World Food Championships 2014, 3rd Place - Dessert
I am VERY honored to say that I earned the 3rd place spot in the dessert category of the "Superbowl of Food!"
For the dignature dish, I made a "Tipsy
Rockin' Root Beer Float Cupcake." It was a chocolate root beer cupcake
stuffed with root beer liqueur infused chocolate cream, topped with
vanilla buttercream frosting, and garnished with chocolate covered PoP
Rocks! It was so FUN!
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| Tipsy Rockin' Root Beer Float Cupcakes |
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| Blueberry Basil Beignets with White Chocolate Lemon Curd |
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| Naked Vanilla Key Lime Hand Cakes |
US Potato Board #TopTater Contest, Fall 2014
I don't know anyone who doesn't LOVE potatoes! I love 'em! This was a great contest with a great prize that helped my buy ingredients for WFC2014! My Cheddar Chorizo Hash Stacks with Chipotle Mango Salsa incorporate so many of my favorite flavors!
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| Cheddar and Chorizo Hash Stacks with Chipotle Mango Salsa |
Cookmore.com by Kenmore, Dessert, Summer 2014
Kenmore and the cookmore.com website are some of my favorite people. I was honored to qualify for the 2014 World Food Championships in the dessert category with my Kahlua Pig Chocolate Cake! It's a Kahlua liqueur infused chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, chocolate ganache frosting and a macadamia nut and bacon brittle garnish!
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| The Kahlua Pig Chocolate Cake |
World Food Championships 2013, FoodChamp Challenge - Bacon
Five winners were selected to compete in the World Food Championships from the WFC FoodChamp Challenge - Bacon. I was honored to be the blog champ in this category. My Bacon Stuffed Apples with Vanilla Bourbon Sauce allowed me to compete with some of the best chefs on earth!
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| Bacon Stuffed Apples with Vanilla Bourbon Sauce |
The Sam Livecast Cooking Competition, October 2012
Out of eight competitors, I made it to the final two and took second
place. I have been a huge fan of Sam the Cooking Guy for many years and
it was such an honor just to be able to cook in "the red kitchen!"
There were three rounds, in which I made three dishes, pictured below:
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| Jerk Fried Cod with Coconut Basmati Rice and Pineapple Bacon Chutney Photo by Lynn Chyi |
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| Baked Ponzu Orange Chicken Photo by Lynn Chyi |
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| Bison Sliders with Roasted Corn and Chipotle Mango Salsa |
Real Women of Philadelphia, Summer 2012
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| White Chocolate Blackberry Mousse Tartelts |
www.skinnydecadence.com, Spring 2012
This is one of the best recipes I've made in a long time.
www.skinnydecadence.com's Curried Chicken Stir-Fry is DELICIOUS, and I
was lucky enough to take first place in their video contest for week 1.
Week 2 was another win, second place this time, with their beautiful Fetuccine with Pesto, Chicken and Asparagus. This is a PERFECT dish for a light spring dinner!
My friend Mary has an AWESOME blog with lots of healthy (and some not so healthy) recipes. PLEASE check her out at www.skinnydecadence.com
Real Women of Philadelphia, Cookbook Contest 2011
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| Curried Chicken Stir-Fry |
Week 2 was another win, second place this time, with their beautiful Fetuccine with Pesto, Chicken and Asparagus. This is a PERFECT dish for a light spring dinner!
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| Fetuccine with Pesto, Chicken and Asparagus |
Real Women of Philadelphia, Cookbook Contest 2011
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| Peanut Butter S'mores Shooters |
It always feels good to get constant positive feedback from a company like Kraft Foods, Inc. Their competitive website, http://www.realwomenofphiladelphia.com/, has blessed me with more contest wins than any other website or competition I've entered.
My Peanut Butter S'mores Shooters won for their cookbook contest in
October of 2011. This was the second year I was chosen to be a
contributor to their community cookbook, featuring lots of delicious
recipes featuring Philadelphia Cream Cheese!
