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Food Challenge
Food Challenge
Guys, I am stuck in a situation right now where one of my school's classes is having us do a food challenge. We are given four ingredients that we must use, including: bell peppers, flax seed, lemon, and rice.
We can make any dish we want, or dessert, so forth. I want to make this challenging and do a vegan cupcake or muffin. I got the lemon figured out. Flax seed wouldn't be too hard either. But how can I do the bell peppers and rice?
My friend is a baker, and suggested putting the rice in the batter, and pureeing the bell peppers into frosting, but I'm not sure how that would turn out. Is there a way I can add rice into a vegan batter cupcake/muffin? And the bell peppers as frosting or batter?
Thank you guys so much! Oh, and Admin, your input is welcome here too. I really need to start this project by Friday.
Can you use additional ingredients? The first thing that comes to my mind for those ingredients is a rice dish. I'd sautee chopped peppers and onions in a little olive oil, then add them to the cooked rice and sprinkle with lemon juice. It would be good to add sliced mushrooms, carrots, or chopped broccoli, or other vegetable, too, if that's allowed.
Admin
submitted by Ashlee G., age 15, The Future
(March 15, 2017 - 10:42 am)
(March 15, 2017 - 10:42 am)
Maybe you could try shredding the bell pepper and mixing the rice into the batter with it or something? I don't know how well that would work though, and if the rice is coooked before it goes in the batter it might get all mushy. I keep thinking of carrot cake. Maybe you could try ading the bell pepper into a carrot cake recipe. Maybe the lemon could go into the frosting or you could make a lemon glaze. I don't really know if any of my ideas will work, but good luck in the challenge!
(March 15, 2017 - 4:12 pm)
Tip top!
(March 15, 2017 - 4:13 pm)
Thank you, DragonRider and Admin! I forgot to add I can add other ingredients as wanted, but I have to use those four required ones no matter what. I instantly thought of a rice dish as well, because all those go in really well. If I cannot achieve somehow getting this into a vegan, good-tasting dessert, then I'll resort to that. I really want to challenge myself and class with something so different.
Dragonrider, your ideas are fantastic as well! What you mentioned is similar to my baker friend, who thought I could blend the rice - wait, lightbulb! Sorry, but as I was saying that I just had an idea: What if I literally blended the rice?! I mean, no one said it had to be literally rice grains, I could blend it too. That way it wouldn't be so chunky in the batter, and the texture would be more smooth - hopefully. OR even better, maybe I can use rice flour! All it consists of is blended rice.
Hmmm... So many possibilities, so little time. I'll ask my Agriculture teacher tomorrow if I can use blended rice or rice flour. Thank you dragonrider for getting that idea in my head. Even though that's not exactly what you mentioned.
And the carrot cake would be awesome. Just substitute carrots for bell peppers, lemon zest and lemon juice. Or a lemon buttercream frosting. Or... yeah, you get the idea.
Anyways, thank you both for the awesome help! I'll verify with my teacher tomorrow if I can blend or use rice flour, since it is still rice.
(March 15, 2017 - 7:48 pm)
So it's basically Chopped: High School Edition? Doesn't seem too bad... yes, if you are allowed to use other ingredients, I definitely second what Admin said. A rice dish with mixed vegetables and maybe even some beef or fish if you're feeling adventurous seems like the best combination to me. Something like a vegetable casserole or vegetable lasagna might be good too, although from what I can tell it's a lot easier to mess up lasagna than it is to mess up vegetables and rice.
(March 16, 2017 - 6:36 am)
Try cooking the bell peppers for 20 sec or so. They should become sweet and crunchy. (This may not be the exact time, just keep cooking for as long as it takes) maybe then you could cut the bell peppers into thin strips and curl them on top of the cupcake. I dunno...
(March 16, 2017 - 12:22 pm)
I'm not s good cook, so I can't give advice, but I can give support! Good luck, Ashlee! Hope you win!
(March 16, 2017 - 12:07 pm)
Thanks, KtG, HAB, and Mei! I asked my Agriculture teacher who is doing this competition, and she said rice flour would be perfectly fine. And I've never seen Chopped, but everyone's been comparing it to that. So yeah, Chopped: High School Edition it is!
I'm thinking, since we are going to be judged a lot on creativity I think, that I'll do bell pepper pancakes made with rice flour and flax seed. And a vegan lemon buttercream to make it a literal pancake cake. I heard people really like these, and it'd almost be savory.
The reason I probably won't do rice as Admin suggested is because we have an awesome foreign exchange student from Taiwan who really knows how to cook with rice, and being a competition, I told him that I'd stick with breakfast or dessert food. Anyways, I am not too good with meats or main dishes, so I want to stick simple. But the idea is still my back up!
And thank you everyone for the help! I am writing down the recipe after this, and I'll have to find supplies for it all. But yeah, next week I should start cooking. So thank you all thus far!
(March 16, 2017 - 5:35 pm)
Update: They are going to be green due to spinach as well. Extra nutrition, extra color, because my teacher said she might judge off of nutrition as well. I'm making the rice flour and everything myself probably next week.
So just thought I'd update you guys with that idea!
(March 16, 2017 - 9:08 pm)
This sounds awesome! I wish our school did something like that. Anyhoo, I noticed that you were going to use rice flour. Good idea! My mom is allergic to gluten, so when she cooks, we have to use other flours (like rice flour). May I recommend Bob's Red Mill brand for flour, if you need to shop for it. Either way, the pancakes sound delicious! Let us know how it goes! We hope you win the competition! :)
~Poetic Panda
(March 19, 2017 - 1:58 pm)
@Poetic Panda
My mom too! She has celiac disease and she's really sensitive.
(March 21, 2017 - 11:13 am)
@Crookshanks, Ah. My mom also has Celiac's; she was tested for it about three years ago. She, too, is pretty sensitive. :/ I feel ya!
~Poetic Panda
(March 21, 2017 - 1:39 pm)
Sounds cool! Good luck Ashlee! Maybe you could post a pic of your dish when you finish? I'd love to see it!
(March 21, 2017 - 12:03 am)
Cool, I wish homeschoolers could do stuff like this! Hey, wait, we can! I should go ask my mom if Moonfrost and I can take over the kitchen for a while...
Could you take a picture of your pancakes when you're done, if that's possible? I'd love to see some green pancakes! I'll have to taste them with my eyes...(Dinner is soon to be in the making, so I'm reaaaaally hungry right now.)
Anyway, good luck, Ashlee! That really sounds like a fun competition!
(March 19, 2017 - 5:00 pm)
That sounds awesome, Ashlee, and I wish you luck!
(March 19, 2017 - 5:30 pm)
Best wishes! I'm not much of a cook so I don't have many ideas to offer, but I totally admire how you're challenging yourself. Be sure to update us on how it goes.
(March 19, 2017 - 7:23 pm)