Belated game food porn

Seems like just a few minutes ago that the Packers laid a major ass-whipping on the Eagles, but it's been two days now and I really need to post the food porn. Sorry, I've been busy. Anyway, we had a good lineup Sunday. Because it was a 4:30 game, the food had to at least resemble dinner. So naturally, we started with a veggie tray:

That quickly turned into this, even with some celery added and other reloads:

Of course we had stuffed potato skins:

We also had onion straws with horseradish sauce:

Because Marrying Into Wolves' parents came to watch the game, we had squadoosh on the leftover action. I think the game food was appreciated. But those things aren't all we had. Oh no.

Sunday I served, for the first time in nearly two years, the Bacon Explosion. What, you might ask, is the Bacon Explosion? It is not my own creation, but I love it. It starts with two pounds of thick cut bacon:

You will take one pound of that bacon and weave a mat out of it:

Should look like this when you're done:

Cook the other pound of bacon. You'll need it soon. But first, you will take two pounds of mild Italian sausage:

On a separate surface, you will spread that sausage into a square of even thickness the same size as the bacon mat. You will then crumble the second pound of bacon over the top of the sausage:

Toss a bunch of shredded cheddar cheese over that:

Roll that sucker up, keeping the cheese and bacon inside the roll, and place it on the bacon mat:

By all means, make sure the ends are sealed so nothing leaks out:

 Then roll the sausage roll up in the bacon mat:

You should season this concoction with a barbecue rub. You can sauce it, as well, if you like. For a rub, I used Bad Byron's Butt Rub. You may use your own favorite:

Byron's is good, though. So rub it up:

Ideally, you would now toss this sucker into a smoker and cook it for one hour per inch of thickness at 225 degrees. But that takes constant attention, and you might have other things to do, as I did, so you can toss it in the oven at 225 for the requisite time, about three hours. Better smoked, but sacrifices must be made. Comes out looking pretty damn good, though:

And it served up nicely, too:

A good time was had by all, the food was good, and the Packers kicked ass. Who could ask for more?