More Kids in the Kitchen! Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Walk On! Kids Cooking Challenge Calls on Youths to Create Healthy Recipes

Research shows that kids are more likely to try new foods if they have a hand in preparing them, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona’s annual Walk On! Kids Cooking Challenge is encouraging more Valley kids to take control in the kitchen. 

The challenge, going on now through Friday, Jan. 24, asks Arizona youths between the ages of 9 and 12 to come up with ideas for healthy, easy-to-prepare fruit or vegetable-driven side dishes that appeal to kids and adults alike. Each dish entered must include a fruit or vegetable, and it must also be an original recipe for a hot or cold side dish that can take shape in in 20 minutes or less, excluding prep time.

Last year’s winner, Scottsdale’s 9-year-old David Hummert, described his winning dish.

“I entered the Walk On! Kids Cooking Challenge because I like to cook, I had a really good pasta recipe and I wanted to win a new bike,” he said. “My Broccolini Pasta was filled with lots of great veggies, like sun-dried tomatoes, zucchini and broccolini, and it still tasted really good!”

Kids anywhere in Arizona can submit their culinary creations online for consideration, and finalists will even have a chance to serve up their side dishes courtside at a Phoenix Suns game Friday, Feb. 7. Then, a panel of judges will assess the taste, nutritional value and originality of each entry before nominating five finalists for a public vote.

For more information or to submit a dish for consideration, check out WalkOnAZ.com.