Today marks the beginning of the pre-season part of the football season.  I like football, but I could hardly tell you a thing about it.  I don't know all the rules, I have no idea who the big players are, and I never know who is playing whom.  But there are a few things I love - I lines they added to the screen a few years ago that help me figure out what is going on, I love taking naps while games are on TV, but mostly I love cooking for football.  Fall and football mean chili, chicken wings, appetizers as meals, pot roast, roasted chicken, roasted root vegetables... pretty much anything that can go in the oven or cook all day in the crockpot.

Gone are the days of drinking beer all day while I cooked this kind of food.  I no longer have to make the all-cheese buffet because Marty no longer lives with Joe who is from Wisconsin.  I don't get to lay on the couch all day, alternating between dozing, reading the paper and cooking.  I don't make the transistion from dark roast coffee to bloody mary to beer to bed.  But I can still cook the food and watch the game occasionally as we spend the day with the kids.

Since pre-season is starting on a day when it's forecasted to be hot, rainy and humid, I may just start planning out the football season menu today and wait to fire up the oven.  Otherwise Marty will turn the air down to 60 when I'm not looking and we'll all turn into popsicles before bedtime.

Any good football recipes to share?