  1 medium Bell Pepper, Chopped
  
  4 cups Chicken Broth
  
  1 stick Unsalted Butter
  
  1/3 cup loosely packed Light Brown Sugar
  
  ¼ BBQ sauce (sweet, ketchup-base type is best)
  
  1 teaspoon Louisiana-style Hot Sauce
  
  1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  
  1 Beef Bullion Cube
  
  1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
  
  Salt and Black Pepper to Taste
  
  Sort and clean dried peas. Soak peas for about one hour, rinse, and drain. Place black-eyed peas in a large pot over medium-high heat and cover with cold water. DO NOT salt water and bring to a vigorous rolling boil. Remove pot from heat. Cover and let it stand about an hour and a half. Drain and rinse beans in cool water.
  
  Set aside one strip of bacon. Using your BACON BOSS, cook the remaining bacon on grill, basting with BBQ sauce until slightly crispy. Remove to plate covered with paper towels and drain. Let bacon cool and then chop into small pieces.
  
  Using a skillet, cook the one piece of bacon that was set aside until it is about halfway done, using medium-low heat. Add and melt the butter in the pan with the bacon, then add the bell pepper and yellow onion. Cook slowly until the onion is nearly clear, add the bullion cube and dissolve in the butter while stirring. Add a small amount of water, then mix in the brown sugar and dissolve. Once bullion and sugar are both dissolved, set skillet aside.
  
  Using a large pot, add together the black-eyed peas, tomatoes, ham hock, Vidalia onion, and red pepper. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 2 hours.
  Remove ham hock and cut meat into bite-size pieces. Return hock meat to pot. Stir in the bacon/butter/bullion/sugar mix from the skillet and mix well, stir in the rice, add the garlic powder and hot sauce, cover, and cook 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, top with BBQed bacon pieces and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  
  Makes 8-10 generous servings.

• Barbeque & Cheese Puffs
  The best use for leftovers ever
  
  1 lb Pork/Chicken Barbeque, not too heavily sauced, fully cooked and finely minced
  2-8 oz packages Cream Cheese
  1 Medium Onion
  1 tsp Louisiana-Style Hot Sauce
  ½ tsp Garlic Powder
  ½ tsp Mustard Powder
  Salt & Pepper To Taste
  4-8 oz packages Refrigerated Crescent Roll Dough
  
  Finely dice onion and cook over medium-low heat, adding salt and pepper to taste, until it is transparent. Soften cream cheese in a large bowl, stir in hot sauce, add garlic and mustard powders, add chopped barbeque and onion, and then mix well.
  
  Pre-heat oven to 375⁰. Open dough packages as needed. Roll out one large sheet of dough per package. Cut each of the four sheets into squares that are roughly 2 ½" by 2 ½". This will produce 40-50 squares total. Place a small portion of filling mixture in a dough square. Fold in the four corners of the square to cover filling and pinch slightly to make a good seal. Make sure finished dough ball is fairly round and place it pinched side down on a non-stick cookie sheet. Repeat until all filling and squares have been used. Dough balls will "puff" once they are heated. Be careful not to overcrowd cookie sheet or puffs may stick together during baking.
  
  Bake puffs for 20-25 minutes at 375⁰ or until golden brown. This recipe can also be performed outdoors using a skillet and a Dutch oven or your Luau Grill. Makes 40-50 puffs. Puffs may be served alone or with condiments such as Chinese duck sauce, pepper jelly, horseradish sauce, or conventional barbeque sauce.

• Seafood Onion Bowl
  
  Ingredients:
  1 oz White Wine
  4 large Onions (Red, Yellow, Or White)*
  6 oz favorite Shelled Seafood (Shrimp**, Scallops, Lobster, Crab)
  2 oz Bread Crumbs
  2 tbsp Butter
  1 med Red Pepper (Bell or Chili)
  1 med Green Pepper (Bell or Chili)
  1 tbsp Sweet Paprika
  1 tbsp Minced Garlic
  1 tsp Salt
  1 tsp Rosemary Olive Oil
  
  1 medium bowl
  Tin foil
  
  Fine chop seafood and peppers. Set onion flat side down and cut off 1/2 of top section. Set aside. Making sure not to cut the two outside layers, make an X shaped cross-cut approximately 1 inch deep in the onion. Scoop out the middle of the onion and set aside. This should create an onion bowl. Repeat with all onions and set bowls aside.
  
  Fine chop the section of onion removed from the bowl. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix well. Spoon mixture into onion bowls.
  
  Set onion top back onto onion bowl. Wrap in tin foil and place in oven at 350 degrees, or set on top of grill. Cook from 45 minutes to 1 hour. Serve and enjoy.
  
  *Instead of onion bowls, this recipe can be prepared in almost the exact same manner using bell peppers
  
  **If using shrimp, shrimp should be cooked and peeled ahead of time, or use peeled baby shrimp. Use Vidalia onions and 2 tbsp of shredded coconut for even better results.

Eat Drink and Be Merry:

These are a few of my favorites.  These should be enough to keep your palette working for awhile.  I hope you have a fun filled, food filled time at your next Tailgate Party.


Thanks for coming by...

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