Post by Jason on Jan 7, 2009 18:25:19 GMT -5
Welcome Chefs!
This is your first Elimination Challenge. I am posting it a bit early so that you have plenty of time to ask questions and to really think about it. Congrats to Phantom for being our first guest judge. Phantom along with myself and Tom will be judging this challenge, but Phantom still needs to participate!
First things first, for the rest of the game you'll need to familiarize yourself with this website:
www.peapod.com
This will serve as your online "grocery store" and where you will "buy" all your groceries for challenges. You'll see that budgeting and buying ingredients is a tricky part of a lot of challenges! You'll need to do some things first to get Peapod to work for you, so here's what to do:
1. Go to www.peapod.com
2. Where it says New Customers click on Groceries for Home
3. Where it says New to Peapod? and asks for a zip code, just put 60613 (that's my zip and Peapod for sure works for me so I know it will work for all of you)
4. Once you hit GO after putting in your ZIP you will be sent to the main screen. You'll see Start Shopping on the left hand side and categories you can start using. There are also tabs along the top of the site for different departments and aisles.
Once you have all that done you can go around finding all the meats, cheeses, breads, fish, anything you want! for your imaginary recipes! For most challenges you will need to show me a screen shot of your "receipt". The "receipt" is the right hand side of your screen. You'll see a list and a TOTAL at the top, the receipt will automatically tally your groceries for you so you now how much you are spending as you go. When you are done shopping you will take a screen capture of the "receipt" and include it with your challenge submission. If it is not there you will not get credit for the challenge and immediately be in the Bottom.
Once this challenge is over I will post a Peapod Primer that you can always refer to.
Awesome, now on to the challenge already, right? Well, not yet!
One last thing to tell you guys, is that there is a Top Chef Pantry. The Top Chef Pantry has some essential things you will need that you will not have to "buy" at the store. You may freely use these but make sure we know you used them in your recipe.
The Top Chef Pantry includes:
• All cookware you might need (pots, pans, etc.)
• All cooking appliances you would need (blenders, mixers, slicers, anything)
• All spices (salt, pepper, cinammon, etc.)
• Milk
• All basic baking ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, etc.)
• All cooking utensils (measuring cups, rolling pins, molds, etc.)
That's all. If you have a question about whether the pantry has something, just send me a PM.
NOW, the challenge:
We want to get to know you, and we want you to show us who you are as Chefs, so your first Elimination Challenge will be for you to show us your favorite dish/recipe that you think represents you and your personality. For instance if you love Asian food and you think you have a spicy personality maybe you show us General Tso's Chicken. You can use recipes that exist on the Internet, that you have, your mom's have, a cookbook, anything you want.
Here's the catch! You only have $20 to spend at the "store". $20 is a lot so wow us, and spend the money in a wise way.
WHAT YOU NEED TO TURN IN
• Name your recipe and tell us why it represents you, be creative.
• The actual recipe
• A receipt from Peapod.com showing us that you spent $20 or less
• Extra credit: A photo of the recipe. This can be from the Internet, a drawing in Paint, anything you want. There is no judging of bad drawing, if you submit a drawing of any kind you will get extra credit.
TIPS
• Check out food websites like foodnetwork.com, bravotv.com/topchef, google search recipe websites etc.
• Check out cookbooks if you or your parents have some
• Look in magazines, there are ALWAYS recipes.
• If you know a food you like, for instance if you love Fried Chicken, type Fried Chicken recipes into Google and find one you like and can afford!
• If you have lots of money left over consider a side dish, like veggies or potatoes or salads or whatever you want! You can show us 5 dishes if they are under $20.
You will have 36 hours to do this challenge. Please ask as many questions as you want.
Here is an example of what you might turn in:
CHEF JASON'S ULTIMATE POTATO PIZZA[/u]
I chose mashed potato pizza as my dish that reprsents me because it is some of my favorite foods mashed into one dish, and is the ultimate easy lazy food. Since I am lazy and love comfort food I thought this was perfect for me.
RECIPE[/u]
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
* 2 cups instant mashed potato flakes
* 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
* 1 (3 ounce) jar real bacon bits
* 1 (10 ounce) can pizza crust dough
* 1/2 cup sour cream
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (200 degrees C). Prepare instant mashed potatoes according to package directions. Stir in half of the Cheddar cheese, bacon bits, and green onions.
2. Cut the pizza crust dough in half, and spread into the bottom of two 8-inch round pans. Bake for 4 minutes in the preheated oven, until about halfway done. Spoon the potato mixture over each crust. Sprinkle remaining Cheddar cheese over the top.
3. Bake for an additional 5 minutes in the preheated oven, until crust is golden, and cheese is melted. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Top with sour cream to taste.
RECEIPT[/u]
IMAGE[/u]
Good luck Chefs!
Padma
