Guinness Meatball Sliders & Pulled Chicken Nachos

It's was another day of watching football (and doing laundry) at my parents' house, so of course I had to make some "bar food" to watch the game. I went to Albertsons and picked up a bag of meatballs. Normally I make the beef and pork meatballs from Taylor's butcher shop, but they were out. My second choice - and my first choice when cooking meatballs for a large group - is the party-size mini meatballs from Trader Joe's. But going  to Trader Joe's on a Saturday morning is never fun, so I just bought this bag,

My parents had a bottle of Guinness Extra Stout in the fridge, so I poured most of it into a pot and let it heat up with the meatballs.  While those were cooking, I microwaved a package of Jack Daniel's pulled chicken. About a year ago I used some of this chicken for pulled chicken egg rolls and I was pleased with it, so I decided to use it again. I put the hot chicken on top of tortilla chips and cheese with some chopped red onion and cilantro and baked it in the oven for about ten minutes.

While the nachos were in the oven I turned my attention back to the meatballs. The Guinness had thickened into more of a glaze and I added half a bottle of Guinness Bull's Eye barbecue sauce that I had also purchased at the store. I mixed it all up and spooned several meatballs into snacker-size buns. For mine, I added some French's fried onion strings.

The snackers were good but a little too bland for my tastes. I wish I'd added some cheese to them as well. Something with a little bit of bite, maybe a sharp cheddar or pepper jack. (Actually, I wish I'd fried up some sliced jalapenos - those would have been pretty good on the snackers, although I know my parents would not have liked it.)

The nachos were fantastic. My mom made guacamole for herself, my dad and Elizabeth. But I hate guacamole so I didn't have any. It was a good meal, but not as good as the lobster sliders and potato chips I made last time.