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Getting my “Master Chef” on with Food Lion and a $100 Gift Card Giveaway!

By 55 Comments

Have you ever watched Masterchef, or maybe even Chopped where they’ve opened up their mystery basket and your first reaction to the ingredients was:

“If I was standing there right now, I would so have this round in the bag.”

Ok, me neither.  However, a couple weeks back I was invited to participate in the first local Food Lion Frugal Cookoff here in Charlotte, where I was given the opportunity to change all that for the better.  Eleven bloggers attended and the gauntlet was thrown down.


Here are the “detes” for what we were up against:

  1. The group was divided into four teams and given 10 minutes to come up with a menu containing one main dish and two sides and then 10 minutes to gather up subsequent ingredients
  2. Our finished dishes were required to incorporate two of the available Food Lion My Essential products
  3. Said meal needed to be cooked and presented in 30 minutes or less
  4. The total cost had to be kept at $15 or under for a family of four

A smattering of the Food Lion My Essentials products we were provided with as pantry staples

Piece of cake right?  Not so fast Sherlock.  First off, I had no idea how fast time can fly when you’re on the clock.  Second, when you’re given limited ingredients to work with, the challenge rises that much higher.  Just look at all those furrowed brows from my teammates and me.  In the end we decided on a quick and tasty caprese chicken with noodles and wilted spinach.

My Team; Mary from Fervent Foodie, Alison from Coupon Kitchen and myself planning out our winning menu

We chopped, cooked, panicked, recovered and chopped some more.

Time flew like the wind but we managed to finish and, I have to say, I was pretty darn pleased with what we created

The judges seemed impressed too.  We received high marks for both flavor and spot on cooking technique of our chicken.

The judge’s table including Cathy Green, President of Food Lion

In the end, one team topped us with their creativity of a curried chicken in peanut satay sauce which even had my competition driven tummy rumbling despite their opponent status.  All in all it was a seriously fun event which left me dreaming of unique dinner concoctions long after the final buzzer rang.  Hmmm…. maybe I’m more cut out for Masterchef than I originally thought.

To end the night, Food Lion generously presented each of the bloggers across the four teams with grocery gift cards to share on their blogs.  So I ask you, who’s up for some grocery shopping?  I have $100 worth of family meals burning a whole in my pocket that I’d love to share with one of you.  All you need to do is leave a comment letting me know…

What’s your favorite go-to dish for a quick and healthy weeknight meal?

You can earn additional entries through:

  1. Liking Mommie Cooks on Facebook
  2. Liking Mommie Cooks on Twitter
  3. Following Mommie Cooks on Pinterest
  4. Following Food Lion on Facebook

Entries are open until midnight on October 10th and I’ll announce the winner sometime the following day.  Good luck!!

Update!  The winner of the gift card picked using Random.org is #6, Alysha!  Congrats and enjoy your gift card!

Note:  Food Lion provided the grocery gift card for this giveaway and sponsored the Frugal Cookoff event.  Pictures were also provided compliments of Food Lion’s photographers.  All opinions, as always, belong to little ol’ me.

 

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Comments

  11. Hamburger soup. There’s almost always some in the freezer waiting for a Friday night when nobody feels like cooking but we still want to eat something good. Pair it up with some really good bread and we’re all happy.

    Reply

  12. Hey, Julie! That meal looks amazing! Wow!
    My go to meal is usually tacos! I’ll use low fat turkey, whole wheat wraps and fill em with lots of lettuce, tomatoes and avocado! Yum!

    Reply

  19. Chicken strips seared in a llttle olive oil, then tossed in a salad with lots of pre-cut veggies and a light dressing . . . 🙂

    Reply

  21. Hmmm . . . favorite quick and healthy weeknight meal . . . I’d have to say pan-fried tilapia with a cherry tomato/basil pan sauce. Over rice. It’s quick and totally delicious (my husband calls it “perfect fish”) as long as you don’t overcook the fish.

    Reply

  36. Our favorite mid week meal is Mexican meatloaf. We use ground turkey, grated zucchini, grated garlic, cumin and oregano. We top it with ketchup or salsa, depending on what’s in the fridge. The kids love it and it’s so easy. Yum!

    Reply

  37. I can’t wait to try the Shrimp Appetizer. It sounds absolutely delicious. When we need something fast and healthy for dinner (with emphasis on FAST) we make breakfast. The kids love whole wheat banana or pumpkin pancakes and eggs. I have twin 7-year-olds (a boy and a girl) and we set the electric griddle up on the table and take turns cooking. They both have gotten quite good at cooking on the griddle. They’re also learning how to manipulate the ingredients to try new flavors!

    Reply

  53. This sounds like so much fun! I guess my go-to dinner would be a simple fish fry using tilapia and panko. It seems to hit the spot every time1

    Reply

  54. my go-to dish is grilled chicken and sautteed spinach (we always have spinach in the house for smoothies)

    Reply

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