Last fall, my family and I made as many different types of S’mores as we
could around a back yard camp fire. There were Caramel Apple S’mores,
traditional S’mores and Peppermint S’mores, but the hands-down winner
was the Peanut Butter Chocolate S’more! This cute little shooter
encompasses all your favorite flavors and uses my absolute favorite
recipe for peanut butter crème, with Philly!
Aetna Healthy Food Fight 2011 |
| Jerk Chicken with Mango Chutney and Coconut Rice |
I wanted to submit this recipe last year, but they had a $12.00 recipe cost limit. I was pleased to see that the limit was increased to $25.00, which gave me the green light to give them one of my best recipes.
Real Women of Philadelphia, Season Two Casting
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| Hoopfinity and Paula Deen at the RWOP cook-off in Savannah, Georgia, June, 2011 |
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| Quadruple B's |
I was sent to Savannah, Georgia to cook with 15 other WONDERFUL women and Paula Deen! I didn't win the grand prize of $25,000, but this was definitely a high point in my cooking career and one of my life's amazing moments! Life just keeps getting better and better!
Ménage à Trois Wine:
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| Ménage à Trois Sorbet |
Real Women of Philadelphia (Kraft):
This is SO special to me, not only because it was my favorite flavor of the four (obviously I like the Southwest flavors best), but my trip to Sedona was truly SO magical, I guess a little of the magic stayed with me up until it was time for the judges to pick a winner!
This is a simple and quick Mac N Cheese that's packed with flavor and heat!
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| Southwest Macaroni and Cheese |
California Strawberry Commission:
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| Skinny Tropical Dessert Nachos |
Apple chips are the base of this light but decadent no-cook tropical
fruit dessert with just a hint of a mint finish. If you can't find the
apple chips, banana chips or thinly sliced apple wedges work just as
well!
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| Fall Spice Hash |
I was a regional winner for the San Diego edition of the Aetna Healthy
Food Fight in 2010. The winner went to Los Angeles for the national
finals and cooked Thanksgiving dinner for Bobby Flay. The winner of the
national finals gained the title of America's Healthiest Cook and won
$10,000 in kitchen appliances.
I was lucky enough to be part of yet another positive and encouraging
cooking competition. Everyone at the regional event was so kind and
welcoming, I immediately felt like a part of their family. They
had been traveling around the country for the last two months holding
regional cook-offs and none of them even seemed a bit tired. The head
chef of the event, "Chef Frank," even had a three month old daughter he
hadn't seen since she was first born. That's dedication.
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Aetna Healthy Food Fight
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We were scored on nutrition, the top 48 scores went to the regional
cook-off. From there, we wer scored on presentation (15 points) and
taste (50 points). I submitted a version of my Fall Spice Hash and was
grateful to be selected as one of the 48 healthiest dishes in San
Diego. I've posted some pics of the presentation below, and I got some
great feedback on taste. I feel like I did the absolute best I could. I
didn't win the regional finals, but that's simply because it was
someone else's time to shine!
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| Good Luck Kisses! |
RWOP (Real Women of Philadelphia)
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| WINNING DISH - Jambalaya Joes |
I found out a couple of weeks late, so I missed the first two entries,
but as soon as I could, I started feverishly writing down, photographing
and submitting my recipes in hopes of scoring in the cookbook and
winning ALL the money $$$$$$ !!!!!!
I knew the competition would be rough...I watch Food Network A LOT and I've seen those bake-off challenges. They're brutal!
So, needless to say I was expecting cut-throat competition, school-girl
drama, and lots of politics. I went in with my battle armor on and my
nose in the air. OOPS.
What I didn't realize, was that this was a beautiful COMMUNITY, full of
gorgeous people who support, encourage and love each other...and their
recipes! There's no drama, no politics (from what I can see) and some
of the biggest competitors, who've already taken home their winnings,
are sticking around to kick us "newbies" in the pants and keep us going.I can honestly say that I am SO proud of being one of Philly's Real Women, and I am truly honored and humbled by all the encouragement, support and recognition I've been given. The 500 smackaroos I've been hoping for would now just be the icing on the cake to all the other wonderful doors this competition has opened for me.
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