o Watch Makayla Hildebrand make Eggs in a Nest.
o Read the finalists’ recipes.
o Vote for Makayla through Monday.
Like many 12-year-olds, Makayla Hildebrand does not like green peppers or onions. So when she was perfecting a recipe for a healthy-cooking contest, she replaced the icky veggies with ones she likes: tomatoes and spinach.
That substitution paid off. Makayla, a sixth-grader at Hockinson Middle School, is one of five finalists in Sodexo’s national Future Chefs: Healthy Breakfast Challenge. Each of the finalists has posted a video on YouTube. The student chef with the most votes by Monday wins.
The contest’s premise is to encourage kids to learn about nutrition by creating healthful breakfast foods.
Makayla and her mom found a recipe for eggs in a nest, and she substituted ingredients with more healthful alternatives: egg whites, turkey sausage and low-fat milk and cheese.
After her recipe was tweaked, she was filmed making the dish in Battle Ground High School’s home economics kitchen.
Makayla learned she had won the regional competition when it was announced to the entire sixth grade at lunch. “About 100 kids were cheering. I was kind of excited and embarrassed at the same time,” she said.
Susan Parrish: 360-735-4530; http://twitter.com/col_hoods; susan.parrish@columbian.com.
