Yesterday morning my parents, Ben and I hit the road to Iowa City (home of the University of Iowa and the Iowa Hawkeyes,) to see eat, drink & be merry…oh and watch a GREAT football game!
One of the best things about traveling to Iowa City is checking out the crazy fans and their decked out cars on the way there. Check out this whip featuring a flaming Hawkeye down the side and Hawkeye decals on the DOOR HANDLES – AWESOME!!
So Iowa may not have beautiful beaches, expansive mountain ranges, or giant cities…but we do have tailgating – which we’re pretty darn good at!
Some of the usual sightings you’ll find at an Iowa tailgate:
Parents…dogs in jerseys…
High-fiving…
Husbands…
Flippy Cup…
COLLEGE KIDS!!
Bags…
And food! Here was our “morning” spread. We got to the tailgate around 9:30, so everyone just kind of munched.
I had some 7-Layer Taco Dip with tortilla chips, and some Spinach Dip with Wheat Thins. YUMMERS!
At about 12:00 we really busted everything out. Brats, Burgers, Chips, Pasta Salad, Dips, Fruit Salad and other miscellaneous items!
My plate!
Some of my Mom’s Pasta Salad and Cream Cheese Pickle Wraps! These are just about the best things on earth – have you ever had them? It’s chipped beef slices, spread with cream cheese, wrapped up with a pickle and sliced. Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing, but my-oh-my they are the best!
I also had some Fruit Salad. Check this out – it’s Peach Pie Filling mixed with fresh grapes, strawberries, blueberries and bananas. How genius is that?! The pie filling keeps the bananas from browning, and it gives the whole salad this wonderful “gloop” – if you will. So delicious!
And of course DESSERT – which was what my mystery baked good item was – Brownies in The Edge Brownie Pan!!!!
This pan is a corner-lovers dream come true, but honestly, if you don’t love corners, I promise, you want this pan too. Have you ever baked a batch of brownies and the corners are done like 7 minutes before the center, so you must decide between hard corners, or an uncooked middle? Yeah – this pan solves all that!
Every single piece was cooked perfectly – and I used my absolute favorite brownie recipe. I’ll share it with you guys soon – it is luscious!
Look at that fudge-like consistency. That’s what you get when you pair a great pan with a great brownie recipe!
I highly recommend this pan to anybody – it’s got the IGE Stamp of Approval 
Next – FOOTBALL!
Ben and I sat just down the row from the padres.
Even though stadium food is ridiculously overpriced – it’s still fun to get into the spirit of the game, so we snacked on a pretzel!
Ok, let me just tell you – it was aaaaaaabout 100 degrees sitting in the stands for the entire game…we were melting!
The Flags…
The band… (can you see what they’re spelling out?!)
The crazy woman waving her shoe…
The love-birds…
Hydration station…
Ben getting repeatedly knocked in the eyeball by the guy sitting next to him…
And a VICTORY for the Iowa Hawkeyes!!!!
We were POOPED by the end of the game – but oh-so happy. Thanks to my parents for the tickets, a great time and…GO HAWKS!!
I must say, congrats on the win
You are right, Iowa may not have beaches and all that jazzz…but we sure as hell know how to tailgate! (and maybe it’s the crazy sports fan in me, but Id take tailgating over laying on a beach ANY day!)
Glad you had fun…your brownies look delish! It might be the most perfect brownie Ive ever seen!
Have a good sunday girl! (enjoy this gorgeous weather while it lasts!)
Looks like a great time. Tailgating can be such a blast! I’ve definitely never seen those pickle wraps, must be an Iowa thing.
Your brownies look incredible but my hubby is the weird one who likes the middles of everything. Lasagna is funny, he make me take a piece and then he digs into the middle – tearing the whole dish apart.
Pretzels are my go-to food when at sporting events. Have you ever had a cheese filled one? We have season tickets to the Colorado Eagles (hockey) and they have all kinds of stuffed pretzels. (Cinnamon w/cream cheese, jalapeno with pepper jack and pizza w/mozzarella….so good!)
