Chopped

UMA Edition!!

Post by Kate Friar

Cooking is a way of connecting and throughout the year we’ve seen this to be true as the girls have helped in the kitchen, preparing meals for our weekly groups. So when the idea to do a girl's cooking competition was thrown out, they were all immediately on board! There were a few girls who took on key brainstorming roles, giving us ideas for how the competition should go. We decided to mainly follow the rules and rounds from the show Chopped.

The girls were placed in teams of 3 or 4, and if younger they would have a UMA leader to help them. They had 20 minutes each round to make their best dish and had to use the 3 ingredients we gave them, but could also use supplemental ingredients that we provided. The girls who didn’t cook were judges, along with UMA volunteers, moms, and neighbors. The contestants had to make an appetizer, entree, and dessert. The judges gave a score of 1-3 based on taste, creativity, and presentation.

The girls were so excited to start, but I was a little worried that when they saw their firsts ingredients (a tomato, pizza crust, and egg roll) they wouldn’t know what to do -- it was just the opposite! There was a moment of surprise in their eyes, then scrambling around the kitchen grabbing pots, pans, knives, and spices. We were amazed how, through out the night, the girls worked together as teams built exquisite dishes that were creative, beautifully presented, and tasty! The girls had soo much fun and staff, parents, and neighbors were all blown away by how well they did working together and using the creativity God gave them.

The next day the girls were already asking when we could do it again, so hopefully there will be a Chopped- round two!