My favorite football game to watch is really not a football game. It's Lucy Van Pelt, offering to hold the ball for poor Charlie Brown. Somehow she wins his trust with her bossiness, and he approaches the ball with supreme confidence, another triumph of hope over experience. Except, it doesn't play out that way. Lucy always manages to wrest the ball away at the last minute, leaving round-headed Chuck on the ground, wailing "Ugh" to the cruel world. 
I could watch it a million times. As for real football, I like to watch the big moments only, so if I bring a book or a crossword puzzle and only look up when I hear people shouting. It plays right into my love of multi tasking. I also love to make "football food" in the middle of a televised game. Multi tasking again, but this time in the kitchen, so that makes all the football devotees happy. (Reading books and doing crossword puzzles in the middle of games absolutely does not.) This straddle-the-seasons meal consists of apples, and onions that are brushed with olive oil and maple syrup and grilled alongside some bratwurst sausage, served on a toasty crunchy multi grain baguette, with a squeeze of mustard to score the touchdown. I dedicate this brat sandwich to Lucy Van Pelt, the biggest BRAT of all. Hang onto it tight; it's so good, someone as bratty as Lucy might just wrest it away quicker then old Charlie Brown's football. 
This one's for Aggies Kitchen's Football event; enter your own or stop by to check out the game food soon.
Money Saving Tips: Look for brat sausages on sale at your supermarket. I bought mine for $2.50; and you won't even need the whole package. Any thin baguette will work here. Albertsons's has a great multi grain baguette for $1.59. If you don't have real maple syrup, a glaze of pancake syrup or honey will work well.
Grilled Brats with Maple Glazed Apple and Onion Sandwiches
Estimated Cost: $6.50 for four
4 brat sausages (they usually come in packs of five or six)
1 large onion, sliced into thick rounds
2 granny smith apples, skin on, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds, seeds removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 long thin baguette, toasted and cut into 4 sections
1 long thin baguette, toasted and cut into 4 sections
Yellow mustard, for serving
Preheat the grill for medium hot cooking. Place sausages on the grill. Sprinkle onion and apple with salt and pepper. Brush with oil and syrup. If your onions are holding together nicely, place them right on the grill; if not, set them on a piece of tin foil and place on the grill. The apples and onions will grill in about 15 minutes, turning once. The sausages need to be on the grill for about 20 minutes, with one turn. Make sure the sausages are cooked through by slicing into one. Serve the sausages, apples and onions on the toasted baguettes with plenty of mustard.
Coming Tomorrow: Top 10 Recipes for Late Summer
Stay Tuned for a give away next week.....
