I did this for my Gorumet From the Tailgate series this week, because I had leftover French bread from pasta night. It’s really hearty, filling and the best possible alternative to delivery.

Ingredients:

• Day old French Bread (about a foot of bread is best)
• 1/8 cup black olives, quartered
• 15 pieces of spicy pepperoni
• 1/2 a cup of pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Garlic Salt to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

2. Slice your 12-inch section of bread into equal halves. Then, carefully slice off the upper crust vertically. Use a spoon to dig out the soft insides and the edges. Be careful not to break the crust (which should be firm since this is day or two old bread), as it will be the reservoir for your sauce and toppings.

3. Lay down a base layer of pizza sauce (I use about a 1/8 cup toppings, and another 1/8 cup per section of bread), followed by your toppings of choice. I used spicy pepperoni and Greek black olives. Then, use the rest of the sauce to pour over your toppings. Layering your toppings in the center, assures that the sauce will warm them from both sides during cooking.

4. Toss on your Mozzarella over the top, drizzle it with olive oil and then lightly spread some garlic salt over the top. Place it on the center rack of your oven or a cookie sheet. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes.

That’s it.

These little pizzas are awesome. By hollowing out the French Bread, you have a little deep dish area for a ton of sauce. I’m huge on sauce and even bigger on toppings, so a 6 inch area can be really filling if you pack it in.

Alas, the Lions are still not performing as efficiently as my ovens. We’re 0-4 folks, with little hope of recovery. At least the Red Wings will provide me some excitement soon!

When I was still laying in bed Sunday morning I was dreaming of buffalo wings and then drifted to pizza. And where I ended up was just combining the two together. I had seen some of the delivery joints offering pizzas similar to this, but I was sure they weren’t using Danish Bleu or the scallions that I had in mind. Believe me, you can get this done in 45 minutes, which we both now is about how long you’re going to wait for delivery during peak hours during football Sundays.

Ingredients:

• 1 large boneless chicken breast
• 1.5 large scallions diced
• 1/4 cup Danish bleu cheese
• 1 large Boboli pizza crust (you can always make your own, but I love these when pre-game is on!)
• 1/4 cup Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce
• 1 stalk celery diced
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese

Preparation:
1. Slice chicken into thin pieces and toss them in salt and pepper. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 450 degrees.

2. In a medium sized skillet, saute chicken for a few minutes. Don’t cook it all the way through as it will finish in the oven.

3. Remove pan from heat, allowing chicken to cool. Slice vegetables and add sauce to crust. Add mozzarella cheese and scallions and put the celery aside (Vita reminded me that warm celery is just gross).

4. Put chicken into a zip lock bag or bowl and toss with 1/4 cup of wing sauce. Add chicken and crumbled Danish Bleu to your pizza. I like to drizzle olive oil on the outside edge of the crust and then add garlic salt to the oil. It adds another dimension to the crust.

5. Bake for 12 minutes.

It’s excellent, extra spicy and really, really good. Vita loved it, and I think you guys probably will to. If you do give it a whirl, let me know.

My choice for Week 1 action? A really great, really healthy, Greek Buffalo Burger. It features feta cheese, colossal Greek olives, Roma tomatoes and mild yellow pepper rings. It’s absolutely fantastic and a lot more flavorful than your run of the mill tailgate burgers. Trust me guys, the effort is worth it.

If you’ve never tried a buffalo burger or buffalo meat, I highly recommend it. My local grocer carries it most weeks and it’s absolutely certified organic. It’s also quite lean. The meat I get most often comes from Maverick Ranch, a family owned ranch dedicated to environmentally sustainable ranching. Their Buffalo program raises meat on only natural grasses, omits any animal by-product and antibiotics. They also use no hormones. These are really great alternatives to the frozen beef patties or ground beef, and you’re helping sustainable farming (go you!).

