Food Bank of South Jersey Hunger Games

May the odds be ever in your favor …

Last night Team Subaru and I participated in the Food Bank of South Jersey Hunger Games. An entertaining, fierce and LIVE cook-off that challenges some of the region’s top companies to assemble teams to compete in a friendly and spirited competition. I was paired with Team Subaru as their mentor. I couldn’t cook, because the teams were not supposed to have “professionals” on them, but I could help my team with advice, plating and cooking techniques and overall encouragement.

To begin, we were sequestered in a small room and given a box of mystery ingredients. Our box contained many items hungry families would find in a food bank. Our charge was to take the ingredients and transform it into a delicious meal. We could also use items, which were available for purchase from the food bank pantry. Here are some pictures of our box of ingredients and what we could purchase.

The Food Bank of South Jersey Hunger Games premise is to use a box ingredients while staying in-line with the MyPlate food components, including a vegetable, protein, fruit, grain and dairy.

Team GGG and Subaru decided we wanted to do a “Share the Love” Garden Veggie Burger which included beans, rice and vegetables.

Our team was extremely talented with everyone embracing their roles and working well together.

We had 45 minutes to prep and prepare our dish. Our meal consisted of a veggie black bean and rice burger topped with a fried egg and avocado, massaged spinach side salad and a canned pineapple, strawberry and banana greek yogurt smoothie.

Then, one by one, teams were called to the front to present their dish to the judges.

And in the end, there was only one team crowned the winner …. Team GGG & Subaru. We won the 2105 Food Bank of South Jersey Hunger Games!

Not only was our dish amazing, and by far a crowd favorite, but our team deserved to win. They worked hard, took direction well and were open to suggestions. They truly were a joy to work with … plus, I liked them all a lot!