What goes with football better than food? I say nothing.
Whether you’re tailgating outside the stadium or hosting friends at your house, coming up with the right menu can be tricky.
When my friend Brian Pfaff recently offered to show me how to make 48 sandwiches in less than 30 minutes, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally do a food page with appetizers that can either be arranged beautifully on a tray or packed up and transported to the field.
I decided to try out a few other foods on my own. Instead of making only savory items like the sandwiches, I tried something salty, sweet and spicy.
Savory

Pfaff said the trick to making so many sandwiches so fast is the bread.
He purchases two 24-packs of rolls from the store. Instead of cutting each roll in half one at a time, he keeps them together and slices a dozen at once.
“I use a serrated knife that will saw through,” he said.
With the top layer to the side, Pfaff squirts mustard and then honey to the bottom layer.
“A little honey is my secret ingredient,” he said. “There’s nothing better on pork than honey.”
Pfaff then adds either a piece of pork tenderloin or spiral ham to the middle of each roll.
Before he gets started, he cuts 12 square slices of cheese in half twice, creating quarters.
The cheese goes on top of the meat.
Pfaff uses a silicon spatula to spread olive oil mayonnaise on the top half the buns that are placed on the side. Sprinkle pepper on top of the mayonnaise.
After replacing the top layer, Pfaff cuts the sandwiches apart and arranges them on a platter. Then he repeats the process three more times.
Pfaff said he got the idea for the sandwiches from a church event he attended years ago. Those sandwiches were peanut butter and jelly mini rolls.
“I thought it probably took them 5 minutes to make that and it was 24 little finger sandwiches,” he said. “I thought for a party it would be awesome, so I did it with ham and I added cheese. It’s kind of evolved ever since.”
Pfaff, who owns The Green Goat Gallery with his wife, Jenni, made the pork tenderloin sandwiches for the grand re-opening Saturday. There wasn’t a single sandwich left.
The thing I liked most about the sandwiches is that you can create your own recipe. Small BLTs or barbecue sandwiches would be easy to whip up. Pfaff also said you can just use sandwich meat such as turkey, ham or chicken to create the sandwiches.
Salty

Rice cereal, pretzels, chocolate coated candies, raisins and peanuts are the typical ingredients for trail mix.
But more and more I’ve noticed pre made bags of trail mix popping up at grocery stores. They include more interesting mixtures, but purchasing those tiny bags could become quite expensive. That’s why I decided to create my own concoction using dried edamame for protein and cranberries for a hint of sweetness.
Combine equal parts of the following:
• Almonds

• Dried edamame

• Dried cranberries
• Granola, variety

of your choice.
• Pumpkin seeds. Buy them

at the store or roast them
in the oven after craving

a pumpkin this fall.
Sweet

I’ve never had a cookie I didn’t like. That being said, all cookies are not created equal.
When I found a recipe for chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies online, I decided to give them a try. I wasn’t disappointed.
These cookies are chocked full of goodness. Each bite tastes slightly different because of the way the batter is dropped onto the cookie sheet in dollops instead of carefully sculpted balls.
Word of warning, this recipe creates about a 100 bite-sized cookies.
If you don’t need quite that many, it might be a good idea to split it in half or make larger cookies. It took about two hours to make the entire batch.
3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar

2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups oatmeal
¾ cup pecans, chopped

1 12-ounce pack of semi-sweet
chocolate chips

Combine eggs, raisins and vanilla and let stand for one hour, covered with plastic wrap.
Cream together butter and sugar. Add flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda to sugar mixture. Mix well.
Blend in egg/raisin mixture, oatmeal, chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Dough will be stiff.
Drop by heaping teaspoons full onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Spicy

Instead of replicating traditional chicken wings, I decided to bake them rather than frying or grilling. That means no breading was required, so they were slightly healthier than the typical recipe.
I also wanted to try out a different kind of sauce. It seems there are tons are packaged barbecue and hot sauces out there, so I searched the Internet for something a bit more unique.
I decided to try one that includes Sriracha, which can be found in the Asian section of the grocery store. I note this because after staring at the hot sauces for at least 10 minutes, I finally called my boyfriend who directed me to that section. I would’ve never found it otherwise.
Sriracha sauce is made of chili peppers, sugar, garlic, salt and distilled vinegar.
The brown sugar and tomato sauce brought down the heat, making it more sweet than spicy. If you’d like a kick, I suggest adding in drops of hot sauce or sautéing a few jalapeños.
3 pounds chicken drumettes

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons Sriracha sauce

2 teaspoons packed dark
brown sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider
vinegar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Add a large pot of water to the stove and heat until boiling. Add in half of the chicken drumettes and cook for 5 minutes until some of the fat has cooked off. You will see it floating to the top. Let water get back to a boil and add the remaining drumettes.
Drain chicken drumettes and add to a rimmed baking sheet that has been lined with foil. Bake for about 30 minutes at 400 degree, flipping once while cooking, until the skin is crisp.
While the wings are baking start making the sauce.
Heat the oil over medium heat and add in garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the garlic is fragrant.
Add the tomato sauce, Sriracha sauce, dark brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and kosher salt. Whisk together over low heat and cook for about 5 minutes just to give the flavors time to meld.
Remove the wings from the oven and toss in the hot sauce. Serve immediately.

Savory

Pfaff said the trick to making so many sandwiches so fast is the bread.
He purchases two 24-packs of rolls from the store. Instead of cutting each roll in half one at a time, he keeps them together and slices a dozen at once.
“I use a serrated knife that will saw through,” he said.
With the top layer to the side, Pfaff squirts mustard and then honey to the bottom layer.
“A little honey is my secret ingredient,” he said. “There’s nothing better on pork than honey.”
Pfaff then adds either a piece of pork tenderloin or spiral ham to the middle of each roll.
Before he gets started, he cuts 12 square slices of cheese in half twice, creating quarters.
The cheese goes on top of the meat.
Pfaff uses a silicon spatula to spread olive oil mayonnaise on the top half the buns that are placed on the side. Sprinkle pepper on top of the mayonnaise.
After replacing the top layer, Pfaff cuts the sandwiches apart and arranges them on a platter. Then he repeats the process three more times.
Pfaff said he got the idea for the sandwiches from a church event he attended years ago. Those sandwiches were peanut butter and jelly mini rolls.
“I thought it probably took them 5 minutes to make that and it was 24 little finger sandwiches,” he said. “I thought for a party it would be awesome, so I did it with ham and I added cheese. It’s kind of evolved ever since.”
Pfaff, who owns The Green Goat Gallery with his wife, Jenni, made the pork tenderloin sandwiches for the grand re-opening Saturday. There wasn’t a single sandwich left.
The thing I liked most about the sandwiches is that you can create your own recipe. Small BLTs or barbecue sandwiches would be easy to whip up. Pfaff also said you can just use sandwich meat such as turkey, ham or chicken to create the sandwiches.