We WON, Y'all! Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh 2014 GIVEAWAY

The Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh 2014 was last week. We love this North Carolina Grocery Store for all of its great food, customer service and quality at low-prices. We were so thrilled to Win the competition! Thank you, Food Lion. 

Christie Funchess and Malise Terrell
Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh, 2014
Winners 

My family is such a part of my team, I have to show you the support I received that night. 

Priceless. 

Carolina Mama and Family 2014
Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off
Raleigh, NC

Christie and I pre-event. So eager and excited here at Lafayette Village, Raleigh, NC 

Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh 2014
Carolina Mama and Small Steps, Big Picture
WINNERS

So, as a Carolina Food Blogger, I literally jumped at the idea of getting to participate in the Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off. Then I set out to find a cooking partner, which I did, in my sweet young Mom, Christi of Small Steps, Big Picture, is a mother of five children six and under. Christi's husband is our sons' Youth Pastor. We are blessed with this sweet family. 

Christie Funchess, Small Steps, Big Picture

Like me, Christi loves to cook tasty homemade meals at a frugal price for her family and we both love to blog. So there you have it, destiny. Between the two of us, we had our blogging and our frugal cooking on. When I asked Christi, I knew we would have fun. I love participating in events with Food Lion because we shop there, all.the.time. Basically, I said let’s read some cook books this week, just do our best and have fun. Well, that's what we did! 

The Writer in me began writing as I was driving in the lovely 540 beltline traffic connecting Durham to Raleigh. Fun times. My writer self have three grounding points to center upon for the night.

Our Team is:

From the South

Fun with Family and

Frugal with Food Lion.

We were going to stick to our roots, Southern fare with the best flavor we could offer.

Christi and I met there. We’re modern families, she arrived with her five girls in tow. You know, “just a Mom.” Love her and her family. And I drove solo while my sweet, Boulder Mt. Man, ran the boys to Basketball practice and across the beltway to meet me. They are my secret sauce. I am so used to us being a Team. I almost invited the boys to cook on my team or my "Chef" Husband. Nonetheless, they arrived just when we were starting to get into the heat of the race. It was so wonderful to see them. As always, they so cheered me on. Here they are taking pictures of us cooking. :) Love.

It was fun to see other Triangle Mom Bloggers like Jen of Jael Designs, Jennifer of The B Keeps Us Honest and Rachel Withers of Fit Triangle Mom.

Malise Terrell of Carolina Mama and Jennifer of Jael Custom Designs 

Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh 2014 Staples for each Team

Christi and I did convene a minute before the competition began. For some reason, we thought of recipes for all three but the ground turkey. Then I remembered my Writer’s Outline :) and my roots and declared Turkey Burgers! Then, my sweet Mama must have whispered in my ear, the Southern Surprise Burgers. She made these when we were children and we LOVED them. That was it, IF we got ground turkey. 

I was feeling good when our station had the red cutting board....

Christi Funchess, Small Steps, Big Picture and Malise Terrell, Carolina Mama
Budgeting for the Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh 2014

Then, we had to choose a number for our protein. Christi, asked what I had, 3. My sisters and I played basketball for years and there was always a 3 in our numbers. Well, there were 3 pointers, too. You guessed it, #3 was the ground turkey meat!

Destiny was waiting for us.... We had some work to do.

We had 10 minutes to plan our menu, 10 minutes to show with $15 to feed (4). Our protein was provided along with our staples. We got busy. We had 45 minutes to make the magic happen and be ready to present to the Judges.

Something reminded me that Chefs use Sous Chefs to do all of their chopping. So, we literally chopped and prepped first. I really wanted to use the Beautiful Buttercup Squash.

And I knew I had to turn my family favorite Sweet Potato Fries into Buttercup Squash Fries. Oven-baked made them frugal on calories, too.

First, we had to “reckon” with the Buttercup Squash. It was large and difficult to slice. Once we had that under control.... sort of.... 

... it was “secret” seasoning time and into the convection oven they went. The convection oven was a nice little addition to our kitchen. The fries cooked so soft, evenly and quickly! And they saved us time which was crucial to win.

Christi, got busy creating the incredible Apples and Onions Side she scouted out on Pinterest. It was amazing! We chose red and green apples to make it pop. It did. Look at these amazing and tasty apples.

Then, I said a prayer to remember my Mom’s Southern Surprise Turkey Burgers.... Literally, Christi and I both added spices and dashes to prepare the meat. I filled them with the secret ingredients (see our recipes below for all the details to create your own with your Food Lion groceries). Then, I sautéed the onion and mushroom topping for the burger.

Christie worked on creating a homemade BBQ sauce that was a nice zesty blend for dipping fries. Or, for the burgers. 

We got to spruce it all up with the ramekins and restaurant touches from Driftwood Restaurant in Lafayette Village, Raleigh, NC. They really spoiled us and let us take over. It is an awesome restaurant. Their Chef was a great support to each team. He even washed a pan for us to use so I would have a non-stick for our Turkey Burgers grilling. 

