Cooking Mash-up a Fun Family Cooking Competition

My team selected these letters
for ingredients....hmmm...N?

What happens when a fun-loving, cooking, crazy group of friends and family come together to celebrate birthdays, reunions and just plain and simple time together? Well in our friends and family group it looks a little like a mash up between a Bobby Flay's Throwdown,  Next Food Network Star (Family edition), Chopped, Iron Chef and Supermarket Showdown, then throw in a little bit of Master Chef  Kids, Top Chef and Comeback Kitchen and you have our Saturday afternoon and evening fun.

Today we are undertaking our own version of all of these competitions thrown in together, with the game of Scrabble thrown in. Scrabble?                                                              Really? Yep!

Ohhh, there are some REALLY great
letters in there...I want a G

This weekend our youngest daughter came home from college for the first time in her Freshman year and there were a lot of people who wanted to gather to see her, so I decided to throw her a party. Now it just so happened that this Saturday is also the birthday of one of my friends and her youngest son, and they are good friends with our youngest daughter...the planning begins...and they want to host the party at their house...

My friend's husband loves to cook and really loves to create great food. Last year we began cooking some fun things together check out this link for one of those events: A Fun Prom Dinner, so he started to hatch a really fun plan....and here's where we are today in the middle of competition...

• Seven of us ranging in age from 64-14 met at the grocery store and drew teams of 2-3 people;
• Waiting for their assignments, several other family teams were ready for the texts that would give them their instructions;
• Each team drew 4 Scrabble letters (consonants only);
• Each team has to buy four ingredients beginning with their 4 letters that will be used to create an appetizer, side dish and entree;
• We had 30 minutes to shop;
• Before the cooking begins, all of the purchased ingredients will be divided up among the teams using a lottery system, so we may not end up with the ingredients we purchased;
• We will have 90 minutes to make a delicious meal worthy of all of the guests who be arriving at 6:00;
• When the cooking begins, we will have use of a pantry and can send our sous chefs to the store to add a few supplemental ingredients;
• The family teams that began offsite won't have to trade their ingredients and will bring their dishes prepared and ready to go;
• Did I mention this was a competition? We will have scoring sheets and prizes And we will have a great time cooking in the kitchen and enjoying all of the fun...can't wait to start cooking!

Veal, tomatoes, lentils and noodles, a nice basket
but we may not end up with these ingredients
by the time the cooking begins...

Stay posted for the results of the cooking competition. If you are interested in having some fun at home, e-mail me and I will send you the complete rules and instructions. From my table to yours...enjoy...Mama Caruso

Fond Shore Memories

Savoring the Shore is now available through www.savoringtheshore.com and through Amazon, and Mama Caruso has a story on page 73! All proceeds benefit Hurricane Sandy relief. From my table to yours...

This thank you is from the fantastic two women who coordinated this monumental effort - Cheryl and Kate, "Thank you again so much for participating."

Thank YOU Cheryl and Kate for putting this project together, the photos are beautiful, the stories heartwarming and the recipes look delicious, I can't wait to start cooking and create a fond shore memory for my family in the midwest!

All of the ingredients for a
perfect mid-west
lobster bake