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Million-Dollar Winner Entered 50 Recipes in the Bake-Off

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By Gwen Schoen, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Mar. 29--Anna Ginsberg stopped by her bank in Austin, Texas, on Monday. As she made her deposit, the teller asked if she had heard about the woman who won $1 million in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Ginsberg practically shouted back, "That was me! I won $1 million." Still running on adrenaline a week after the bake-off in Orlando, Fla., Ginsberg barely took a breath as she talked on the phone about how her recipe for baked chicken with spinach stuffing captured the grand prize in the biggest recipe contest in the nation. Ginsberg was one of 100 finalists, including Judy Mortensen of Citrus Heights, who competed in the final round. For months, Pillsbury had collected thousands of entries in the competition. Last week, the finalists cooked their recipes for a panel of judges who selected five category winners and the grand prize winner. Category winners each received $10,000 plus a set of GE appliances. Just to make the final cut is an impressive feat. Pillsbury won't say how many entries it received, other than it's in the tens of thousands. Ginsberg entered about 50 recipes in the bake-off; this was the second time she had been a finalist. "I bought myself a new curling iron and some star fruit," Ginsberg said. "Little things so far. It's still kind of a shock to think I could buy anything I want. Our little joke before the contest was that if I won, I'd buy my daughter a bouncy house like they have at Toys R Us. So that was the first thing we did when we got home." The stay-at-home mom entered her winning recipe in a new contest category, Cooking for Two. She used a package of Pillsbury Dunkables, frozen waffle sticks, to make stuffing and used the syrup that comes with the waffles as a sauce for baked chicken breasts. "I created the recipe as a bake-off entry," Ginsberg said. "I like stuffing, but sometimes you don't want to make a lot at once, and using the Dunkables seemed like an easy way to do it. My husband doesn't like stuffing, but he did like the chicken cooked with the syrup." Ginsberg is an expert at recipe contests. She once won $2,500 in a cheesecake contest. Last year, she won $10,000 in the California Raisins contest and recently she won $500 in the "Mix It Up With Betty," a Betty Crocker contest using cake mix. "I guess my career with Pillsbury is over now," she said. "I've been working at winning this one for a long time. It's the biggest, after all. But once you win, you can't enter again." Her advice for people who want to enter contests is to send in a lot of recipes.

"I usually send in about 50," she said. "For the California Raisins contest, though, I just sent one. "Also, try to do something creative. I like to eat out a lot and really study what the chefs are doing because they are always on the cutting edge of trends. Then I try to do it at home, but make streamlined versions using foods that are prepackaged or in a mix." As for Ginsberg's winnings, "I am so amazed at all this money, I'm not sure what to do with it. My daughter will start school in the fall and before this I was thinking about going back to work. Now I don't have to. Maybe I'll use some of it to remodel my kitchen so I can use all the new appliances I won. Right now, it's just too much to think about, so I'm just going to bake some cookies." All of the finalists' recipes can be found on the Pillsbury Web site, www.pillsbury.com/bakeoff. Mortensen's recipe for sausage ratatouille with couscous also can be seen at www.sacbee.com/ taste, under the March 15 listings. Baked chicken with spinach stuffing Prep time: 15 minutes * Cook time: 1 hour * Serves 2 Anna Ginsberg of Austin, Texas, won the 42nd Pillsbury Bake-Off in Orlando, Fla. She was awarded $1 million for this original recipe, entered in the Cooking for Two category. Ingredients 9 Pillsbury Dunkables frozen homestyle waffle sticks with 3 syrup cups (from 1 pound, 1.3-ounce box) 2 tablespoons peach preserves 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, about 1 pound

1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon butter or margarine 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium) 1/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh sage 1 1/2 cups Green Giant frozen cut leaf spinach (from 1-pound bag), thawed, squeezed to drain well 1 tablespoon beaten egg white 1 tablespoon chopped pecans Instructions Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate or 8-inch square pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix contents of syrup cups from waffles, the preserves and Worcestershire sauce. Place chicken, skin side up, in pie plate; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon syrup mixture over chicken. Bake uncovered 25 minutes. Meanwhile, toast waffle sticks as directed on box. Cool slightly, about 2 minutes. Cut waffles into 3/4-inch cubes; set aside. Spray 1-quart casserole with cooking spray (or use 9-inch-by-5-inch nonstick loaf pan; do not spray). In 10-inch nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 2 minutes or until tender. Stir in waffle pieces and broth, breaking up and moistening waffle pieces. Sprinkle with poultry season-ing and sage. Remove from heat; stir in spinach. Cool about 5 minutes. Stir in egg white and pecans. Spoon stuffing into casserole; place in oven with chicken. Bake uncovered 15 to 25 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (170 degrees) and stuffing is thoroughly heated. Serve with stuffing, spooning remaining sauce in pan over chicken.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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