Always Salty, Never Sweet: The 2nd Annual "Camp Tierno" Cooking Class

About 5 years ago my Nanny & Pop-Pop started a new vacation tradition in our family. One week in August became designated to "Camp Tierno" a sort of staycation at their house in Princeton, NJ. All four families would get together for a week filled with trips to the museum, Six Flags, swimming in the pool, golf and tennis lessons at the Country Club and much more.

My Nanny is a phenomenal cook and we can always expect more than enough delicious food throughout the week. Last year, being in that weird limbo between college and career, I was designated as the "event planner" for the 2011 Camp Tierno week. One suggestion, from my Aunt D, got the idea of a cooking lesson going and before we knew it my brother, sister, cousins, and I had planned 3 different themed dinners; Greek, Italian, and Spanish/Mexican. We only ended up doing two but they were so fun and delicious!

Master Chefs!

Greek Night: Chicken Souvlaki with yogurt sauce, Greek Salad, Spanakopita triangles, and (store bought) Baklava for dessert

Spanish/Mexican: Nachos, Baja Fish Tacos, and Churros

Everyone had fun and wanted to do it again this year. And true to my personality, I had to top last year and do it bigger and better.

My brother, sister, and I are a big fans of MasterChef and Hell's Kitchen and I thought it would be fun to incorporate more of a game or challenge aspect to this year's cooking class. My idea was to do one night of appetizers and mini desserts and rather than working on one recipe at a time, create stations designated to individual recipes.

Everyone would start at a station and on my command people would switch and would have to explain to the next person what they are doing, where they left off on the recipe, and any tips or advice from their experience. This year they would be doing all the work and I would be there to supervise and answer questions. The ONLY downside to this whole day was that it was pre-blog and therefore I don't have as many great pictures of the food as I would like, but if you click on the links below you can make them all for yourself!

N slicing potatoes

S working that mixer!

Nanny <3

N saucing the wings

R rolling the cookie dough into balls

Switch!

N preparing the egg rolls

R making homemade pesto

A slicing mozzarella for the meatballs

M & S cutting corn for the mussels

The menu consisted of:

Southwestern Egg Rolls (Baked, not fried, and very tasty although definitely for those favoring some spicyness!)
Baked Brown Sugar Chicken Wings with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce (This sauce is to DIE for so delicious and we were putting it on anything and everything...or just a spoon for some!)
Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs (Sooooo yummy...combining the beef and spicy sausage makes these so juicy and flavorful. We ended up forgetting to heat up marinara sauce to go with them but didn't notice because they were so good on their own....or in that Red Pepper Sauce)
Pesto Portobello Pizzas (We actually ran out of time and ended up saving these for the next day to make for a snack!)
Mussels with Corn & Chorizo (Recipe calls for clams but we preferred mussels...I've had this at Valanni in Philly and it was so amazing that I would dream about it, so this was a perfect opportunity to try and recreate it!)
Loaded Potato Skins (So easy and tasted just like something you would buy at a restaurant...if not better)
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pops (My friend at work made these for a baby shower we had and I couldn't stop eating them...If you like Cookie Dough ice cream (which I love) this recipe will become your new best friend!)
Bite Sized Pies (Instead of the brie and jam we got cherry and apple pie fillings from a can which made this a super easy treat!)
Peanut Butter Pie Shooters (AHHHmazing...we also made these the day before and they thickened up nicely in the fridge overnight)

It was such a fun time and I'm still impressed that we managed to pull it off without any huge disasters. ALL the food was delicious and we were exhausted and stuffed at the end. Everyone did such a great job and I was so proud of my mini chefs! Next year's Camp Tierno will be in Vermont at a lake house so I better start brainstorming ways to top this year's cooking class which will not be an easy task!!