Welcome to the NBA Playoffs, 99 Cent Chef-style, that is. This is basketball played by the rulebook of the Cheap$kate Dribbler. The matchup this year is between the Miami Heat and the LA Lakers - it's East Coast vs West Coast and Miami better or turn up the heat to ketchup!
In the video below I take playing with food to surreal and fanciful extremes. What starts out as a simple 5 basket pickup game turns into a food free-for-all, and you can be sure things go splat when there is a drive to the hoop.
During this week of the NBA Playoffs, be a sport and join me for my outlandish video halftime entertainment event right here!
If you are looking for yummy eats for your NBA Playoffs Finals, I got drooly double dribble recipes that will satisfy Floridian Heat and laidback L.A. Lakers tastebuds. There are no turnovers in this recipe list! Just click on any recipe name to be directed to my blog post with yummy photos and tasty text.
And as you cheer on your team do check out some classic basketball moves I've adapted and have scattered throughout this yummy blogpost.
Banana Cut: a wide, curving cut, as opposed to a cut that is a straight line. Also known as a 'C' cut.
Miami Heat fans will eat up my Cuban Recipes (click here to see them all) - since many communities have major Cuban immigrant neighborhoods. Is it ever too early for a sugarcane and rum drink? Allow the 99 Cent Mojito to get you in a Playoff mood. To see the blog post with my Mojito cocktail recipe written out, just click here.
The 99 Cent Mojito -Video
Okay, maybe it's better to start with a simply delicious Cuban Salad. All it is, is sliced avocado, tomato, onion and radish with a tangy vinegarette of lime juice (or vinegar) and oil.
But you may want to go for an extra overtime quarter and make Cuban Roast Pork. Marinate a cheap pork shoulder with orange and lime fruit juices and sit back and let it roast until fall-apart tender.
If you are making Cuban Roast Pork then get a few extras: sliced ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, some mustard, and small white bread rolls and let your bleacher bums make their own Cuban Sandwiches. Check out my recipe page here and see my grilled pressed sandwich technique to get the Swiss cheese all melty.
And don't forget the beans, Cuban Black Beans, that is. They really are the beans I make the most and the flavor trick is adding vinegar, sugar, and bell pepper. Hey, kick it up a notch with a pound of ground beef or turkey.
Onion Over the Back: a foul committed by a player who tries to rebound the onion by pushing, moving, or climbing on a player's back who is already in a position to rebound the ball.
I give the opening jump ball recipe to the LA Lakers! Los Angeles is the land of avocados where the creamiest Hass Avocado was first grown. Avocado Toast is a fave appetizer. It's as easy to make as a layup.
My recipe for a LA Street Dog is a freeway pileup of flavors that make a behind-the-back dribble around any hot dog out there. Hot dogs and sports just belong together and my LA Street Dog recipe is a jalapeno-hot fast food classic. Just check out my grilled fajita veggie topping (colorful bell peppers and onion with a big fat jalapeno,) and you'll have your game guests slam-dunking them down their gullets!
The Bell Pepper Bank Shot: a shot that hits the backboard before hitting the rim or going through the net.
A Los Angeles fan favorite is a California Roll. Like a stadium wave, this California spin on Japanese sushi has traveled to grocery deli cases all around the country. And it uses cheap imitation crab, so you will save big bucks on usually expensive seafood - hey, now you can afford an extra keg for your Playoff party!
Cucumber Chucker: a player who takes frequent, and often imprudent, shot attempts. The term was popularized by the television series Seinfeld.
Just looking for some tasty recipes with no strings attached, well just keep moving down the court and I'll make a long pass of them to you -- read on!!
My riff on an East Coast favorite Lobster Roll is a cheaper Scallop Roll. This recipe is so scrumptious it was featured in the Huffington Post website! Click here to see the write-up.
Scallop Roll
If an evening game is played on a chilly night then throw another log on the fire and gather in front of the big screen with a steaming bowl of my cheap$kate Clam Chowder. Fans will throw off their warming blankets, peel off their gloves, and elbow each other for a big bowl.
What's great about making your own Individual Pizza, is everyone can add their fave ingredients. I like anchovies and an egg on mine -- I know no one else would order that one!
Just set out a stack of individual pizza crusts and a few bowls of pepperoni, shredded cheese, black olives, fresh basil leaves, Italian sausage, a fave jar of marinara sauce -- you get the picture. And it only takes 10 minutes or so in a hot oven and they're done. This is a slam dunk recipe!
Next to pizza and hot dogs, Fried Chicken is a fan favorite, and no one fries chicken better than this Penny-Pinching Game Changer.
I've come up with a crunchy coating that will empty the bleachers and have fans storming the kitchen! Get Playoff day going with my Fried Chicken Sandwich Recipe, or use my special flour and spice mix for regular bone-in chicken pieces. Fry up a batch of chicken to handoff when the jump ball starts the game.
Apple Advance Step: a step in which the defender's lead foot steps toward their man and the back foot slides forward.
Mom's Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
In Louisiana, we put a dollop of Cajun Potato Salad on our Gumbo. If you don't believe me just check out the video below.
Keepin' it vegan is my longtime friend Ms. Patti. Her Red Beans and Rice entree is a swish, all net. Dig it here:
Everyone will huddle around sandwich plates of gooey, cheesy Patty Melts, hearty Meatball Subs, Homemade Deli Pastrami, Falafel Pitas, and steaming Sloppy Joe's (or Sloppy Jane with ground poultry.)
Baked Lasagna with Ground Chicken
If you're looking for one-pot meals, so you don't miss any action on the court, just check out my Pork Bourguignon, French Cassoulet, Chicken Tinga Stew, Baked Pasta with Cheese and Cauliflower, Baked Lasagna with Ground Chicken, Shepherd's Pie, or Sausage & Sauerkraut with Beer recipes.
Tired of stale, soggy stadium hot dogs? I have a deliciously decadent and easy Corn Dog Recipe made with Vienna sausages -- but you can use regular wieners. Your hungry guest will not step out of bounds dipping these crunchy coated B-balls into a tasty Honey-mustard Sauce.
Since you have the fryer going you might as well make a batch of my Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. They're as light and airy as the Goodyear blimp.
All the above NBA Playoff recipes are easy free throws to do, so head down the court for an easy layup to the dinner table loaded with Pick-and-Roll Cheapskate's game day eats.
Be safe out there and keep your distance with a mask handy!
Toilet Bowl Tomato: when the ball hits the rim at a certain angle and then circles around it, can go in or out.
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