Do have a mini chef in your house that would love to whip up and share a new recipe with lots of people? I am so excited to share with you all about the Luby’s LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest. They invited us out to one of their Houston stores for an insight on just how a Luby’s runs. It was so great to hear all of the improvements that they continue to make with their menu offerings and how they strive to make healthier, tasty food.
Luby’s restaurants shows their commitment to children far past their offering of tasty, fresh, scratch made and well-balanced menu options. In addition to supporting a multitude of kid-related community initiatives throughout the year, the landmark cafeteria chain is cooking up something entirely new this summer and fall as a result of a partnership with Houston-based non-profit Homemade Hope.
LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest has officially launched, offering junior chefs ages 10 to 15 the opportunity to win a $1,000 grand prize and have their dishes featured and credited on the Luby’s line throughout the Houston area, while collaborating with and supporting similarly aged homeless and at-risk children involved in Homemade Hope. A portion of sales from the showcased dishes will benefit Homemade Hope, helping to fund the initiative that brings a taste of home to kids residing in the city’s shelters and transitional living centers through culinary arts programming designed to foster creativity, develop life skills and feed every child’s belief that life has hope.
In the preliminary round of the two-phase contest, entrants are asked to submit – either online or via mail – original and typed side, entrée or dessert recipes crafted from a list of ingredients found on the contest page. Due by midnight on September 30, 2016, all entries must be accompanied by a title of up to 45 characters, a short description of how the recipe came about or family/friend taste taster feedback (up to 1,000 characters), an ingredient list (up to 1,000 characters using common U.S. household measures), the resulting number of portions, step-by-step preparation instructions including cooking times (up to 2,000 characters) and a photograph or drawing of the completed dish (digital files must be no larger than 6 mb).
Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of corporate chefs from Luby’s, who will select up to ten finalists based on perceived taste, presentation depicted in the photo or drawing, creativity/originality and written description. Finalists will be invited to the Luby’s Uptown Houston flagship at a soon to be determined date in October for a cook-off challenge. Each junior chef will be paired with a junior sous chef from Homemade Hope plus a Luby’s manager, and the team will be tasked to replicate the recipe in the kitchen for final judging by a group of VIPs, including Houston area media, personalities and chefs.
Will your kids’ be the next Luby’s LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest Winner?
So what do you think? Will you little chef have fun making a recipe and possibly getting featured with their own dish at Luby’s?
Here are a couple shots of our behind the scenes tour with Luby’s. My kids kept comparing it to their daddy’s restaurant since he is the GM of another concept. I jus love to see their curiosity spark and open up their eyes to other foods that they may not have tasted or wanted to make before.
For more information about the LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest, log onto www.lubysluannskitchencontest.com. Recipe submissions can be uploaded at that page or mailed to: LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest c/o Luby’s Fuddruckers Restaurants, LLC 13111 Northwest Freeway, Suite 600 Houston, TX 77040.
Awesome experience!