Pretzel Maker, Smashburger and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Our family needed to go to St George for business related things, so we decided to take advantage of the fact that, as a family, we haven't all been together in St George for years.  We knew there were restaurants that we haven't tried.  So instead of trying a new recipe like we do every Monday, we decided to try new places to eat!  The kids never argue about eating out.  ☺

Due to being there for such a long time, we needed a snack so we headed to the mall.   N (the 15 year old) was excited about going to a mall.  He LOVES malls.  I had to warn him that the mall there is small compared to the ones he went to in Maryland.  He didn't care.

 Here is N, L, R, and J.  ☺

 First stop:  Pretzel Makers.

 N with his pretzel bites and pizza sauce!  Slurp!

 L with pretzel bites with caramel sauce.  Double slurp!

 Dad trying N's pizza sauce.

 Dad with nacho cheese!   Oh yeah!  

 J with his ranch pretzel.  Which, by the way, was really good.  And I don't normally like ranch flavored things, except for salad dressing.

Me with a pretzel bite and vanilla glaze.  Now this was my favorite. ☺

R wanted a pretzel dog.  I didn't taste it, but she thought it was awesome.

There was this weird cushion thingy that the kids had to lay on.  Well, N didn't want to, but I coerced him into at least laying down.

N giving J some "beef stew."  If you are one of the few who don't know what "beef stew" is, you need to check out this movie.

 For dinner we went to Smashburger!  We learned about this place to eat from watching Unwrapped and were thrilled to see it in St George.

 J can't wait!

 R enjoying some orange soda.

 L loves milk!

N just chillin'.

 Not our food....

Still not our food....

 We are waiting for our food.  We are #5!!

 L is a silly little girl.  I have NO idea where she gets it from.

 R is cranky as could be.  She needs food.

 Here is my burger and some Veggie Fries.  They consist of fried carrots, fried green beans, and fried asparagus.  My favorite was the asparagus.  Even N liked the carrots and he is not a fan of veggies.  My smashburger was on their spicy chipotle bun.... and wow, were they spicy!  I took the jalapeños off before eating, so I know it wasn't those little guys spicing up my mouth.  Either way, it was very tasty. 

 Underneath all that lettuce and haystack onion strings is Dad's smashburger.  He ate every bit. We had a side order of haystack onions which was a huge hit with the whole table.  Even the kids who do not care for onions LOVED these and I should have bought two side orders.  Mental note for the future: either order enough for everyone or go alone and eat all of them for myself.  I am leaning toward the latter... ☺

 N got his favorite: bun, beef, cheese, and BACON!  Also, he got the smashfries which are seasoned with rosemary, olive oil and garlic.  He fell in love with them.

R got a smashburger with just ketchup, mustard, and lots of pickles.  She ate the whole thing!

L is the baby of the family and still enjoys chicken strips.  However, they were really good and she ate almost all of her food by herself.  That is saying something, because she is skinny and has a small appetite.

 J got a smashchicken with just cheese.  He put ketchup on it much to my gagging dismay.  In my mind, chicken is not good with ketchup!

After dinner, we headed over to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  We were so tired and on our way home after this, so I was not as camera happy.   But I got a couple pictures:

 Mmmmm, caramel apples.  J ended up getting the M&M one and R got the one you can barely see, it is the ones just under the M&M ones: an avalanche caramel apple.

 This was the awesome guy who was dipping all the apples.  He was so funny.

He cracked us up because while he was putting the apples away, Dad told him that we were expecting candy to be thrown around at us because we watched "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" the day before.  He grabbed some chocolate gold coins and started chucking them at us.  We each got one.  It was fun.  

Here is the lady who got us our chocolate.

Remember how I said I didn't take a lot of pictures?  Yeah, that is it.  Since it was dark and we were on our way home after this, I didn't take a picture of what we got and heaven knows the chocolate didn't make it home.  So I will just tell you what we got.  Dad got a white chocolate macadamia bear.  I got a hazelnut truffle, a milk chocolate hunk of rocky road, a piece of English toffee, and a peanut cluster.  (Did I mention before that I am a chocoholic?)  N got some while chocolate M&M bark.  J got the M&M caramel apple.  R got the avalanche caramel apple.  And L got the huge dark chocolate peanut butter cup.

It was not a cheap day, food-wise, but it was a blast to hang out with each other and eat good food.

Spicy Bean & Beef Pie and Brickle Drop Cookies

I made Spicy Bean & Beef Pie for dinner.  I got the recipe from a Taste of Home magazine I have.  I adapted it to our family's tastes.  The original recipe can be found here.  I also doubled the recipe to make two pies for my family of six (including two teenage boys).