So, let’s get cooking.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Ground Buffalo Meat
• 2 Roma Tomatoes sliced into rings
• 2 Tablespoons mild yellow peppers
• 7 colossal Greek black olives – cut into quarters
• 3 tablespoons Crumbled Feta Cheese (get the dried kind not the brine packed, it will add too much salt and kill the taste of your buffalo!)
• 2 tablespoons Dan’s Burger seasoning (recipe below)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 whole wheat kaiser rolls

Preparation:
1. Pull the meat from your package and place it into a medium sized bowl. After you’ve washed those hands, massage the meat a bit and add the burger seasoning and the lime juice. If you’d like, you can add the feta at this step or use it as a topping. I use 1 tablespoon per half pound of meat, so you don’t add too much salt to the buffalo.

2. After kneading the spices into the buffalo meat, form two patties (I like my burgers thick, but if you want smaller patties, you can probably pull off four from a pound of meat).

3. Once you’re done, bring your meat out to a pre-heated grill and toss those babies on.

4. Cook according to directions on the package. Because it’s leaner than beef, Buffalo will cook faster! So, if you like your burgers a bit more on the rare or medium rare side, be sure you pull them off sooner than you think you’ll need to. In my experience Ground buffalo will reach 160˚F 15%-20% faster than ground beef or even ground sirloin. If it’s your first time cooking with buffalo, use a thermometer and check the internal temperature often. Mine took about 4 minutes a side, if not a little less, for a nice pink medium rare.

5. Place your burger on a kaiser roll and top with the colossal Greek olives, the feta (if you didn’t add it to the meat), the pepper rings and the tomatoes. Couldn’t be easier!

These burgers are huge on flavor and the tart feta cheese, tang of the pepper rings and rich saltiness of the Greek olives all play very well with the slightly gamier taste of the Buffalo meat. These things literally melt in your mouth they’re so lean. All in all, they’re a lot healthier for you as well. So you won’t feel as guilty polishing off that second one if you’re on your own (though admittedly I couldn’t finish the second). It pairs very well with Sam Adams’ Oktoberfest and is perfect for any football pre-game.

Now, if I could only get the lowly Lions to play as well as these things taste. At least I’ll have the food coma to overcome the poor score.

Oh, and if you want to try my spice blend here’s the recipe!
Dan’s Burger Rub (Recipe good for 1 pound of meat)

• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon Celery salt

When I arrived at home, the unstoppable force in my life (my wife) had other ideas. So, we cooked what has fast become a family favorite in our house, our Three Cheese Fondue. I came up with my own version of a Swiss blend shortly after we received a fondue pot made by Rival for a wedding present. The pot has quickly become one of the most used items in the kitchen and it frequently makes this dish for us.

Here’s how we make it.

Ingredients (serves 4-6, wing it to your tastes or adjust accordingly)

• 1/2 pound Gruyere
• 1/2 pound Butterkase
• 2-4oz. Danish Blue Cheese (adjust accordingly. This is a very strong cheese. If you like it more tart, go 3 to 4 ozs.)
• One clove of garlic
• Two green onions
• 1tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to Taste
• 3oz. Beer (Your choice, but I prefer craft brew, Stouts and Pale Ales work best I find)
• Granny Smith Apples
• Half loaf of Sourdough
• Green Globe Grapes
• Celery
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Baby Carrots

Cooking
1. Slice and chop clove of garlic.
2. Add Olive Oil to bottom of fondue pot, toss in garlic, salt and pepper. Heat garlic until simmering, and reduce fondue pot to “warm” setting.
3. Shred cheeses and add to pot with 3 oz. beer.
4. Heat cheeses over low to medium heat (225 – 255) until cheese melt completely and most of the beer is cooked off. Note: If some beer remains or you’ve added too much beer for the amount of cheese you have, add a little flour. You won’t taste it and you’ll take up some of the excess liquid.
5. Add green onion and reduce heat.
6. Chop vegetables, bread and fruits and place into bowls.
7. Serve with your favorite wine and fondue forks.

Love this recipe, and while I missed the sausages, this was a great substitute, albeit not great for my current diet (South Beach). More on that tomorrow