World Food Championship Cooking with Love for Autism Awareness

Having won several recipe contest recently and having my recipes published in national magazines has been a tremendous highlight in my cooking adventures. To be recognized for my creativity and execution gives such a satisfaction. Now, I am having to take a deep breath several times a day.

Earlier this year I entered a recipe contest and not only won, but subsequently was named a finalist to compete in the World Food Championship. This is a huge honor as you have to be invited to compete in the World Food Championship in Las Vegas.

The World Food Championships will take place in Downtown Las Vegas at the Fremont Street Experience, November 7 - 10, 2013.

Just A Pinch Recipes is my corporate sponsor and they have been amazing. There is so much more to this than I initally thought. We have competitors packets that are updated sporadically. Our packets contain information regarding everything from the 'big day' schedule -to what will be available to us in the cooking arena. It wasn't until a week ago that I found out that each competitor will each have certain items to prepare their dishes. Imagine trying to focus on your recipe not knowing what kind of equipment you will have. This has been nerve racking to say the least. I was thinking of that Cliché, and will be the one that shows up saying it I packed everything but the kitchen sink

Okay so now that I know I will have refrigeration and a convection oven, I am thinking about what I'm going to make. I’m competing in the ‘Bacon’ category, and we’ll have two ‘builds’, a ‘signature’ build and a ‘structured’ build. I've already started working on my ‘signature’ build. It’s what I'm going to showcase for that first turn in. The structured build will be different—the folks at WFC are gonna call the shots on this dish.

Why is this so important to me?

When I go to Las Vegas, I won't just be representing myself, I will be representing Autism Awareness.  Family members and friends of individuals with autism are presented with many joys and many challenges throughout their lives. Learning that a family member or friend is affected by autism is a powerful moment. I remember taking my 2 older boys to a therapist one night, after my husband and I discussed how our youngest was going to affect all of us. The intention was to create an opportunity for them to focus on their feelings, react to their sibling’s diagnosis and give them more information about autism.

People respond with a wide array of emotions: shock, grief, fear, denial, anger, acceptance, and many more. Many begin to feel their lives will never be the same. Parents can feel overwhelmed, siblings can feel isolated, grandparents can feel helpless, and friends can feel apprehensive. With our family, we couldn't imagine life any different. Yes we deal with tantrums everyday, behavior issues, repetitive conversations, but what touches my heart is the acceptance my son feels. Whether it be that our friends and family are around or we are in public, they don't turn their attention away, instead they interact with our son on a level that he understands. I believe that if more people were aware of autism and the challenging behaviors that family members face on a day-to-day, in an effort to ease the fears of and provide encouragement to all people with individuals with autism in their lives, the world would be a better place.

Autism Speaks is a non-profit organization and has helped our family with all kinds of resources such as how can we as parents provide the best support for our child with autism and to ensure the whole family's needs are met? It's a question faced by every parent of a child on the autism spectrum.

Autism is not a single condition but part of a wide range of conditions - so called 'Autistic Spectrum Disorder' - with many features which may or may not be present in a given child, each child is different.

I have kicked off a crowd funding campaign at Indiegogo.com. I have just over 2 weeks left to raise $800. I need an extra push to take me all of the way. Please contribute! Every dollar counts. Even if it's $1, I need your support. Whether you support me with your dollars, your kind words or your social media and email promotions, I accept all things good and positive to send me to Las Vegas in November. 

Contribute to my campaign by clicking on this Link.
I'm currently looking for all kinds of sponsorships (monetary and equipment) so if you, someone you know or a company willing to take a chance on projects like mine, let me know!

As I have the Rocky theme song blasting in my kitchen. My juices are flowing because there is a lot at stake here. This competition is serious. People compete and travel all year round to competitions like this. People train for months at a time and spend exorbitant amounts of money in order to win. Some entered contests and won thousands of dollars in addition to a berth at this competition. Some have entered contest after contest after contest and they are HUNGRY. Salivating. Ready to get to Vegas and compete. And I'm going up against 49 of these people in my category.

I want to win this World Food Championship to push myself to the limit to help raise funds to help those struggling with autism. 


Stay tuned as I take you on my journey.