During Disney Marathon weekend we were invited to a blogger cook-off event. The event was held on Friday afternoon up at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. This was so much fun because we not only got to reunite with some running bloggers that we had met before but we also got to finally meet some running bloggers that we have been communicating with over social media for sometime now.
The event was hosted by Cigna ( who is the sponsor of the marathon weekend). They organized it almost as if we were on the set of "Iron Chef" or "Chopped". We were all split in to several groups. I believe there were 5 or so groups and then a Vegan group. We each had a different "Special" ingredient that we had to use in our main dish.
Then there was a vegetable table, a spice table, and a carb section. We also had a big fridge we could get in to find stuff like cheese and milk. Our "Special" ingredient was Chicken. I don't recall exactly how many pounds of chicken they made our group cut up and cook but it was A LOT. We were suppose to make a dish that would serve 40 people but I'm sure we had much more.
Each group had a "Master Chef" from Disney to help them with their dish. The dish we decided to make was a Chicken Alfredo with sauté vegetables. With a little help from Disney's Chef Jarrod, we even made the Alfredo sauce from scratch.
When all the meals were complete, they were put in a buffet line for all of us to try each others creations. The Chef's also had made us salads, side dishes, and yummy desserts. We thought our Chicken Alfredo was yummy, but golly, ALL the groups made a yummy dish. I don't remember all of them but there was a grilled shrimp dish that really stood out in my mind because it was so fabulous! Kudos to the group who made that!
This was our fabulous cooking group.
Denise from Healthy Disney Family, Erin from For the Love of Disney Running, Lacey, Meranda, and Fred from Nola Runner.
We had such a fun time that we should have done something more to thank Cigna for inviting us to this great event, but instead, they thanked us all for coming with an extremely generous goodie bag! We didn't completely look into our bag until we got back to our resort and we were absolutely flabbergasted to find that we were given a $50 Disney gift card! Thank you Cigna!
Did you attend Marathon weekend at Disney?
Whoa! There's an activity I would to participate in. It doesn't matter if it's as a spectator or cooking. I'll be on the lookout for that next year. Sounds awesome.
ReplyDeleteThat would be fun if they hosted it again next year!
DeleteI ran into Faux Runner on the course and she told me all about it...I had been invited, but my travel plans didn't work out WAH WAH WAH!!! What a GREAT event, looks like a blast and sounded like the perfect way to enjoy lunch at Disney !
ReplyDeleteAww, sorry we missed you!
DeleteI feel like I'm the only person who WASN'T at Disney for the marathon haha but after reading all these recaps it's time to add that to my bucket list ;)
ReplyDeleteA Disney race needs to be on your list for sure!
DeleteOh my word! How fun does this look!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is the closest we will ever get to being on a cooking show!
DeleteHad SO MUCH FUN with you girls! Loved meeting you and loved this post!
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you so much! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your weekend!
DeleteFood. Right up my alley. I will gladly sacrifice myself next year to be a judge, for the vegetarian dishes of course, lol! How did you find out about it?
ReplyDeleteWe got an invitation for the event a few weeks ago. Other than that, we wouldn't have known about it.
DeleteHow fun! I wish I had known this was going on when I was at the Wide World of Sports on Friday because I totally would have volunteered to be a taste-tester : )
ReplyDeleteThis looks like it was such a fun event! I was so bummed when I had to RSVP "no" to Cigna, but traveling down for Marathon Weekend just wasn't possible this year. Hopefully they'll host a similar event at future races!
ReplyDeleteAw, this looks like so much fun! I had to decline, unfortunately...but I'd love to take part in something like this in the future. What a great idea for a blogger event! Looking forward to more details on your trip!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a fun event! It's so fun to meet fellow bloggers/runners we only know from the web.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like so much fun! I love that they even gave you the aprons and chef hats to wear :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like everyone had a blast. We missed being at marathon weekend but hopefully it will fit into our race schedule for 2016!
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun! I'm such a bad cook, I would have been terrible at it. Hope you had a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteWow. That sounds like a blast!
ReplyDeleteLoved meeting and cooking with you at the Cigna Blogger Cook-off, Meranda and Lacey! They really pulled out all the stops to make it a fantastic event :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was so much fun! I got the invitation but since I wasn't at Marathon weekend this year I couldn't attend.
ReplyDeleteSuperfun idea! What a great event.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a really fun event! My cooking skills leave a lot to be desired though! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat event for Disney to put on! I could only dream of having an opportunity like that. So cool!
ReplyDeleteCooking is so fun! I'm glad you enjoyed yourself! I really enjoyed the photos!
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome experience! Looks like so much fun!! :)
ReplyDeleteOmgosh, that looks way fun and I dont even like to cook! I didnt know anything like this happened at Disney. Super cool you got to be there!
ReplyDeleteThat looks like so much fun! I would have been all over that.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, that looks like so much fun! I would have loved to attend an event like that!
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds like so much fun! What a cool experience!!
ReplyDeleteThat is sooooo cool! I love the chef type shows. It must have been so much fun to participate in one, especially with other running bloggers! I'm jealous!
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