 I took two pounds of ground beef and browned it.

 While it was browning, I prepared the garlic.  I just cut the bottom off.

 And then peel back the garlic skin.

 See, now they are naked cloves of garlic.  I know I can just add the cloves skins and all to my nifty garlic press, but I prefer to skin the cloves because I get more garlic out of the press and less left behind in the press.

 I add the garlic while the meat is still browning.

 While I am working on the meat and garlic, Bill is helping out and grating the cheese for me.  I detest grating cheese.  I had to do it so many times growing up that I always pawn off cheese shredding to others.  I usually buy the preshredded stuff, but it doesn't taste as yummy as freshly shredded cheese.

 Open up two cans bean with bacon soup and dump them into a bowl.  Do not reconstitute.

 I take my inversion blender and blend one 16 ounce bottle of salsa.  Nate doesn't care for chunks of tomatoes, so that is what made me think to blend the salsa.

 Pour the salsa into the bowl with the bean soup and dump in 2 teaspoons of paprika.

In goes the 1/2 cup cornstarch, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoons pepper.

 Mix really well.

 Rinse two 16 ounce cans kidney beans.

Pour them into the bean soup mixture and two 15 ounce cans black beans (that were also rinsed).

 Mix well.

As you can tell, the bowl is different now.  I did not estimate how much this filling would be making two pies, so I had to dump all the other filling stuff into this bowl and then add the rest of the ingredients:  the ground beef, 2 1/2 cups shredded cheese, and 3/4 cup chopped green onions.

 Mix all together.  Look at all that yumminess waiting to be devoured!

 You can make your own pie crust or you can buy pre-made ones.  I chose pre-made ones because I only make pie crust when the mood strikes me - which is not very often.  Even with the pre-made crusts, they still need to be rolled out a little bit.

Place into a pie pan.

 Pour in the filling.

Top with another sheet of pie crust, flute edges, and cut slits in top.  Bake in 425°F for 30-35 minutes.

 Look at my two pretty beef pies!!  Now, I should note that the pie crust on the left is from Pillsbury and the crust on the right is from Great Value.  It may look like the Great Value one baked better, but that is not so.  When we tried each crust, the Pillsbury was the best because it was flaky.  The Great Value one was kind of dry.  Not what you want in a pie crust.

 Up close of the Pillsbury crust.  Mmmmm, look at that gorgeously browned fluted crust and flakiness of the crust.

Yes, the fluting is golden brown on the Great Value crust, but that was the best part.

 Mmmmm, here is another 3/4 cup of diced green onions for the topping.

Ooooo, flaky goodness!

Ok, so this isn't the best picture, but I couldn't wait to tear into this.  I added some sour cream, salsa, sliced olives, and more cheese on top.  I found it rather delicious.  I personally would make a few minor adjustments next time I make it: less bean with bacon soup, more cheese, and possible some cream cheese.

 Now onto dessert:  Brickle Drop Cookies.  I made this from a Hershey's Holiday Favorites cookbook I bought at the register.  (I love me some impulse cookbooks at cash registers!)

The recipe can be found here.

One cup granulated sugar and one cup of packed light brown sugar.

Two sticks softened butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Blend together....

...until it looks like this.

3 eggs

 Beat until it looks like this all nice and creamy.

 Sift together: 3 ½ cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, and 2 teaspoons cream of tartar.  Then gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture. Blend well.

 Stir in 1 (8 ounce) package Heath Bits 'o Brickle Toffee Bits.

 This dough is so lovely and tasted good just as is.

Use a medium cookie scoop (about size 50 - capacity 1 ¼ tablespoons)

 Place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet (I use Air-Bake cookie sheets).  You can also use a Silpat but I don't have one of those, yet.  (hint, hint... to my husband for a Christmas gift. I would like 4 please.)

 Look at these adorable little balls of toffee-studded cookie dough!  Bake in a preheated 350°F for 8-10 minutes or until slightly browned.

 It wasn't until after I baked the first batch that I realized I forgot to adjust the original recipe for altitude changes (I live at an elevation of 5623 feet above sea level).  So they are a little flatter than I would like.  But they perfect for homemade ice cream sandwiches.  Especially since it makes about 6 dozen.

 As a self proclaimed chocoholic myself, I am surprised that I love these chocolate-free cookies.  They are so yummy and the tiny toffee bits are delicious are crunchy bits of heaven.