As if football weren't great enough on its own

I love football. I love the time of year, shouting at the TV/in the stands, making up clever names for players I hate, and having an excuse to drink beer and eat poorly all day. Which of course means I also love TAILGATING!

We welcomed the start of another college football season this year in Charlottesville with some of Pat's friends (thanks to Tracy and Josh for being such great hosts!). To make it look like we weren't entirely freeloading, I contributed to the tailgate a Roasted Corn, Black Bean, and Mango Salad and Easy Lemon Squares. This also meant there were at least two low calorie, healthy options to help offset our gluttony.

Together, they took 2ish hours to make. I did most of the prep the night before, but waited to add the lime juice and salt to the salad until the very end, because I didn't want the acid and salt to make it mushy and tasteless. Modifications to the salad: no red bell pepper, because I'm still trying to get over the last time I bought one and paid *$4* for it. This is criminal I think. I also did not serve it over lettuce, because that seemed unnecessary. And used slightly less lime juice because I find that in general Cooking Light's recipes are a little heavy on lemon/lime juice. For the lemon squares I used egg beaters in place of two of the eggs, because that was what I had on hand. I also didn't do the powdered sugar step because that seemed stupid.

Both recipes were AWESOME. Seriously, I didn't try the salad until we got to the tailgate, and once we did, I might have been tooting my own horn a little. But everyone else seemed to really, really enjoy it as well. It was consumed both with scoop tortilla chips and as a salad; I preferred the former, Pat the latter. He thought the salad could have used a bit more lime. So I guess I made the wrong call on that one.

Not many lemon squares were eaten because, I learned the next day, most people didn't know what they were. I don't know about you, but my first reaction to food who's identity I don't know is to taste it, not avoid it. But that is why I have a food blog and they do not, I suppose! In any event, Pat and I each had one, and they were faboo. Super lemony, and the crust was not at all dry and crumbly like some of the reviewers on the cooking light website suggest. I think they did something wrong! :) A few more were consumed the next morning at breakfast, and we found a good home for the remainder, so no harm done.

These are both great recipes that I HIGHLY recommend. Crowd pleasers, to be sure. And, despite my disdain for repeating recipes, the salad may just become a potluck staple.