This recipe was submitted by Rachel S for May’s Food Challenge. If you have a recipe with eggs in it, you can enter too! Check it out ’cause there’s a great prize! Thanks Rachel for entering!

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 Eggs
• Shredding Mozzarella Cheese
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Butter
• Salt/Pepper

(I followed a recipe I found here: http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2011/05/asparagus-frittata.html – with a few of my own tweaks and changes)

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop onion and put it into frying pan with butter, until soft
2. Clean/cut asparagus and add it to pan. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes.
3. While veggies are in the pan, make egg mixture – 8 eggs, 1 cup of cheese, salt/pepper to liking – and mix together.
4. Add the veggies to a quiche or pie pan. Pour egg mixture on top. Put in oven (at 350) until the egg has solidified. Add more cheese on top (I used the same mozzarella cheese on top, but have also make it with goat cheese) and put under the broiler for about 5 minutes – or until it is golden brown and delicious!

(photo credit goes to http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/asparagus_frittata/)

This recipe was submitted by Sherri for May’s Food Challenge.  If you have a recipe with eggs in it, you can enter too! Check it out ’cause there’s a great prize!  Thanks Sherri for entering!

Ingredients

• 12 frozen biscuits
• 12 oz country ham, thinly sliced
• 3 lg Egglands Best Eggs
• 1/2 med habanero pepper, finely chopped (optional)
• 1/4 c Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp chives, dry
• 1 lg onion, sliced
• 6 Tbsp butter, unsalted (3 Tbsp for onions)
• 3 pinch salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place biscuits on lightly greased cookie sheet. Have sides touching each other. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. One minute before cooking is complete melt 1 tbsp butter, add Italian season and half of the chives. Brush the tops of biscuits with the butter mixture; continue to cook the biscuits for one more minute. Remove biscuits from oven and place on a cooling rack.
2. Meanwhile, in a heated large skillet, add ham slices and enough water to cover ham slices. Cook at medium heat until liquid has reduced in half. This should take about 4-5 minutes. Flip ham slices half way through. After liquid had reduced, remove ham and set or warming plate.
3. Add chopped habanero pepper, mustard and honey to the pan sauce. Simmer on low heat for about 2 minutes. Set aside
4. Grill sliced onions in 3 tbsp butter. Remove and set aside
5. Whisk eggs, remaining chives, pepper and salt. In a medium size frying pan, add 2 tbsp of butter. Let melt, and then add eggs. Cook eggs about 1 minute and flip and cook for an additional minute. Remove and cut into 12 equal pieces
6. Slice biscuits in half. Layer equal parts of egg, honey mustard mixture, ham, grilled onions and tops of biscuits.

Serve with fresh fruit and veggies.

This recipe was submitted by Malerie C, into March’s Food Challenge.  Thanks Malerie for entering!

This sandwich recipe is for one sandwich.

This recipe was submitted by Elizabeth T, into March’s Food Challenge, where the theme is GREEN and the prize is a $200 Circulon Cookware Set!  Thanks for entering Elizabeth!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Milk
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 TBSP Butter
• 1/4 cup syrup (light)
• 1/4 cup Bailiey’s and 2 TBSP later
• Green Food Coloring
• Butter or spray to grease pan

DIRECTIONS

1. Line pan with foil or grease , can be any size, I use a bread pan because it makes more uniform pieces.
2. Combine in a 3-quart or larger sauce pan – milk, sugar, syrup, butter, Bailey’s and about 6 drops of green food coloring.
3. Place on stove, medium heat, stir until it boils
4. Heat to about 235 F degrees on a candy thermometer – DO NOT STIR
5. Remove from heat and cool until it reaches 120 F degrees, add 2 TBSP and another 6 drops of food coloring.
6. Stir or beat, a lot like folding until the gloss is gone. For this recipe it takes about 5 minutes. Pour into greased or lined dish once there is a matte finish. Pour as soon as the gloss begins to go, this is a sign that the fudge is setting. Sometimes my batch sets in the pan. Remember Old fashioned fudge is a bit harder than marshmallow fudge and tends to crumble a bit. It will not lay flat either, part of its appeal is this imperfection.
7. Once it cools you can slice it and serve.

Makes about 3 lbs. This item makes a wonderful gift and is very rich and creamy. It can be adapted for other seasons or made with other liquors. This is a perfect fudge for spring because it is rich and creamy.

