Central Ohioans, rejoice. It’s that time again: football season!

Few loyalists do it up quite like Buckeye fans. So if you’re hosting a tailgating party this season, don’t skimp on the details.

That means breaking out the scores of Ohio State-related dishes to get you and your guests cheering for more than just the scarlet and gray.

The Kick-Off
The Buckeye Martini
3 oz gin
½ oz dry vermouth
Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a black olive, and serve in a cocktail glass.

Halftime
Buckeye Stuffed BBQ Burger
2 lbs ground beef
4 to 6 slices crisp chopped bacon
½ diced red onion
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ tsp seasoned salt
1 bottle BBQ sauce
6 onion rolls
Shape ground beef into 12 thin patties. Sprinkle with seasoned salt. Place several pieces of bacon, onion, and a pinch of shredded cheese in the center of six patties, leaving sufficient room around the edge for burger patties to adhere together. Top loaded patties with remaining patties and press edges to seal.
Place stuffed patties on preheated grill for approx. 4 minutes per side. Flip burger carefully and baste with BBQ sauce. Repeat after 4 minutes. Once cooked as desired, serve on toasted onion roll with additional BBQ sauce on the side.

Overtime
Buckeye Pie
¾ cup peanut butter
2 cups milk
1 large chocolate instant pudding
16 oz Cool Whip
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 chocolate pie crusts
Mix powdered sugar, peanut butter, and cream cheese together. Add half of the Cool Whip and mix until well blended. Divide the mix between the two pie crusts. Mix the milk and instant pudding together for 2 minutes. Pour the pudding into the two pies and spread out evenly. Spread the remaining Cool Whip over top of the two pies. Garnish with chocolate shavings or sprinkles. Freeze until served. No baking necessary.

Don’t Forget The Best Damn Snack in the Land
Ohio State Buckeyes
1 cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ cup flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Line two cookie sheets with waxed paper. Beat peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar and flour until blended. Form a ball (approximately 1 inch) using one rounded teaspoon of mixture. Place on cookie sheets and refrigerate until firm (about an hour).
Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spear each ball with a toothpick and dip into chocolate. Cover 2/3 of the ball only. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm (about a half hour).

Go Bucks, (B) eat Michigan

Ohio State fans have gotten a bad rap recently for being raucuous. Prove the naysayers wrong by graciously serving up dishes that keep the opponents in mind.

Sept. 1, vs. the Youngstown State University Penguins
Cream Cheese Penguins
18 jumbo black olives, pitted
8 oz cream cheese, softened
18 small black olives
1 carrot
Cut a slit from top to bottom, lengthwise, into the side of each jumbo olive. Carefully insert about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese into each olive. Slice the carrot into 18 ¼-inch thick rounds; cut a small notch out of each carrot slice to form feet. Save the cut out piece and press into center of small olive to form the beak. Set a big olive, hole side down, onto a carrot slice. Then, set a small olive onto the large olive, adjusting so that the beak, cream cheese chest and notch in the carrot slice line up. Secure with a toothpick.

Sept. 8, vs. the Akron Zips
Sour Cream Jello D’Akron
6 oz Lime Jell-O, (2 pkgs)
1 cup boiling water
20 oz crushed pineapple, undrained
1 pt sour cream
½ cup pecans, coarsely cut
8 oz maraschino cherries, drained
whipped cream
Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Mix pineapple, sour cream, nuts and cherries. Add to Jell-O. Pour into 8-inch Square oiled pan. Refrigerate 2 hours or until set. Cut into squares and serve topped with whipped cream.

Sept. 15, vs. the Washington Huskies
UW Alumni Grilled Salmon
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup dry vermouth
1 boned salmon fillet with skin, about 2 ½ pounds
1 small onion, very thinly sliced
2 lemons, very thinly sliced and seeds removed
salt and pepper
Pour lemon juice and vermouth into a 1-gallon-size plastic food bag. Add salmon, onion, and lemon slices to bag; seal. Rotate bag to mix well. Chill at least 20 minutes or up to 1 day. Grill.

Sept. 22, vs. the Northwestern Wildcats
Wildcat Punch

1 2 liter bottle ginger ale
2 quarts iced tea
1 6 oz can frozen grape juice, thawed
3 tbsp sugar
1 6 oz can frozen lemonade, thawed
maraschino cherries
ice
Fill ice cube trays with one liter of ginger ale and add one maraschino cherry to each cube. Freeze overnight. In a punch bowl, combine tea, grape juice, sugar and lemonade. Just before serving, add ice and the remaining ginger ale.

