Published: March 04, 2008 07:57 am      

Stanly County 4-H’ers become chefs

Sunday, March 2, 2008 — In January, 33 Stanly County 4-H’ers participated in the annual 4-H Favorite Foods Show.

The youth entered a variety of different dishes, such as spicy chicken bites, zucchini muffins and chili cheese dip, to name a few. Youth ranging in age from 5-18 participated in the one-day event at the Stanly County Agri-Civic Center.

Cloverbud participants (5-8 year olds) really showed off their talents in the kitchen this year. Eight young 4-H’ers whipped up a variety of dishes for the show, such as leprechaun’s juice, cookies, pinwheels, cupcakes, and more. The Cloverbud participants were: Sarah Alexi, Weslyn Almond, Lennon Henry, Regan Moore, Rebekah Morris, Kaley Sanders, Kate and Kyle Van Horn.

Junior participants (9-12 year olds) also did an excellent job of wowing the crowd with their recipes. Twenty juniors competed in the six different categories of Healthy Recipes, Beverages, Appetizers, Cakes and Pies, Cookies and Candy and Breads. Competing in the junior division were: Matthew Alexi, Jaycie Almond, Andrea and Kayla Bragg, Dennis and Sarah Collins, Cayla Dameron, Luke Furr, Corey Harwood, Ashley, Emily, and Kacie Hatley, Jenna and Leah Joyner, Amber Moore, Brittany Sanders, Allison Talley, Chuckie VanHoose, Anna Williamson and Ashlyn Wilson.

The senior category (13-18 year olds) is always a difficult group to judge, with such yummy creations made by these talented chefs. This year five seniors competed with dishes such as chocolate cream dessert, wedding cookies and sour cream pound cake. The dishes were made by: Kyle Furr, Kellie Hatley, Elizabeth Moore, Kevin Sanders and Sarah Talley.

Best of Show, selected by the three judges, went to Jaycie Almond’s “Dirt Pudding.” The Agent’s Pick, selected by 4-H Agent Melody Sikes, went to Kyle Van Horn’s “Best Ever Banana Bread.” All participants received 4-H scholarship money that can be used toward any 4-H event throughout the year.

Judging the event for Stanly County 4-H were Michelle Stumbo, Clover-buds; Shannon Braswell, Juniors; and Candice Moffitt, Seniors.

While the judges were hard at work making their decisions, food show participants were busy painting and creating snowman tins, birdseed snowmen and snowman lapel pins for nursing home residents at the Lutheran Home of Albemarle. Youth also donated several items to be placed in the tins for the residents.

After all of this excitement, 4-H’ers snacked on their dishes before leaving for home. Stanly County 4-H is proud of its talented youth and all that they have accomplished. Stanly County is a youth development organization for youth ages 5-19.

For more information, call the 4-H office at (704) 983-3987.

Stanly County 4-H is a United Way funded agency. Stanly County 4-H is a department of North Caro-lina Cooperative Extension, which dedicates itself to offering educational programs to the citizens of Stanly County.