10 Cooking Show cover - Indiana Gazette

What’s your
challenge
in the
kitchen?
PAGE 4
■ Meet the interns
helping with this year’s
show.
PAGE 8
■ A pantry full of food and
nothing for dinner? Making great
food with what’s already in your
kitchen.
PAGE 12
■ Pantry favorites get a new twist.
PAGE 14
■ Tightening the purse strings?
Save on time and money with
these easy meals.
PAGE 15
■ Challenged for time? Use your
microwave to beat the dinner rush.
PAGE 17
■ Getting kids to eat right a bit of a
challenge? Pump up the nutrition
with these kid-friendly meals.
PAGE 19
■ Trim your waistline and your
budget with these pork recipes.
Indiana’s Cookin’ - Indiana Gazette, Monday, April 5, 2010 — 3
Cooking show full of challenges
By HEATHER ROTH
hroth@indianagazette.net
So it’s suppertime — again — and
your children are demanding that
you feed them. Again. But it’s just
been one of those weeks and you
find yourself staring down an empty
freezer and a random collection of
canned food and pasta. Now what?
That is one of the many challenges
that the “Indiana’s Cookin’” show has
set out to conquer this year.
“(Chefs) are going to help us think
outside of the box and creatively use
the things that are in our pantries,”
said Debbie Palmer, marketing director
for The Indiana Gazette.
“(We’ll learn) how to think like a
chef.”
The show is sponsored annually by
The Indiana Gazette and the food
and nutrition department at Indiana
University of Pennsylvania and is
scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at
S&T Bank Arena.
Doors open for shopping and eating
at 5 p.m.
This year, the theme is “Challenge,”
and challenges range from the dinner-from-your-pantry’s-contents
challenge to Indiana County Community
Action Partnership’s daily
challenge of feeding the hungry. Plus
there are fun ones: a “candemonium”
sculpture competition featuring
canned goods by IUP sororities, a
recipe demonstration and contest
featuring three area chefs; a drawing
and raffle; and, of course, the ubiquitous
gift bags, door prizes, vendors
and food stands.
Palmer, who is organizing the
event, said the theme was chosen to
highlight the work done by ICCAP in
a time when a tough economy
means more needy families are asking
for help when there are fewer resources
available.
“It’s just to raise a little awareness
of that challenge,” she said. “Our
goal is (to raise) $4,000 this year.”
Every dollar of the $3 or $5 tickets
goes to ICCAP, Palmer said. (The
TOM PEEL/Gazette
DIANE WAGONER, surrounded by her helpers, Amy McManigle, Aly Luftman,
Christina Kretchun and Kristin Wilkins, are working hard on the show.
more expensive price is for reserved
seating on the floor of the arena; the
cheaper seats are in the bleachers.)
And that’s another challenge: Last
year’s show raised $2,500, so this
year’s goal sets the bar high.
Guests have their own challenge.
From now through the date of the
show, anyone can submit a question
to the chefs.
Three of the questions will be
drawn after the “Battle of the Chefs,”
and the winners will receive the meal
prepared by the chefs.
Speaking of the battle: Three area
chefs will compete as they prepare a
recipe that’s easy and fast to recreate
at home.
The audience will sample and
judge the dishes on taste, ease of
preparation, a creative use of pantry
ingredients, originality of recipe and
showmanship.
The winner receives a $250 advertising
package in the Gazette.
The chefs — Chris Dongilla, of Indiana,
chef at Paisano’s in Homer
City; Laurie Kuzneski, of Indiana,
owner of Miss Laurie’s Gourmet
Kitchen; and Steve Whyte, of Johnstown,
executive chef at St. Andrew’s
Village — competed in a preliminary
round to earn a spot at the show.
And in the second half of the annual
cooking show, guest chef Ron
Burkhardt, of Stonybank Restaurant
in Clymer, will join IUP’s food and
nutrition department in a demonstration
of cooking with nonperishable
items.
Making its debut this year is the
IUP sororities’ challenge: Candemonium.
The Delta Gamma; Sigma,
Sigma, Sigma; and Zeta Tau Alpha
sororities will compete in a sculpture
competition involving canned
goods, but the exact nature is a surprise.
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