Then, VOILA!!!  We presented our creations. 

Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh, 2014 WINNER!
Southern Surprise Perky Burgers, Apple Onion Side and Buttercup Squash Fries

They asked questions, they tasted, asked more questions, wrote down some things.... then the waiting began.... 

and we were so excited for a WIN!!!   We were so excited! I LOVED that Boulder Mt. Man and my Tigers were there videoing and photographing and cheering us on. This picture shares the joy. 

Thank you Food Lion and everyone for the fun and support.

Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh 2014 Winners
Small Step, Big Picture and Carolina Mama 

We even got to pause with both of our families.  This kept our minds off of waiting for the winning results. See even the baby seat on the left. Notice how tall my Tigers have gotten. :)

Here are the awesome Recipes for your enjoyment. I hope these are simple enough you will want to try them. They are pretty fool proof. Email me if you have questions.

Southern Surprise “Perky” Turkey Burgers

Makes 4 servings

Cost of meal: (not including ground turkey and spices) $15.70

Approximate cooking time:  45 minutes

Shopping List:

Ciabatta bread

1 lb. Ground Turkey

Parsley

Green Onion

Garlic

2 Onions

Acorn Squash

Parmesan cheese

Mushrooms

3 Apples

1 Orange

1 bunch of Spinach

Directions:

Southern Surprise "Perky" Burgers (Turkey Burgers)

Ingredients:

1 .lb Ground Turkey

Olive Oil - coat non-stick pan

¼ c.  Parsley

2 T. green onion chopped

2 T. yellow onion chopped

½ t. each Pepper, Cayenne

1T. Italian seasoning

1 t. salt

¼ c. Balsamic Vinegar

4 Garlic Cloves - diced

Topping and Surprise:

½ c. yellow onion

4 Garlic Cloves - diced

¼ c. Real Parmesan Cheese - shredded

1. c. Fresh Mushrooms - rinsed and sliced

Flour to dust

Ciabatta Bread - sliced into squares

Heat Olive Oil in non-stick pan over medium heat

Mix ground turkey and the next eight ingredients on the list and mix thoroughly

Separately, sauté the topping and surprise ingredients in the pan for about three or four minutes (except the flour)

Back to the turkey mixture, form balls that are the size of sliders/thick 3-4 inch burgers

Press the center, spoon a bit of onion and garlic into the center and then, spoon in a teaspoon of parmesean, form a ball and dust with flour

Grill evenly on both sides about 4 minutes each

Do not press burgers while grilling

Remove burgers from pan, place on bottom of Ciabatta bread sliced in squares

Take the top of the bread and wipe the pan adding the oil mixture and flavor from the pan to the bread

Spoon some of the mushroom and onion mixture on top of each burger

Add Spinach to burger and a slice of orange for color.

Buttercup Squash Parmesan Fries

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Pour Olive Oil onto non-stick baking pan, distribute evenly

Slice squash open, clean and rinse

Begin slicing into long slices for french fries

Once sliced to desired size, spread the buttercup squash onto the cooking pan evenly and where each slice of squash is flat on the pan, not stacked

Evenly sprinkle the seasoning mixture of Parmesan Cheese, salt and pepper, cheyenne pepper and garlic powder onto the fries

Bake for 10 minutes then take the pan out and flip fries over with a spatula and cook for 10 more minutes.

Apples and Onion Side

Chop apples into bite size pieces

Slice onions

Sauté in olive oil 5-6 minutes. Season with salt & pepper. Cover and cook five more minutes. Squeeze fresh orange over the apples and onions & serve

Orange BBQ Sauce

Squeeze 1T of fresh orange into 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce. Stir in pepper, cayenne, and sugar to taste. Enjoy.

Food Lion and the Frugal Cook-Off Bloggers Raleigh 2014

Food Lion generously offered each of the Bloggers Food Lion Gift Cards to Giveaway to YOU our readers, the lucky ones who win. So read ahead to learn how to win. One of you will win just what I won, a $250 Food Lion Gift Card.

ENTER TO WIN $250 Food Lion Gift Card!

1) Comment below your favorite thing you look for in a grocery store;

2) Share this link with your Facebook people;

3) Follow Food Lion on Facebook; and

4) Comment on Carolina Mama with your best frugal cooking tip.

BONUS: Tweet this link for others.

Contest closes November 12th at 8PM EST. Must supply working email for mailing within 24 hours of winning. Otherwise, another winner will be chosen.

Again, another hearty Thank You Food Lion for all the fun! And the frugal shopping!

                                          

Warmly, Carolina Mama

FTC Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Food Lion. As a North Carolina Food Blogger,  I participated in the Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off Raleigh 2014. All opinions are my own. We are excited we won!