Ahhh, the MidWest… I love it
I don’t love that my Gophers lost yesterday though 
The tailgating spread is absolutely amazing. However, I have to say, your brownies stole the show, by FAR! They look so damn good, especially with that awesome ‘corners’ pan you got going on.
Flippy cup reminds me of the good old days of college. I was an okay flippy cup player, a horrible quarters player and an champ at beer pong. Oh the shenanigans I got into…
Have a wonderul Sunday!
Wow looks like you had an amazing day! Love the food spread especially the pickle wraps. My mom makes those every get together, such a hit!
It makes it all more worth the while when they win too!
Have a great Sunday afternoon!
I’ve had pickled asparagus that way – with cream cheese and ham
The brownie pan is going on my Christmas wish list.
LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL! ‘Nuff said
It looks like you had a great time!! Thanks for the great tailgating tips…
The photo of the “college kids” playing flippy cup or what ever… I think I may know the girl in the background with the dark hair and the sunglasses.. if not then she looks exactly like a friend of mine. I just wrote her to see if she was there… If so, what a small world?!
I for one am superpumped for that brownie recipe! I am a slacker and generally make the box kind.. and YES! pickles and cheese/meat were always at our family gatherings up north.. seems like it should be gross but so amazing
That looks like so much fun. I’ve never tailgated before!
Those pickle chips sounds UNBELIEVABLE! I might have to make them for my next game-watching party!
Sounds like you had a great time!
Those brownies look so fudgy and good!
That looks like so much fun! And that brownie pan rocks
Looks like a great day, u and the hub look so cute too! I have never heard of these pickle/cream cheese/beef things before?! Love the fruit salad idea w/ the pie filling too – yum!
ahhhh football tailgating…one of the best Midwestern traditions ever! thankfully Madison is just as fabulous of a city to tailgate – now only if you would come visit with those brownies…
I completely agree with you, Pickle Wraps are one of my most favorite things on earth to eat. I just got this tip from a coworker recently – spread the cream cheese on the dried beef – not the pickle. This makes production infinitely easier.
What a fabulous day! I loved reading this entire post. The tailgaiting, the game, the yummy football food….everything just looked like a blast!
Glad you enjoyed. Hope you have a great start to the week.
Looks like a great family fun day! I’ve never been to a tailgate party but am getting jealous looking at all the pics of you blog ladies going. Sounds like a blast!
LOVE your photos from the day. Makes me so homesick! We Midwesterners really know how to tailgate. It’s been forever since I’ve had those Budding Ham-pickle slice-cream cheese numbers–so salty and yummy. Go Hawks!
Sounds like lots of fun! I have been contemplating one of those brownie pans for a while… and I think you’ve convinced me! Your brownies look amazing.
I thought it was only my family that made the pickle things (that’s the technical term of course)! I make them with ham slices instead of chipped beef slices. Yum!
love all these great photos! i was tailgating too this weekend, but no photos. Camera battery was DEAD and couldn’t find the charger. brownie pan is such an awesome invention!
Here’s another take on the pickle wraps. Mix equal parts cream cheese and sour cream. Chop up the ham or chipped beef and stir into the cheese. Either chop dill pickles or simply use dill pickle relish and add to the mixture. You can add a little of the dill pickle juice if you’d like. Serve as a dip with crackers of your choice. Very yummy and easier than trying to spread the cream cheese to wrap around the pickle.
I love the brownie pan! My little brother has always ruined my baked goods by digging the middle out of them. When I get irritated with him I say I am going to buy one of those edge brownie pans for him for Christmas as payback for years of messed up brownies! And that will be his only present!
Can’t wait for your brownie recipe!
I make pickle-wrap dip, which is just cream cheese, baby dills, corned beef and a little bit of pickle juice. You have to get your hands a bit dirty mixing it all together, but the next day when the flavors all fuse together and you scoop it up with pieces of bagel, it’s so good! I bring it to all our family holidays.
And yes, LET’S GO IOWA! Great victory against Penn State! Here’s hoping for 5-0 this Saturday.
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