FFA & Tater Tots

by Filed Under: Appetizers 2 Comments


 

Friday night was the annual FFA banquet at school. Current officers say goodbye. Next year’s officers say hello. Lots of food, fellowship and all of the FFA traditions.  FFA has been important in our family for a long time. My dad was in FFA. My brother and four of our six kids have been involved in it, and in addition, a son-in-law was a National FFA officer and worked for the National FFA organization after graduating from college. It is a great group with dedicated, hard-working advisors, fosters leadership skills, communication skills, gives kids a chance to excel in something other than sports. Enough of the unsolicited endorsement of the FFA!

Friday’s banquet was a carry-in dinner. JR is a sophomore, so we are assigned to bring a vegetable dish. I always try to bring teenage-friendly dishes as so many of the foods are casseroles, of which kids are innately suspicious (some grown up kids too!).  So I try to keep it simple and take foods that teens like.  I kicked around mac n cheese, not a vegetable, but a side dish-always popular. Then I thought Texas potatoes with those delightful cornflake crunchies on top. Hmmm, how about cowboy beans? We haven’t had them in a while. Then I thought, hey, what about those Tater Tot & bacon things we had at my niece’s shower? JR loved them. They were gone in a flash. Great! Decision made!

Blog Tater tot

So I threw together a couple of hundred Tater Tot Piggies.Did the kids enjoy them? I think so! By the time we made it through the food line, they were gone. I can’t wait to serve them at a tailgate next fall!

Tater Tot Piggies

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Tater Tot Piggies
You’ll note in the pictures that I baked some on a rack. I wouldn’t do that again as I had to turn the ones on the rack as the bottoms didn’t brown, whereas the piggies laying directly on the baking sheet browned on the bottom.

Ingredients

  • 1lb bacon (regular, not thick sliced)
  • 1 bag Tater Tots (1 Package (contains approx 100))

Note

A dish with two ingredients can hardly be called a recipe, but here goes!

Directions

Step 1
Cut bacon into thirds, so you will have lots of short pieces of bacon. Separate the pieces and cut each one in half lengthwise so you have 2 thin slices of bacon, approximately 3 inches long (it gets easier from here!).
Step 2
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Step 3
Wrap each Tater Tot in a slice of bacon and place on a foil-covered baking sheet (with rim or you’ll have a mess), with the seam down. Continue until all of the Tots are rolled in bacon. Tots should not be touching each other on the baking sheet. Amazingly, the number of bacon strips equaled the number of Tots in the package (around 100).
Blog tater tot 2
Step 4
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes if you want more crunch. Remove to plate and serve with ketchup or ranch dressing.
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Lahvosh(es)

by Filed Under: Appetizers 3 Comments

We go to Omaha to a food show at the Qwest Center twice a year and there is a cool
area very close to it called the Old Market. It is full of restaurants, bars,
little shops, street performers on the cobblestone streets. Fun! We have been to most of the restaurantsoften enough that we now have our favorites and one of them is M’s Pub. I havenot found an entrée at M’s that I love (sorry M’s) but they have some amazing appetizers, my favorite being a Thai Lahvosh. A lahvosh is a big cracker-like
bread, crunchy and pretty tasteless, but it is a perfect base for yummy
toppings.  I experimented and came up with this recipe in an attempt to duplicate M’s delicious app. It’s close!  They have a buffalo chicken lahvosh, not
my personal favorite, but pretty darn good too.

Thai Lahvosh 4-27-13

Thai Lahvosh

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Ingredients

  • 1 Large Lahvosh (12)
  • 1 & 1/2 Medium Grilled chicken breasts ((see Chipotle Lime Marinated Chicken Breasts posted today))
  • 1/3 cup Thai peanut sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Barbecue sauce
  • 1 Medium Roma tomato (chopped and patted dry with paper towel)
  • 4 Medium Green onions (chopped)
  • 1/4 cup Cilantro (chopped)
  • 1/2 cup Peanuts (chopped)
  • 1/2 cup Monterrey jack cheese (shredded, or some other mild cheese)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 375 deg.
Step 2
Combine peanut sauce and barbecue sauce and spread lightly on lahvosh, reserving 1 Tbs (mixture won't cover entire surface, just be sure that each piece will have some).
Step 3
Top with sliced chicken and cheese and bake for 5 to 8 minutes.
Step 4
Remove from oven. Sprinkle with tomato, onions, cilantro and peanuts. Drizzle with reserved sauce.
Step 5
TRY to cut with a pizza cutter, but it won't work. You'll end up breaking it into serving-size pieces.
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Buffalo Chicken Lahvosh 4-27-13

Buffalo Chicken Lavosh

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Ingredients

  • 1 Large Lahvosh (12)
  • 1 & 1/2 Medium Grilled chicken breast (see today's post for Chipotle Lime Marinated Chicken Breasts)
  • 1/3 cup Ranch or blue cheese salad dressing
  • 1 tablespoon Hot sauce (Frank's or Louisiana are our favorites)
  • 1/2 cup Blue cheese
  • 1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese (or some other mild cheese)
  • 1/2 cup Celery, chopped
  • 2 Medium Green onions, chopped

Note

The first time I made this, I used 1/3 cup of Frank's and 1 Tbs. of salad dressing. WOW! Was it hot!! I think this ratio will work much better. The image with this recipe does not show the celery or green onions because 1 of our guests is not a fan of celery.

 

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Step 2
Combine salad dressing and hot sauce and spread lightly on lahvosh, reserving 1 Tbs. Top with sliced chicken, cheeses and bake for 5 to 8 minutes.
Step 3
Remove from oven, sprinkle with celery and onions. Drizzle with reserved sauce. Cut and serve.
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