So for the brief moment that we had television there, I got hooked on The Food Network show Chopped. Thanks Jenna for introducing me to Food Network. And the ripple continued when I got Staci hooked. So naturally a contest was born. While we were in Gunnison for Christmas, Me, Staci, Scott, and Logan dueled our skillets and spatulas to see who the Master Chef was. For those of you who don't know how Chopped works, there are three rounds: appetizer, main course, and dessert. Each round a contestant is "chopped" and eliminated. Now here is the twist- there are secret ingredients in each round that you are required to use in your dish. For our version we had to tweak the rules a little. First we all went to the grocery store and each person picked out a secret ingredient which were then later revealed to everyone. We decided to just do two rounds: main course and dessert. We also decided to score by points and to not eliminate anyone the first round because we were all so excited to cook and we would feel bad if we were kicked out. What a bunch of pansies. And so the competition began! The first round's secret ingredients included: hash browns, hot sauce, mushrooms and croutons. We had 30 minutes to make our main course and have it on the table for judging. My mom's kitchen is really small and its a miracle no one was stabbed or burned. We were running around like crazy chopping this and frying that. My parents were the judge which was both hilarious and frustrating. My dad's motto is "Meat, Potatoes, and Gravy". They haven't experienced much in food and different tastes. But I can't complain because they were troopers for being willing to eat our interesting mixtures of food. We were all scored and the dessert round started. At this point Staci, Logan and I were tied at 6 points with Scott at 2 (he got carried away with the garlic salt. The secret ingredients for the dessert round were vanilla wafers, coconut milk, chocolate chips and Tampico punch (thanks for that one Scott). We had 20 minutes to complete our dessert. I fashioned a delicious molten chocolate raspberry cake with whipped topping and raspberries. Impressive I know! Yet somehow, Staci came out as the Master Chef with her mandarin orange pudding. It just doesn't add up. It was so fun though and we would love to have a rematch. The winner was to receive their meal paid for at El Mexicano...yet somehow we forgot.
The contestants
The secret ingredients for the main course round
The secret ingredients for the dessert round. Scott picked the tampico and Logan picked the coconut milk. Come on boys!
Our main courses. They weren't quite as grotesque as they look.
My awesome breakfast burrito.
The judges. They look thrilled don't they.
2 comments:
Even though I can't taste the food, I vote for Staci too, since your breakfast burrito looks like it has a sponge in it.
This is awesome! I'm going to have to steal this idea and do it with my fam. Hope your Christmas went well. We were sad we didn't get to see you.
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