This is the fifth and final of a five part series for Star of the Show from Canadian Lentils. Star of the Show is a contest organized by Canadian Lentils in partnership with Chef Michael Smith.
Have you ever dreamed of having the lights shine down on you, the director yelling "Action" and being the star of your very own cooking show? Well, if you said "yes," you are definitely not alone. Canadian Lentils decided to give five Canadian food bloggers the chance to live out their dream in beautiful Prince Edward Island in Chef Michael Smith's Test Kitchen! This was truly the chance of a lifetime. Imagine cooking in a professional test kitchen surrounded by a film crew waiting to bring your recipe to life all while working directly with a 9-time cookbook author and host of multiple cooking shows.
Last month, Chef Smith combed through over 50 video submissions from aspiring hosts sharing their love of lentils, their favourite lentil dish and why they'd make for a great Star of the Show. After an exhaustive selection process, Chef Smith selected the five winners and this week those five travelled from all over Canada to PEI to become the Star of the Show!
With limitation comes inspiration. Those are the wise words from Sam Turnbull from the blog It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. Like most families, Sam's ate a lot of meat. In fact, with family members that were butchers, hunters and chefs, her family probably ate more than yours. So, it was a shock to everyone when she decided to go vegan.
And that's where the limitation comes into play. When she went vegan, Sam heard all the usual comments, lack of flavour, weird textures and simply not satisfying. So she set out to change that perception one recipe at a time and the blog It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken became a reality.
In a few short years, Sam has delivered on her promise and put her money where her mouth is! She quit her job to devote all her time to her food blog, has been creating mouth-watering vegan recipes and is now publishing her very first cookbook in 2017!
With lentils as one of her best friends, Sam created an unbelievably easy and delicious recipe for Lentil Tacos with an Avocado Cilantro Sauce. The crew got hungry in a hurry as we watched Sam put the entire meal together from start to finish in under 15 minutes. With an array of spices including chill flakes, cumin and paprika, she had her lentil taco mixture smelling so good in the test kitchen. And her easy avocado cilantro sauce was the perfect compliment to spread over the tacos. But admittedly, the crew also snuck in a couple of spoonful of the sauce right from the food processor!
Another star is born!
All in all, it was the perfect way to wrap up an amazing, albeit slightly chilly week in beautiful Prince Edward Island! More details to come in the coming weeks for the Star of the Show with Canadian Lentils and Chef Michael Smith but be on the lookout for the videos in June!
Check out previous Star of the Show posts
- Adam Hearn of Kook Channel
- Trudy Stone of Eat, Live and Play
- Lalitha Taylor of Taylor Nutrition
- Koko Brill of Koko's Kitchen
Keep an eye out on social media for lots of behind-the-scenes photos and videos. You can find them by searching for the #LoveLentils hashtag or following @FoodBloggersCA on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Periscope. Canadian Lentils can be found on Twitter and Instagram and Periscope too!
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Yay!! Thanks for the lovely write up Ethan. It was such a fun, crazy day! 🙂
You were awesome! And yes, it was indeed a fun, crazy and topsy-turvy day 🙂