Posted by The Morning Call, PA on May 07, 2008 at 17:05:14:
Mac and cheese whiz wins big
By Diane Stoneback | Of The Morning Call
Could there be a Pillsbury Bake-Off contender in 9-year-old Natalie Trachtman's future?
Given the $1,000 savings bond she has just won for her cooking, the Parkway Manor fourth-grader, who dreams of being a chef, could see many more culinary successes.
The Allentown girl won her prize for Natalie's Double Cheesy Mac. It's a recipe she and her mom cooked up for the Kitch 'N Kids with ''3-A-Day'' of Dairy Recipe Contest.
The contest, a collaboration of Giant Food Markets of Carlisle, Pa. and ''3-A-Day'' of Dairy partners Cabot, Dannon and Lehigh Valley Dairy Farms, promotes healthy eating among youth, with an emphasis on low-fat dairy foods, according to Tracy Pawelski, spokesperson for Giant.
The contest's grand prize winner, Dezyrae Steward of Reynoldsville, received a $10,000 savings bond at the conclusion of a cook-off that included Natalie and the three other finalists. It was staged at the Cooking School at Giant Super Food Stores in Camp Hill, Cumberland County.
''I was totally surprised about getting to go to the finals. My mom and I entered the recipe on the computer. We didn't even have a copy. They had to send one back to us,'' she reports.
At the finals, Natalie says, ''I had to make the recipe by myself. My mom wasn't allowed to help me at all. The hardest part about the recipe is chopping the stuff like the onion. I didn't cry but I had to wipe my eyes several times.''
Her mom, Abby Trachtman, says Natalie got the idea of entering the contest from her older sister, who read about it in the newspaper. No stranger in the kitchen, Natalie loves to cook. ''She's always asking me what she can do,'' Abby Trachtman says. ''But when it's something boring, like getting an ingredient out of the closet, she hates that!''
Natalie prepared for the contest by making the recipe three times as a side dish for family meals. ''I think she's a little tired of it, and so are we. But I think she'll make it again,'' her mom says.
Meanwhile, she'll continue helping in the kitchen as well as making her favorite brownies -- a cross between fudge and brownies -- by herself.
But what about cleanup? ''That's my mom's job,'' Natalie says. ''But she makes me help her.''
Here's Natalie's recipe, along with the grand prize winner's recipe.
NATALIE'S DOUBLE CHEESY MAC
12 ozs. mini farfalle (bowtie) pasta
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp. oil
3/4 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1 tsp. unsalted butter
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 Tbsps. plain yogurt
6 Tbsps. fat free milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese for topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Heat water in a large pot for pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, sauté the chopped onion in the oil in a small sauté pan until nice and brown. Drain pasta, rinse, and place in casserole dish. Add the onion, peas, butter, cheese, yogurt, and milk. Add the seasonings and toss together until well mixed and all ''melty.'' Top with bread crumbs and Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes. Makes six servings.
DEZYRAE'S CHOCOLATE ORANGE STORM
2 cups orange sherbet
2 (3.65-oz.) packages instant chocolate pudding
3 cups of 2 percent reduced fat milk
2 (6-oz.) containers orange yogurt
1 (11-oz.) can mandarin oranges
1 (8-oz.) tub of sugar-free or lowfat whipped topping
4 cherries (optional)
Chill 4 parfait glasses. Mix two boxes of pudding with 3 cups of milk using a wire whisk. Chill for 5 minutes. Remove glasses from the freezer and put 1/2 cup of sherbet in the bottom of each glass. Put 1/2 cup of prepared pudding on the top of sherbet. Put 3 ounces of orange yogurt on the top of the pudding. Cover with drained mandarin orange slices. Place 1/3 cup of chocolate pudding on the top of the oranges. Put glasses back in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove glasses from freezer and top with a dollop of whipped topping and cherries.