Fund Raising With Fun

A friend of mine, Elektra Q-Tion, recently wrote an awesome blog entry about fund raising, roller derby, and Jello wrestling that inspired me to write a new entry of my own about ways to be more family friendly in what your league/team chooses to do for fund raising. I'm a retired roller derby ref (due to injuries) but have watched some local leagues change how they raise money to support their leagues. The days of Jello/mud wrestling, bikini car washes, and wet T-shirt contest have to end.

The roller derby league host and coordinate the events I list below. It is the skaters/refs that are wearing a league jersey, do the judging, present the awards, and benefit from your support. Visiting their merchandise table and getting a memento wouldn't be a bad idea either. Sometimes they offer discounted tickets to the next bout.

Chili Cook-off
Coordinate with a local county park for space. All competitors get a 10 x 10 area to set up a table and have electric outlets to prepare their chili. They pay a $20-$30 entrance fee and must give samples to all participants (especially the judges). Spectators are only charged $1-$5 admission to walk around and sample all of the chili available. The winner is awarded a $50-$100 gift card, recognition in the league program, and season tickets to all roller derby bouts. I recently placed 5th of 80 entries in one.

BBQ Pitmaster
Same info as the chili cook-off, but is about ribs or burgers instead of chili. BYOG (Bring Your Own Grill).

Hot Dog Eating
Coordinate with a place to host the competition. Find a local hot dog restaurant to help sponsor it (they might sponsor the league too). Competitors pay $5-$10 to enter the contest and have to eat as many hot dogs in one minute as possible. Winner gets a T-shirt, recognition in the next bout program, and 2 complimentary tickets. Our last local winner ate 31 hot dogs in 1 minute.

Pie Eating Contest
Similar to hot dog eating one, but is about pies instead of weiners.

Pet Wash
People pay an admission (under$5) or make a donation, and the skaters wash their pets (dogs, cats, hedgehog, etc).

Coloring Contest
Children under the age of 12 participate. They donate $1 per entry and get to color (with Crayons or markers) a picture with the most inspired theme that they can dream. The winner gets their image scanned, posted on the league website, 3 complimentary tickets to the next bout, and recognition at half-time.

That is all I'm going to say for now. I have more events that I could share but I don't want you to scroll down too much. Bottom line, support your local roller derby league.

Quick & Easy Chili

I needed something to eat but didn't want to make a "lot" of work to make it happen. The Quick & Easy Chili was the result of raiding the pantry and the fridge. So here goes.

Ingredients:

Quick & Easy Chili

• 1 lbs. ground beef
• 1/2 of a Bob Evans Sausage tube
• 1 can of mixed vegetables, drained & rinsed
• 1 can of light red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
• Chili powder (as much as you want to add)

Directions:

1. Brown the beef and sausage in a skillet, then drain
2. Add meat, vegetables, beans, and diced tomatoes to a stock pot (I used a Dutch oven)
3. Simmer for 2 hours
4. Add chili powder and stir occasionally while simmering
5. Serves 4-6 (depending on how big your servings are)

 Notes:

• I added a cup of cooked peas I had in the fridge (from the night before)
• I added a cup of cooked elbow macaroni I had in the fridge (from the night before)
• I used the SWAG method (Scientific Wild A$$ Guess) when adding the chili powder a couple of times while it was simmering & I stirred it
• I used the other 1/2 Bob Evans Sausage tube to make the sausage gravy that I mentioned in my Recipe Research entry, and poured it over the chili when I ate it. YUM!!!

Unstuffed Cabbage Soup

I can't say that I ever had stuffed cabbage rolls...if I did, I don't remember because my family never really used cabbage, except to make coleslaw, and we always had sauerkraut on New Years. But, I have heard a LOT of people talk about it, and they seemed to like it. So, when I came across a recipe on allrecipes.com, I decided to at least try it and make a pot full of what would taste like stuffed cabbage, but be a warm soup.

The recipe below was typed as I made it but I actually cut the amounts in half because I was making it for just me, like my grandmother always taught me, "recipes are nothing more than a good guideline...make it what you want, and with what you have..."

(cabbage boiled for 15 mins, patties about to be dropped in)

Unstuffed Cabbage
1/2 of a large head of cabbage
1 (12 oz) bottle chili sauce + 12 oz of water 
1 liter Schweppes Black Cherry ginger ale
1 lbs ground mild Italian sausage
Various herbs & spices (explained below)
1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste. Cut cabbage into 1-inch wide strips and put in a 5 quart stock pot or Dutch oven. Add ginger ale and chili sauce, cover, and bring to a boil. Cook 15 minutes.


Meanwhile, add Italian seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, and garlic pepper into meat. Amount depends on what you want it to taste like. Mix well with egg. Form into patties and add to the pot.

Simmer, covered 2 hours. Taste for seasoning and serve. Makes 8 servings.

It made the apartment smell FANTASTIC all afternoon while it simmered. I occasionally stirred it, and added some ground black pepper. And yes, I did use my instant thermometer to make sure that the patties reached 170F. So, overall, I liked it. I have enough of it left that I'll probably be eating it for a few days. A couple of neighbors caught the aroma when they were walking by and I had opened my door for a second, so they begged me to give them some of it.

I'm glad I used my Italian cooking background on seasoning this recipe, because I love the tastes...and I always keep grandma's quote in mind. So, I used what I had on hand. Hence the black cherry ginger ale, ground sausage, and herbs.

The only other thing that I think I'll do next time, is make them into small meatballs instead of patties. Though, the patties make a good sandwich if you use a slotted spoon to take them out of the pot, and wrap them in a tortilla, with a slice of muenster cheese....

WTF Chili Stew

Okay...so here's yet another post about a recipe I came up with by simply opening up the pantry door and the fridge, and looking at what I had available to "throw together" for some meals. I named it WTF Chili Stew because of how I chose the ingredients, and that it turned out to be like a "Stew" because of how liquid it was, but was more along the lines of a "Chili."

This picture shows you the ingredients that I had to use. I downsized the portions since I was only really cooking for one. But, that gave me enough WTF Chili Stew for two meals. So, it could be for two people as well. Just make sure you add a side of fruit, and a nutritious beverage.


INGREDIENTS:

Image via Wikipedia

• 1/4 cup brown rice
• Small can of Pork N Beans
• 10.5 can stewed tomatoes (undrained)
• 1/2 "log" of ground sausage (like the Bob Evans one)
• Old Bay Seasoning
• Italian Spices
• Bag of tortilla chips

 DIRECTIONS:

1. First, start the brown rice. That takes 50 minutes for the brand I use.
2. Place the Pork N Beans and stewed tomatoes in a 2 quart saucepan and simmer.
3. Slice sausage log into 1/4 slices and brown. Cut into bite sized pieces after browning.
4. Add sausage to the bean pot.
5. Sprinkle bean pot with Old Bay Seasoning and Italian Spices. Stir well and occasionally.
6. When rice is done, add it to the bean pot.
7. Add a little more Old Bay Seasoning, and stir well.
8. Let simmer another 15 minutes. 

While that was finishing the simmering, I had enough time to wash all of the other pans and utensils that I used, so that made nearly all of the dishes done before dinner was enjoyed. When the final simmering was done, I spooned it into a bowl, grab the last of the tortilla chips I had, and sat down to enjoy by scooping my "chili stew" with the chips...

All I can say, IMHO, is MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! It was good...and I'll make it again...