Half way there

So, this week was a fun challenge. I am glad to see my gal Antonia, who I've liked since day one, pull ahead this week with a double victory. It put Richard back a few steps (though he was TOO cute working with the kids and how he said he wanted to go home and make babies!) Anyway, with Antonia's wins and Mark's loss, both bski and Arielle stole the show this week, but with bski pulling away with the lead. This changed the whole game, folks. (Check the side bar for tallies.)

1. I think it was funny they had to use the Uncle Ben's microwave rice. I love the brown rice and plain white rice, unseasoned, but the other varieties are SO loaded with salt. I'm sure a lot of them didn't realize — they had never cooked with that stuff before — and I saw them adding a pinch of salt here and a pinch there. Talk about over seasoned! But I did like Antonia's win: a simple salad with rice (pictured at left), something I've never tried before, but I think I'd like to. Spike's stuffed peppers also looked mighty good.

2. The winner here was unsurprising since the challenge is Antonia's home life. Cooking on a budget for a family is what she does, so her stir-fried veggies and whole wheat pasta was a given winner (here's the recipe, pictured above). Spike's spaghetti also looked like a big hit, and it seemed like they both got the idea of fun food for kids with healthy ingredients. Fresh produce isn't that expensive and it's really so important to incorporate into your diet. Though $10 at Whole Paycheck doesn't really go very far...

3. Mark finally bit the dust. I really liked his personality and he seems like fun, but he should have gone home already — probably tailgating week when he was dropping his stuff left and right. This week he tried a curry for a family of four — most people not liking curry so much. He also said he didn't need protein, which is inappropriate when you are preparing meals for kids. Plus it looked like a pile of poo (see at right).

4. No fight, again. I think I may have been jaded because they were fighting like crazy on that dumb dance show with Jessie Spano.