The most wonderful time of the year

It’s that time of year again, the heat and humidity are subsiding, a new TV season is fast approaching, jeans are being pulled out of storage, the kids are headed back to school, and most importantly football is here to save us from the summer sports doldrums.

September brings with it the first crack of the pads, non-conference warm-up games (sorry Virginia Tech), fantasy football drafts, and the eternal hope of 32 undefeated teams and their fan bases. But, along with the good September also brings some of the football bad like early season ligament tears, explaining down and distance to your girlfriend and, of course, NFL commercial breaks. It’s always a shock to the system during week one when Fox goes into their first touchdown-commercial-kickoff-commercial-3 and out-commercial sequence.

The typical three hour NFL broadcast contains only 11 minutes of actual game play and a whopping 60-75 minutes of commercials. So what is the diehard football fan to do with all of this downtime? Much like the kids who are back to class, its time to get back to the ABC’s: alcohol, bathroom and concessions. Since this is a food blog TWSF will focus on the concessions and provide a few easy recipes to fill the void between snaps.




Buffalo Chicken Dip
Recipe from Kyle 

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, cooked and finely shredded (you can use your fingers or 2 forks to shred)
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
3/4 cup Frank's Red Hot
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

For serving:
Celery sticks
Tortilla chips (scoops work well)

Directions
1. Cook chicken however you'd like, and shred with two forks or your fingers.

2. Place shredded chicken back in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing until well blended.

3.  Mix in half the shredded cheddar cheese and Frank's Red Hot sauce to the skillet. When heated through, transfer skillet mixture to a slow cooker heated on low, or bake in an oven-safe dish on 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Add the rest of the cheddar cheese to the transferred contents before slow cooking/baking.




Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
Recipe by Alex

Ingredients
Chicken wings or drumsticks (drumsticks will have more meat and flavor)
Lemon pepper seasoning
Olive oil

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Clean chicken (leave the skin on).

3. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning.

4. Place chicken in a baking dish and bake covered for 50 minutes.

5. Remove cover and bake chicken for another 15-20 minutes, until skin is golden brown and crispy.

**Alex likes to add more lemon pepper seasoning post-bake for extra flavor.

Also try:
Meatballs
Mexican Caviar Dip
Guacamole
Chicken Margherita Pizza