Family Night - Iron Chef Style

Here in our kitchen stadium, we decided to battle it out to see who could proclaim the title as Seoul-family's Iron Chef! (We are big fans of the show)

It has been a little while since we've done a family night and this one was put together with very little planning. If you are fine (and really ladies and gents, you have to let go of the control on this one) with the kitchen becoming messy for the sake of family fun, then go for it! The fun was just too great on this one! (Seoul-daddy said it's his favorite family night thus far..)

To prepare, I cleared my kitchen island and loaded it up with every ingredient, pot, pan, bowl and utensil that we may have needed to cook an entire meal. We all wore aprons and chef hats to set the right tone.

Seoul-girl helped by printing out Iron Chef signs to put in the middle of our judges table.

We even had a Chairman!

On to the competition: Each member of our family was assigned a course of the meal. We had appetizer, main dish, dessert and drinks. The trick was they each had to incorporate the 'secret ingredient'. I'll admit, I preprinted some easy, kid friendly recipes that they could choose from, once they knew their course. Seoul-girl was ready..

Let the game begin! With notice from our chairman, Seoul-girl unveiled our secret ingredient for the night. It was...



APPLES!

The clock was set for 1 hour and we were off!
Seoul-girl was assigned dessert. Seoul-daddy had drinks covered. Seoul-boy created an appetizer and Seoul-mama worked on the main course...CHAOS! The great part of this was that there WAS alot of teamwork involved and we all helped each other.

Our dishes had to be fully prepared and plated in a creative way by the time our chairman called TIME!

Here are our results:

Seoul-boy's appetizer- Apple-carrot relish on toast

Seoul-daddy's drink- Apple cider punch

Seoul-mama's main dish- Apple veggie stir fry

Seoul-girl's dessert- Warm brownies with Apple caramel sauce

At our judges table, we each took turns presenting and explaining our dish.
Then we got to eat them!

We voted on each dish in three categories. Presentation, Creativity, and Taste.

Seoul-boy won the Best Taste Category. Here he is with his Iron Chef award!

Seoul-daddy won Best Creativity.

Seoul-mama won Best Presentation.

Seoul-girl took the contest with the Best Overall Award...I'm talkin' HOMEMADE APPLE CARMEL SAUCE!!!! WOW. Go Iron Chef Seoul-girl!!

That's all there was to this one! The meal doubled as the activity for the night. Easy, doable, connected family time. So have I given you any ideas? Let me hear them..how do you connect with your family?

Happy Cooking!