Chopped!!

Here at our house we love the show Chopped on the Food Network. It is a cooking competition show where they are given a basket of mystery items that they have to use to make a 3-course meal. They are usually given very difficult uncommon ingredients or ones that simply don't fit in the generally accepted ideas for that course, like hot dogs for a dessert course. Cherish has been wanting to play chopped at home. A couple of weeks ago we decided to do it. We each picked one secret ingredient and that is what we had to use to make our dish.

The secret ingredients were Feta Cheese, Balsamic Vinegar and Doritos. Thanks Jose for the Doritos. We gave ourselves 45 minutes to see what we could come up with. Cherish was done with in 10 minutes. She took Rosemary Bread and smashed Feta Cheese into it, crushed Doritos over it and drizzled it with balsamic vinegar. She garnished it with strawberries and grapes. She said she wanted more color for contrast. It really does have some great color contrast.

Jose made thin sliced chicken cooked with balsamic vinegar and shallots. He diced it and put in in a pita with cheddar and feta cheese. He also added the Doritos inside the pita. He paired this with a balsamic strawberry sauce. Which I must say was VERY YUMMY!! I licked the pan afterwords it was so good.

I made a chicken breast stuffed with feta cheese and fresh thyme. I breaded the chicken with panko bread crumbs, finely crushed Doritos and spices. I lightly pan fried the chicken until it was golden and finished it in the oven. I thinly sliced some potatoes and put them in a pan I sprayed with Pam. I didn't want to use too much oil and you know what they turned out great. Even Cherish thought so and she only eats potatoes in the form of french fries and chips. I then finished it off with a balsamic reduction.

We had a great time. It was fun to see Cherish get creative in the kitchen. She was so cute. I love to watch that show with her because she is always saying what she would do with the ingredients.