St. George Part 2- Food Network Challenge

I have to start out just by saying how amazing. Kelsey's mom is. She's one of those moms that loves entertaining and having people over. You can tell that Kelsey's house was definitely the party house growing up. Her mom loves to chat and tell stories. She's great.

On Saturday after our hike we went back to the house to find a table covered in ingredients. There were eggs, cheese, vegetables, meat, spices and everything you could imagine. We each drew a Food Network star out of the bag and got together in pairs based on who we drew out. Sister Belliston then gave us a recipe from our star and told us that everything we needed was on the table.

Kelsey and I had Paula Deen's Mini Macaroni Pies. LOTS of butter, y'all. 

Linnea and Katie had Bobby Flay's grilled shrimp and cilantro pesto pizza (definitely my favorite)

Ryan and Janelle had Giada's Mediterranean bruschetta and polenta with chicken tartlets. Thumbs sideways on this one. No one really knew what polenta was, and it was kind of nast.

Garrett and Kirsten had Guy Fieri's grilled romaine with blue cheese bacon vinaigrette and homemade BBQ chips and blue cheese dip. Big thumbs up on this one. Who knew eating a straight piece of lettuce could be so good? 

Kevin and Andrew had Rachel Ray's BBQ Chinese chicken lettuce wraps. Andrew now knows how to zest. You learn something new every day.  

It was so much fun. We all felt like genuine chefs and all the recipes turned out great. Except polenta, because what the heck is that anyway?

Potato Soup

It's funny, my mom used to beg me to help her cook when I came home for Christmas. I usually would drag my feet and not want to do it. I think it's all the cooking blogs I follow and recipes I see on Pinterest, but this year I ASK to cook. Mostly I just want to use the Kitchenaid mixer.  

It's cold and rainy in Pittsburgh today, so I decided to make potato soup with my mom's friend Audrey's recipe.

1 package frozen shredded hash browns (30 oz)

3 cups chicken broth

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2/ cup green onions

1/4 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and stir. Cook on low for 4 hours. After 4 hours add an 8 oz package of cream cheese and stir in. Cook for an additional 30 minutes.

I added some chopped bacon, corn and grated cheddar cheese. We ate it with some yummy bread and vegetables.

The Best Shake

My dad is meticulous. I swear it will say that on his tombstone. I have so many childhood memories of my dad painstakingly putting together some toy or game.
My dad is also good at a lot of things. He built me a bed that I saw in the Pottery Barn Teen catalog, no sweat. He is a mean basketball player and graduated Magna Cum Laude (Latin for higher grades than Melissa will ever get in her life). However, of all his achievements, the finest is his perfection of the mint chocolate chip shake.

Troy Connor's Famous Mint Chocolate Chip Shake:
Ingredients:
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Make sure you get the kind with flakes, not chips. This is usually the generic Wal-Mart brand. The flakes sink to the bottom of the shake you can scoop them out after.)
Water (you'll see)
Chocolate Syrup.

First, you pull out the ice cream and let it sit on the counter for a while. This allows the ice cream to get nice and soft. It also allows you to take a couple bites out of the carton, you know, to "test it."



Then, you scoop the ice cream into a tall cup. Two scoops was the limit when we were kids, but I'm pretty sure last time I was home my dad gave me three scoops. Welcome to the big leagues.

Next, you turn the sink on a very low stream. Remember what I said about being meticulous? You let the water trickle into the cup very slowly so you don't make it too watery. It's probably best to stop and stir it a few times to make sure the consistency is just right.




Finally, you stir in some chocolate syrup, as much as or as little as you want. I like my shake to be a little thicker but with lots of chocolate syrup. But whatever. Do what you want.




Voila! Delish.