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RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Local teen’s healthy dish earns her the opportunity of a lifetime.
WRITTEN BY BARBARA TWITCHELL
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE KEATING FAMILY
Giada De Laurentiis, you better watch out. Grace Keating has her eyes on your job, and, at only 13, she already has some impressive experiences to add to her résumé.
Keating was one of more than 1,500 youths to enter the third-annual Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, a national recipe contest to promote healthy eating as part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Fifty-four winners were selected, one from each state plus D.C. and the three U.S. territories. Keating took the honors as Nevada’s top young chef.
Her original recipe for Chicken and Grape Salad Lettuce Wraps was adapted from a dish she had made with her grandmother for years. Keating made several changes and substitutions to meet the contest’s healthy-food guidelines and found that she really liked the results. Apparently, so did the contest judges.
Keating’s prize was the adventure of a lifetime: an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., and the opportunity to dine with the First Lady at the White House Kids’ State Dinner. For Keating, there was an extra surprise in store. Her winning recipe was one of only 10 selected to be prepared and served at the event.
Keating says the White House visit and dinner with the First Lady were the best part of an event-filled trip.
“It was amazing!” she says. “I still can’t believe I got to do that! And I loved how Mrs. Obama kept saying that we were ambassadors and we needed to pay it forward. That we should go back home and teach other kids about healthy eating.”
The middle-schooler has happily done just that. As a follow-up to the contest, Keating has worked with local chef Mark Estee as part of the national Kids and Chefs Cook for Success program, leading cooking demonstrations for local children.
While it’s all been great fun, the ardent fan of television food shows says she especially enjoyed filming a cooking demo for a local TV news spot.
Watch your back, Giada! Fresh talent is on the rise.
After the interview, Reno writer Barbara Twitchell went home and whipped up Keating’s winning recipe, with a fresh quinoa salad on the side. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect quick and easy meal for adults and youths alike. Great job!
The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook containing all 54 of the winning recipes can be downloaded at: http://www.Epicurious.com/images/pdf/theepicurioushealthylunchtimechallengecookbook2014.pdf
Chicken and Grape Salad Lettuce Wraps
(courtesy of Grace Keating, Nevada winner, 2014 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge. Serves 4 to 6)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup red or green grapes, halved
2 tablespoons onion, minced
2 tablespoons red bell pepper, diced
½ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
½ cup nonfat sour cream
1¼ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon curry powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
Whole lettuce leaves
Dried cranberries, for garnish
Preheat grill. Cook chicken for about 10 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Let cool, then dice into 1-inch cubes. In large bowl, mix chicken with grapes, onion, and red pepper.
In separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, sour cream, lemon juice, curry powder, salt, and pepper. Pour over chicken-grape salad and mix thoroughly.
On top of lettuce leaves, scoop ¼-cup servings of chicken and grape salad. Garnish with dried cranberries. Enjoy!
