Top American Iron Chopped Chef - Birthday Challenge
My dad is a nut for cooking show and cooking competitions, just like me. So for his birthday this year I thought it would be a great idea to host our own cooking competition right here in our kitchen. There were three couples so we broke up into three sets of two. The four chefs not cooking in the round became the judges and we even had super official scoring sheets.
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| This was "the pantry" - everyone could use anything off of this table for their dishes. |
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| Judges Official Scoring Sheet |
Josh and Donald were head to head in the Appetizer Round.
Secret Ingredient: Chicken
and only 20 minutes to cook! ...well 20 minutes turned into 30 then 35 then 40 then we just said "OK! When ever its done!" We found out very quickly that 20 minutes is a ridiculous amount of time to cook anything!
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| Donald presenting his dish to the judges. |
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| Donald's Chicken Egg Rolls |
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| Josh's Chicken & Bacon stuffed pastry with Blue Cheese, Spicy Ketchup Dressing and Blue Cheese Kettle chip/crispy Onion Crumbe! |
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| The Winner of the Appetizer Round! |
Both dishes were so delicious it came down to plating - won him the extra points!
Next - Entree Round (This was given to the two best cooks of course, Dad and Jen!)
The secret ingredient: Honey Mustard Pretzel Bites
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| Rolling breaded scallops in bacon!! |
Now we had learned our lesson in the first round and gave the stove timer a break. The new kitchen rule was "Cook fast so we can eat!"
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| Jennifer is baking bone marrow - mmm! |
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| Jennifer's Basil Pasta with Honey Mustard Seared Scallops, Bone Marrow toasted Baguette and Toasted Honey Mustard Pretzel Crumble |
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| Dad's Steak and Honey Mustard Crusted Bacon wrapped Scallops (cooked to perfection!) |
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| The Winner! |
Dessert Round
Secret Ingredient: Raisins (blah, thanks a lot!)
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My Fruit Bruschetta with chopped Raisins, Honey, and Mint on top a bowl
of fresh Whipped Cream and a Caramel Raisin Bite |
Mom and I went head to head - we were by far the quickest round!
Sorry! No pictures of Mom's delicious Cinnamon Apple and Raisin "Pie with Whipped Cream and Caramel Drizzle.
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| Winner of the Dessert Round - closest score of ALL rounds! |
All in all, it was a fantastic party :) Josh and Donald won for overall shock factor cooking abilities because neither one can even cook a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese and the dishes they came up with were both dishes I have been craving ever since!
Birthday Presents!
Happy Birthday Dad! We all love you so much!
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| Eggs and Auntie's Basil Pasta :) she was not given a judging card. |
If you have some food lovers in your family turn up the heat and get cooking! This party was a huge hit!
