November: Bacon

October slipped away without us hosting Iron Chef, so we skipped straight to our November installment last night. The "special ingredient" was bacon--delicious. First off, here was the coveted "trophy" everyone was competing for:

And here are the participants with their dishes:

Scott & Lena Starr:

California Pizza Kitchen Egg Rolls (made from scratch)

James & Natalie Powell:

Honey Mustard Bacon fried Chicken

Paul & Adri Nye:

Chicken Kiev topped with bacon

Curt & Holly:

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

Curt & I decided just to provide a "special-ingredient"-related appetizer and sides instead of participating in the competition, and it worked out well. Here is a view of all the delicious food before we dug in:

Something new we also tried this time was having score cards to make the judging a little easier. Each person filled out a sheet for each dish, rating it for its 1.) taste, 2.) presentation, 3.) incorporation of the special ingredient, and 4.) creativity. Ratings were fair, good, and great. This scoring system was fun, and we ended up with a two-way tie! After counting up points based solely on the taste scores, the Starrs were crowned winners:

It was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed getting to know these couples a little better. And bacon was a hit! We're already starting to think about next month's ingredient and trophy...! If anyone is actually reading this post and wants to be invited next month, let us know!

September: Artichokes

For the first installment of Iron Chef we chose artichokes as the "special ingredient." Below are the participants and their dishes:

Michael & Kirsten Esselman

shrimp, mushroom, artichoke pasta

Jon & Tina Evans

broccoli, artichoke, penne pasta

Mike & McKenzie Locke

stuffed artichokes

Curt & Holly

chicken, spinach, artichoke, alfredo calzones

Everything tasted great, and we had a lot of fun talking and getting to know each other better. We all cast secret ballots for our favorite dishes, and in the end Mike & McKenzie proved that their "cuisine reigns supreme":

A closer look at their awesome trophy:

It turned out to be even more fun than we expected, and we're looking forward to doing it again next month!

Things we want to change/try for next month:

-Have us just host & judge and provide sides instead of competing in the competition

-Have the winners join us again the next month

-Take a picture of our plates full of food

-Have everyone bring their recipes to share

How It Works!

The Participants:

Each month, random couples will be invited to attend. (We do not want anyone feeling left out, but with only 3 spots per month we are limited. If you wish to attend and have not yet been invited, please let us know!)

The Special Ingredient:

A “special ingredient” will be chosen ahead of time. This “special ingredient” must be incorporated in the main course--as a main ingredient and not a garnish. (If you have a suggestion for a future special ingredient, please let us know!)

The Main Course:

Each couple will prepare a main course made with the special ingredient ahead of time, and bring it to the competition to be tasted and judged by the other participants (remember there will be PLENTY of food so you just need to bring enough for 8 people to taste.) Please take into account food allergies and strong dislikes.

The Judging:

Each of the participants will vote for their favorite, taking into account taste, presentation, incorporation of the special ingredient, and creativity. The winning couple will be crowned Iron Chef Champions for the month, have their picture and recipe posted on the blog, and have the bragging rights that "their cuisine reigns supreme!"

Why we do Iron Chef

We started doing an Iron Chef group a few years ago with 3 other couples as a way to discover new recipes, and new friends. Over time it grew a little bigger and we got to know people we normally wouldn't have met otherwise. It was a great way to get to know other couples and enjoy some great food at the same time (and a little competition always made it more fun).

After moving and having a baby, we've had a harder time meeting new people, and we've always talked about starting up an Iron Chef group again. Now that our baby is older and we have a little more time, we've decided to start it up again--but with a little change. Before, we always had the same group of people participating. Every once and awhile a new couple would join us, but it was always the same few. We wanted to get to know more than just a few couples this time around, so we decided to mix up the group and invite different couples to join us each month.

This blog will help us document the fun as we post pictures and the winning recipe every month. And hopefully through the blog others will learn more about Iron Chef and be inspired to meet others in similar ways.

We hope you will enjoy Iron Chef as much as we do--as an opportunity to meet new people and eat great food!