Recipe was submitted by Diane R, into March’s Food Challenge where the theme is GREEN.   Here is what Diane had to say about the recipe…

(I chose this recipe to submit because I make it for Christmas and my friends and family love it—and I’ve been asked to bring it to a neighborhood St. Patrick’s party again this year.
When I first made it I made it as directed—but when I made it for Christmas this past year I thought I bought sun-dried tomatoes—but they were actually red peppers!—but I used them anyway and it was still great.
And since we have a huge garden every year with an over abundance of basil, I make my own pesto and freeze it, and have always used that instead of a store bought jar. I also canned tomatoes this summer which I diced and added to the torte for an extra ‘fresh’ flavor~~but store bought ones are fine as long as you strain the juice well.   As you can see in the picture, on this one I added the diced tomatoes to the bowl first so that when I turned it out onto a bowl the tomatoes were at the top, and with the red, white and green, it was a very pretty dish to add to our table for the Christmas eve buffet……even tho half of it was eaten by my daughters and a friend even before the company got here!

Ingredients

• 2 8-ounce pkgs. cream cheese
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 small jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 10 ounce jar of pesto
• 1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese
• 1/ cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Beat butter and cream cheese together till smooth and well blended. Stir in the cheddar cheese.
2. In another small bowl mix together the pesto and the parmesean cheese.
3. Line a 10 to 12 ounce size bowl with plastic wrap. Divide the cream cheese mix into three parts and spoon 1/3 of the cheese into the bowl. Top that layer with 1/3 of the tomatoes.
4. Spread 1/3 of the pesto/cheese mix over top of the tomatoes.
5. Repeat the layers using the remaining mixtures.
6. Fold the plastic over the torte and seal well.
7. Chill overnight till firm.
8. Unmold onto a plate and remove plastic wrap.

Serve with a crusty bread or firm crackers..  You can also divide this and make two smaller tortes using custard-type bowls.

This recipe was submitted by Sherri W, into March’s Food Challenge where the theme is GREEN!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs of brussel sprouts
• 1/4 lb father’s tomato blt bacon (bacon of choice)
• 1 tbsp evoo
• 1 tsp thyme
• 3-4 thinly sliced or minced garlic cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. wash and trim brussel sprouts. cut tips off and slice in half
2. cut bacon into 1/2 inch strips
3. in a large heated frying pan add the evoo and bacon pieces. fry bacon until crispy. remove the bacon and set aside.
4. toast garlic about 1 minute until golden brown. remove and set aside
5. add brussel sprouts, thyme and salt (if needed) and pepper to pan. don’t crowd in pan. pan roast brussel sprouts about 5 to 6 on each side until golden brown
6. add bacon and roasted garlic to the brussel sprouts

This is an excellent side dish for St. Patrick’s Day. Serve with corned beef and oven roasted potatoes. Enjoy!!

Danielle S submitted this recipe for January’s Food Challenge!  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 12 oz. non-dark beer of your choice
• 1 teaspoon DRY or 1 tablespoon FRESH rosemary
• 1 large garlic clove, sliced
• 1/2 pound ham steak, cut into small cubes
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and cheese in a large mixing bowl. Heat one small-medium skillet on medium heat. Add ham, rosemary and sliced garlic to hot pan allowing ham to crisp. Adjust the heat, depending on your stove, so that the fat renders out of the ham and the garlic doesn’t burn. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease one 9X5X3″ loaf pan. When ham is crispy, allow to cool completely and add to flour mixture. Stir to coat everything with the flour then add the beer. Mix just to combine, pour into prepared loaf pan and pour melted butter over the batter. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick removes cleanly. Cook on wire rack for 10-15 minutes before removing from pan and allow to cool an additional 10 minutes.

Wow, the judges had a HARD time narrowing down the entries into the Hot Sauce, Honey, and Corn Flakes Food Challenge, in fact, so hard that they could only narrow it down to five instead of three!  That means it’s up to you to pick My Wooden Spoon’s Food Challenge winner for January!  Let’s get to it shall we?

