Roast Beef Sandwich Is Better Coach Than Mangini

As a Browns fan, you can usually bet on finding my screaming at my television on Sunday afternoons in the fall. However, yesterday during a 31 point loss to Baltimore (34-3) I found myself laughing at the futility of my favorite team. I knew we were going to lose, it wasn't really a surprise... but 34-3?! For the first time in a long time (something like 19 years) I envy Bengals fans.

Cleveland's new coach, Eric Mangini has proven to be a disciplinarian without any proven positive result from said discipline. He has fined players thousands of dollars for parking in the wrong spot or having a phone ring during team meetings. How can anyone think that fining a professional athlete for that type of conduct will result in anything but animosity? His players make millions of dollars a year and he thinks that fining them for stupid things like this will make a difference? They probably give him a gratuity on top of their fine - I would. Then I would ask for a trade.

I wanted the Browns to hire Jon Gruden since they fired Romeo "I'm thinkin' Arbys' Crennel" after last season. Now I just want Mangini gone - replace him with a roast beef sandwich and the Browns will win more games.

*Rant Over*

Can't wait to talk about food next time.

Wheat Flour = More Water

Last night I made pizza from scratch. I decided early on in the process, "If I have wheat flour I am going to use it... why not?"

When I put the dry ingredients together (flour, salt, sugar and non-dissolving yeast) I started to wonder if 1.5 cups of water would be enough with 1 TBSP of olive oil to get the dough into pizza form.

Nope.

While I imagine white flour would have been fine with 1.5 cups, the wheat flour was simply too heavy. I have a feeling this is a universal quality of wheat flour, so next time you bake with it keep in mind that you may need to use a bit more water to get the desired consistency.

The special part about this pizza was that it wasn't just that it looked tasty. The pizza was downright delicious and good for you to boot! What were the toppings?

Sliced artichoke hearts, sliced tomatoes and black olives on mozzarella cheese and red sauce.

I wish I had taken a picture, simply because it looked that awesome.

Oh, and apparently there is a new type of yeast that doesn't require reacting/dissolving in water in order to make rising dough. It blew my mind.

And for the record, the pizza tasted great!

Football Fans Unite - 'Tis The Season!

After seeing both my Browns and Buckeyes go down in flames this weekend I realized one thing. I love football.

Not that I didn't know this before, but damn... the fans, the noise, the intensity, joy and pain all come together for a few hours every weekend during the fall.

The Browns and Buckeyes were both supposed to lose their respective games this weekend. So I wasn't really too disappointed when they performed as predicted.

My favorite play of Week 1 (of the NFL season) has to be the end of the Bengals/Broncos game.

After taking the lead with 38 seconds left in the game - Cincinnati pinned the Broncos 80 yards from the endzone and 40 yards from field goal range. This is what happened:

Even if you don't like football, you have to admit... This is amazing.

The Secret to Great Chili

Like every other person that cooks chili, I think mine is the best. Granted, it is an adaptation from a cookbook - this is what I do every couple weeks during the football season.

For the record, chili is for NFL Games (Sundays). College games (Saturdays) are specifically reserved for potato soup. You will all get a glimpse of that golden jewel of a recipe in one of my next entries.

My Gameday Chili

Part 1

1. Ground Beef - 1 lb
2. Red Onion - 1 medium/large minced
3. Green Pepper - 1 large minced
4. Garlic - 2 Tbsp minced

COOK THE ABOVE IN A LARGE PAN AFTER BROWNING THE MEAT

Part 2

1. Diced Tomatoes - 1 (one) 28 oz can
2. Chili/Kidney Beans - 2 (two)14 oz cans
3. Tomato Sauce - 2 (two) 14 oz cans
4. Chili Powder - 4 Tbsp (add more to your taste... I tend to add more) make sure it's enough to make your chili a shade darker.
   

Cook all of this to a quick boil and turn down the heat to simmer until you are ready to eat it.

If you are a big football fan, you should start this process around 11:30 am (EST) and it should be ready by 1 pm (kickoff).

Otherwise, just plan on about 60-90 minutes more or less if your meat is frozen.