Sept. 29, vs. the Minnesota Gophers
Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
¼ cup butter
¼ cup raw wild rice
½ cup slivered almonds
½ cup diced onions
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced carrot
Soup stock, about 4½ cups
3-4 tsp cornstarch
2 cups whipping cream or half and half
In a heavy pan, melt butter over medium heat and sauté the wild rice, almonds, onion, celery and carrot for 2 to 3 minutes. Add soup stock and simmer over low heat for 1¼ hours, skimming occasionally. Thicken with the cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup of cream. Stir in the remaining cream.

Oct. 6, vs. the Purdue Boilermakers
The Boilermaker
2 oz whiskey
10 oz beer
Fill shot glass with whiskey. Drop full shot glass into a mug of beer. Drink immediately.

Oct. 13, vs. the Kent State Golden Flashes
Golden (Flash) Delight Pancakes
1 cup cottage cheese
6 eggs
½ cup flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Put all ingredients into a blender and stir down once. Blend again for about 30 seconds. Bake pancakes on a greased griddle until golden.

Oct. 20, vs. the Michigan State Spartans
Spartan Candy Apples
8 small Spartan apples
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup water
½ cup corn syrup
¼ tsp red food coloring
Remove stem from each apple and insert wooden stir stick in center. In 12-cup, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook, stirring over medium-low heat for 8 minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, brushing down side of pan with a brush dipped in hot water to prevent crystallization.
Boil for 15 to 25 minutes or until reaching 290 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove syrup from heat; very quickly stir in red food coloring. Immediately plunge bottom of pan into ice water and hold until sizzling stops (about 15 seconds). Holding each apple by the wooden stick, swirl apples in candy syrup until coated all over. Lift apple and swirl over to pan to allow excess to drip off. Let stand at room temperature or at least 30 minutes until hardened.

Oct. 27, vs. the Penn State Nittany Lions
Nittany Lion Spread
1 can cooked chicken, shredded
16 oz cream cheese (softened)
4 tbsp Worcester sauce
pinch of salt/pepper to taste
any other herb you might like to throw in to taste (i.e. thyme, basil, dill, sage)
Combine and serve.

Nov. 3, vs. the Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin Badgers Cheddar and Ranch Fondue
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tomatoes, peeled, cored, seeded and cut into ¼-inch dice
1 pckg Hidden Valley Original Ranch Salad Dressing and Seasoning Mix
1½ tbsp all-purpose flour
3 cups (12 oz) shredded white farmhouse cheddar cheese
½ cup dry white wine
In a 4-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add tomatoes and sauté, stirring frequently, until tomatoes soften. Add dressing and seasoning mix and stir gently to dissolve.
Combine flour and cheese in separate bowl and toss to coat the cheese.
Add wine to tomato mixture, stir once, then add to cheese one handful at a time. Heat and stir until cheese is completely melted. Transfer to fondue pot set and serve immediately with pita chips, crusty bread, bagel chips or tortilla chips.

Nov. 10, vs. the Illinois Fighting Illini
Fighting Illini Chili
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1½ ground beef
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14½ oz) diced tomatoes with chilies
1 can (15 oz) pizza sauce
1 can (10.7 oz) tomato soup
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
one pinch each of ground red pepper, freshly ground black pepper
optional: shredded cheese, diced red onions and sour cream
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat; add onion and garlic. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Add beef; cook, stirring often, until browned, about 5 minutes.
Stir in beans, tomatoes with their juices, pizza sauce, soup, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper and black pepper. Cook stirring occasionally, 30 minutes. Spoon into bowls; garnish with cheese, onions and/or sour cream, if desired.

Nov. 17, vs. the Michigan Wolverines
Wolverines
2 sticks butter
1 lb. peanut butter
1 ½ lb. confectioners’ sugar
6 oz. chocolate chips
6 oz. butterscotch chips
¼ bar paraffin
Melt butter. Add peanut butter. Stir in confectioners’ sugar. Roll into 1-inch balls and chill. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips and paraffin together. Dip balls into chocolate butterscotch, paraffin mixture and place on wax paper. It will set up immediately. Store in refrigerator.