Here are your 5 finalists into the Food Challenge, in no particular order.  After checking each entry out, looking at creativity, usage of ingredients and all, please vote for your favorite.  POLL IS AT BOTTOM. (to see all the entries, check out my previous post. They all did so well and deserve an applause)

#1 Fire & Ice (Cream) recipe

#2  Onion, Bacon, Pear Galette with Marmalade Mascarpone Cheese recipe

#3 Cornflake Coconut Shrimp with Sweet and Spicy Mango Dipping recipe

#4 Pig Fingers recipe

#5 Spicy Chicken with Honey Mustard Sauce recipe

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE!
[poll id="1"]

When I start something like the recent Food Challenge, I’m always nervous about having no entries so you can imagine my surprise when I saw a total of 18 entries into January’s food challenge.  On top of that, I had several nonbloggers which felt great because it tells me that people really do read my blog (besides bloggers of course).

Below are the 17 entries.  8 of them are nonbloggers so I posted their recipe and photo here on my blog.  The 9 blogger’s recipes can be seen by clicking on over to them.  Please take the time to visit each one and comment on their outstanding recipes!

ALSO, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR IN THE COMMENTS BELOW WHICH ONES ARE YOUR FAVORITE! And stay tuned for the announcement of the final 3 so that you can vote for the grand prize winner who will win a $50 Gift Card to Cooking.com!

Bloggers

1.-Hot Honey Chicken

2.-Spicy Chicken with Honey Mustard Sauce

3.-Pig Fingers

4.-No Name Chocolate Dessert

5.-Cornflake Coconut Shrimp

6.-Sweet and Spicy Chicken Strips

7.-Fire & Ice (Cream)

8.-Island Fish

Nonbloggers

9. By Emily – Spicy Meatballs With A Touch Of Sweetness Over Pasta

10. By Zachary – Honey Mustard Glazed Pork Chops

11. By Mary – Fiery Chocolate Pie

12. By Joy – Sweet Flake Potato Pancakes

13. By Lisa – Crab Cakes with Hot Honey Mustard Sauce

14. By Merry – It’s a Honey: Onion, Bacon, Pear Galette with Marmalade Mascarpone Cheese who also shared her flickr photos of the recipe!

15. By Katherine – Cornflake Coconut Shrimp with Sweet and Spicy Mango Dipping Sauce Who, after I did all this, I realized mentioned in the comments, started her own blog!! Go show her some comment love would ya!

16. By Sue – Tangy Oven Fried Chicken Tenders with Hot Honey Drizzle

17. By Amy – Sweet and Spicy Crispy Shrimp

If you would like to sponsor a prize for upcoming Food Challenges, please feel free to reach out to me!

UPDATED: this food challenge is over. Thanks so much to those who participated!
I’ve been wanting to host a food challenge for such a long time now and thought 2010 would be the perfect time to start it! This is a monthly challenge with a grand prize winner.  You DO NOT have to be a blogger to enter. There will be a form that non-bloggers can fill out to enter their recipe so everyone is welcomed to join in!

ABOUT THE FOOD CHALLENGE

Participants will be asked to create an original recipe using the required ingredients in the current month’s challenge.  Each challenge will have two guest judges that, with their combined scores, will determine the winner of the Food Challenge.

THE RULES & JUDGING/VOTING

**You must use ALL 3 of the ingredients given in the challenge with any other ingredients you want.

**A photo is required of the final dish.

**The recipe needs to be original, not copied.

**Bloggers  need to provide a link back to the homepage or to the Food Challenge post.  Grab code is available for you to use.  All bloggers will need to leave their entry link in the linky below. .

The entries will be narrowed down to the Top 3 by judges. Judging criteria consists of creativity, presentation, and virtual taste buds.  If it’s something that we see and start to drool over, you get higher points but if it’s something that makes our eyebrow raise on one side, then you likely will see a lower score. Once the entries have been narrowed down, a poll will be put in place for voting. The winner will be determined by the most votes.

JANUARY’S FOOD CHALLENGE

Mandatory ingredients for January’s food challenge are:

• Corn Flakes
• Hot Sauce
• Honey

DEADLINE

Recipe submission deadline is January 20th, 2010 at 2pm CST.

THE PRIZE

The winner of the Food Challenge for January will receive a $50 Gift Card to Cooking.com!

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–NONBLOGGERS-If you do not have a blog but want to participate, you may submit your recipe here.

–BLOGGERS LINK DIRECTLY TO YOUR ENTRY HERE

Good luck to all who enter! Can’t wait to see your recipe creations!