You've been CHOPPED!

We had an impromptu Chopped - "dessert round" in our kitchen after dinner this evening. Let me begin by saying that I was victorious over my dear competitor. Although it was very VERY close.

The kids picked 4 ingredients out of the kitchen:
1)Nestle's Quick instant chocolate drink mix
2)Maple syrup
3)Greek honey yogurt
4)Dill pickles Lady fingers

Uh.....dill pickles? We had to use a "do over" for that 4th ingredient. They chose lady fingers instead. Much better.

You know, I think I'm getting much better at these little Chopped competitions now that I've been using "living in the moment" and "mindful" thinking practices. It allows me to focus on what I know and what I can do at this very moment in time, and let the rest come to me.

The 30 minutes went by quickly yet effortlessly and by watching Chopped on tv, I have learned a few things that actually helped me out today. Here's what I made:

I crushed the lady fingers in the Magic Bullet and with melted butter, I pressed them in to a mini tart pan and put them in the oven.

Next I took the maple syrup, added it to a hot pan with corn syrup and butter and made a maple caramel, spread it onto a roll pat and stuck it in the fridge to cool.

Then I blended together the Greek honey yogurt with some soft brie cheese, and apricot preserves.  I put that in the freezer to thicken up.

I then melted butter, chocolate chips and the Nestle's Quick for some drizzle.

The tarts came together nicely. A one bite wonder. The flavor was terrific, if I do say so myself. I was especially impressed with  my maple caramel topper. I've never made caramel before.

This was Andreas' dessert:

He did a take on one of our favorite desserts: tiramisu

He boiled some brandy, instant coffee and water and then soaked the ladyfingers at the bottom of the dessert cup with it.

Then he made some vanilla pudding and added the honey yogurt to it.

Layered it with a quick chocolate sauce.

Topped it with fruit. And I can't remember where he put the maple syrup. With the fruit maybe? It was delicious.

But in the end, I won over the panel of judges with my creativity and plating. Taste was a 50/50 - although I would suggest mine was slightly more flavorful ;)