Kids Should Not Cook…
Food Network Fan
As kids my siblings and I were obsessed with a show on Food Network called Food Network Star.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s a competition show where 20 or so chefs and home cooks from around the U.S. compete against one another for a chance to win their very own cooking show on the Food Network.
During the summer we would sit and watch the show together as a family every Sunday night, watching in awe as the contestants whipped up culinary masterpieces at the judges’ whim.
As Food Network Star superfans, my siblings and I decided that we should create our own cooking competition using our stuffed animals as the contestants.
However, instead of using fake or imaginary food, we decided our stuffed animals would actually cook, using real food, real knifes, real ovens, and real stovetops with REAL fire….
Luckily no stuffed animals were burned alive in the process and our competition was able to proceed without resistance from the judges, a.k.a., our parents.
Over the years we did more and more competitions, creating creations such as the Ramen Noodle Hamburger (a hamburger with fried ramen noodles as the bun – this is actually a real thing!), The Healthy Sunday (vanilla ice cream mixed with peppers, ranch and sprinkles), Granola Bar Go-Gurt Parfait and more.
Carrot Infused Meatballs
One of my all-time favorite creations from our competitions has to be Carrot Infused Meat Balls, created by my Build-a-Bear Monkey known as Pally.
During her time in our competition, Pally discovered her love for healthy eating and decided she wanted to create dishes centered around this newfound passion.
Therefore, when the contestants were given carrots as one of their main ingredients in a cook off, Pally decided it would be interesting to see if she could hide the carrots in a delicious food item, making it so everyone could eat these healthy vegetables.
She decided to take some hot dogs and blend them in a blender. Then she added the carrots, some salt and pepper, and one egg.
Her original idea was to create meatballs, hence the title of the dish, but due to a lack of time and overall knowledge of cooking, she ended up scratching the idea.
Instead, she simply cooked the mixture in a pan and mashed it into a cylinder, making it look like a cake.
The judges were disappointed that she wasn’t able to execute her original idea, but they were pleasantly surprised by the flavor of the dish.
However, despite her strong efforts, Pally was unable to continue in the competition due to the fact that the show was canceled by the creators because they, “Didn’t feel like finishing,” it.
