And the fifth year for our tailgate (and Sense and (non)Sense’s 100th post)!

This year, preparations were very low key. RP and I were at a baseball game (that ended up being 11 innings long) on Friday night, so we did almost all of our preparations on Thursday night.

Our portion of the menu included chicken salad sandwiches, derby pie bars, tortilla roll ups and mint julep jello shots. First thing’s first – dessert!

I found the recipe at theKitchn and they turned out great! I have teased RP about getting the iPad, but I will admit, it’s fantastic for cooking. I loved having it to pull up my recipes. I’m certain that’s why the bars were so tasty. Recipe viewed on iPad = delicious baked goods. It’s science. I chose bars instead of my traditional Derby pie this year so that everyone could just grab a bar with their hands instead of worrying about a fork and a plate. I think that was the right call for the tailgate. Finger foods are eaten much more than anything that requires utensils. Casey told me that they tasted like happiness wrapped in a dream. I’ll call that recipe success.

I also made my niece’s mom’s signature tortilla roll-ups. These are my dad’s favorite appetizers and he is very protective of them when she brings over a platter. I have strict instructions not to make these in Nebraska, but out in Virginia, I claim this super simple recipe as my own.

Ingredients:

Package of tortillas
2 8oz blocks of cream cheese (softened)
1 can chopped black olives
1 cup cheese (I use the Mexican shredded cheese mix)
1 1/2 cups salsa

Mix the wet ingredients, spread on tortilla, roll and refrigerate until ready to serve. Trim off the tortilla ends and cut into slices. Be warned, they are highly addictive!

Deez made ham biscuits, pimento cheese and AMAZING mojito cupcakes to round out the lunch menu. Laurie brought a huge breakfast spread to start out the day.

It was an absolutely beautiful day for horse racing. It was a little warm at first, but the clouds rolled in later in the afternoon which made for a very comfortable day. No theme or tailgate competition entry for our group, but we had an equally wonderful time. D and I did discuss that next year might be the year to take things to the next level and really make a run at the tailgate competition. We better start planning now!

Enjoy some of our photos from the day.