So, my wife and I are not Buffalo Bills fans, per se. After some time spent in Wisconsin as a little kid on one of her dad's sabbaticals, my wife became a Green Bay Packers fan. I never really had an NFL team growing up. Whatever happened with the Florida Gators on Saturday was way more important than whatever was happening on Sunday. There were teams that I liked for different reasons as a kid, but none really stuck. My NFL allegiances the last decade and a half have been with the New England Patriots for a variety of reasons. One was that they continuously beat Peyton Manning who I cannot stand because of his time at UT. Another reason was that for a time they drafted a significant amount of former Florida Gators. Needless to say again, whatever was happening on Saturdays was always more important to me than what happened on NFL Sundays.
However, for some of our friends that have become family, an NFL allegiance has never been a question. They are multi-generational members of the Buffalo Bills fanbase #BillsMafia. In the almost 15 years that we have known them, the Buffalo Bills have been average at best yet they still passionately cheer and have fun every Sunday (well, as much as you could). Like all of the #BillsMafia, they are elated to make their first playoff appearance since 1999 tomorrow. Let alone that this playoff appearance is happening where they live in the Jacksonville area. To celebrate the Bills' accomplishment, I decided to whip up our favorite meal they usually make when we go and visit our Bills family.
Even without the sentimentality attached to the meal, this meal can stand on its own as a great meal. The white barbecue chicken is perfect on the grill (and still pretty good in the oven). The spaghetti salad is a legendary recipe in our circle of friends. We have made it for several functions and handed the recipe out a multitude of times. Finally, I added some of my Momma's baked beans to the plate to round it out for me. This is a perfect meal for a summer cookout, a sports tailgate in the Fall, or even a quick weeknight meal.
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Pat's White Barbecue Chicken
½ cup cooking oil
½ cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
1 ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 package chicken thighs
1 package chicken drumsticks
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a gallon storage bag. Season the pieces of chicken with salt and pepper. Cover in foil and bake on 275 for 30-40 minutes. This pre-cooks the chicken a little bit so that if you are going to grill the chicken, the marinade will not burn on the chicken before cooking through. Let the chicken cool and then put them in the sauce to marinade (ideally overnight, but at least a couple of hours). Put the chicken on the grill on a medium heat and cook until it is cooked through.
Spaghetti Salad
1 lb. spaghetti
1 package pepperoni
1 can diced tomatoes
1 green Bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 bottle of Salad Supreme seasoning
1/2 bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing
In a large pot, bring water to a boil and cook the spaghetti. When the pasta is cooked, drain the water and combine the spaghetti with the remaining ingredients. Place a layer of pepperonis on the top of the salad. Put in the refrigerator to cool before serving.
Momma's Baked Beans
This is something that more recently I have been excited to have finally learned how my momma did this. When I started to live on my own and cook, I bought what I thought were the same baked beans that my momma was using, but for some reason they never tasted as good as they did back home. However, after learning that my momma doctors the beans has been a game-changer. Like the spaghetti salad, I have made this for a couple of get togethers this past year and have gotten rave reviews of them even from baked beans skeptics.
1 28 oz. can Bush's baked beans
1 onion, diced
1 tbs. cumin
1 tbs. brown sugar
1 tbs. ketchup
1 tbs. red hot sauce (I use Texas Pete)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium-size Pyrex dish. Bake until the beans are heated through and bubbly (you can also heat these in the microwave instead of the oven).
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It is about time to get some rest as my wife and I are headed to Jacksonville in the morning to partake in some of the playoff atmosphere with our #BillsMafia family. Have a great rest of your evening and stay stuntin'!
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