Chopped- Our Family's Edition!

I've mentioned before that I love Food Network's Chopped.  We decided that we were going to have our own Chopped Challenge.  The boys (Tony and Carson) took on the girls (Chloe and Camilla).   Coralynn and I served as judges.  We decided that we would have two rounds: side dish and dessert. Everyone would advance to the dessert round, but someone would have an "advantage."


The Teams:

The Men (and Judge Bits)

The Ladies

 

 

 

Round One:  Side Dish

Before the Reveal

The Secret Ingredients: Edamama, Ginger Ale, Onion, Hot Peppers, Rice Krispies

Tony, from Team Men, working on the edamame

(and sporting the Illini hat after an exciting victory for the Illinois football team over the Cincinnati Bearcats)

Carson, also from Team Men, smashing the rice krispies with a pan.

Completely unrelated, but really cute picture of Cosita's tail.  I love Cosita's tail!

 

Roving reporter, Cosita, checking in from the kitchen.

Chloe, from Team Ladies, working on a pretty presentation.

Preparing to present to the judges.

Team Men: Edamame salad with a ginger ale smoothie

Team Ladies: Edamame salad with ginger ale sauce and tortilla and jam

 

 

VERDICT:  Team Men, for their wise use of pantry ingredients, edged out Team Lady and their unique plating design.

 

 

 

 

Round Two: Dessert

 

What dessert could our teams make with breadsticks, maraschino cherries, Hershey's chocolate, and green olives?

 

**I'd really like to have pictures of this to show y'all, but I was taking pictures with my phone, and I haven't figured out how those get to my computer.  Oops**

 



Team Ladies' beautifully presented chocolate chip chocolate breadstick cherry-olive crumble thing.

 

 

VERDICT: Team Men won the challenge.  The dessert round was MUCH closer, but Team Ladies relied too heavily on chocolate chips when they had a chocolate bar they could be using.

 

VERDICT VERDICT:  Our family Chopped Challenge was super fun, and I loved hearing my husband and children say things like, "This is too sweet.  We need acid!"