A Chandler girl's healthy recipe has landed her an invite to the White House.
Scarlet Summers created a healthy recipe and submitted it to First Lady Michelle Obama's "Healthy Lunchtime Challenge," which encourages kids to create a "healthy, affordable, original and delicious" lunch meal, according to the media release.
The 10-year-old girl's recipe--Southwest Barack-A-Bowl--was one of 56 selected. She will fly to Washington D.C. in July to represent the state of Arizona and have a Kids "State Dinner" (read: lunch) at the White House.
"Much of the food we eat is inspired by southwest flavors, which is why I chose to create a healthy southwest dish loaded with power food for energy," Summers said in a prepared statement.
Summer's dish combined chicken, chipotle peppers, vegetables and quinoa. Instead of rice she used cauliflower and shredded it to look like rice.
"...when we mixed it with the quinoa, i couldn't even tell it wasn't white rice!" she said.
Scroll down to read Summer's recipe.
Over 1,200 recipes were submitted to the contest, which is in its fifth year. Winning recipes were selected from each U.S. state, territory and D.C.
TV host Rachel Ray is also scheduled to attend the July 14 dinner.
Recipe: Southwest Barack-A-Bowl
Ingredients:
1/2 pound chicken tenders
3/4 of 7-ounce can chipotles in adobo sauce
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 ears of corn or 1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 head of cauliflower
1/2 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, pelled and minced
1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced
1/4 cup Cojita cheese, grated (Parmesan can also be used)
1/4 cup roasted, salted pumpkin seeds
Juice from 1/2 fresh lime
Preparation:
1. Place chicken and chipotles in 1-gallon freezer bag, refrigerate and marinate for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight
2) Preheat the grill. When it's hot, sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon olive oil on each ear of corn, wrap in foil, place on the side of the grill, and cover. (You can also boil the corn; place in cold water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Drain and remove the kernels.) Cook for 10 minutes, turn the corn over; remove the chicken from the plastic bag and place onto the grill. Cook for 6 minutes on each side. Turn the grill off. Remove the chicken and corn, then unwrap the corn and place back on the grill for a few minutes to get grill marks. After corn has cooled, cut the kernels off the ears by holding cobs vertically and slicing downwards. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.
3. Meanwhile, cook quinoa according to package instructions in a large saucepan. In a food processor, add cauliflower and process until it's a rice-like consistency.
4) In a large nonstick pan, warm 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat, and add the onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, or until softened.
5) Into the quinoa pan, add cauliflower, chicken, corn, onion and garlic, black beans, and cilantro. Warm over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add Cotija cheese. Garnish with avocado slices, pumpkin seeds and lime juice. Then serve.
