Remember my popnachos recipe? Thanks to your votes I was able to move on to the popchips champion-chip finals and this weekend I met up with the popchips team and Kristi (the other finalist) at the gorgeous Roche Bros supermarket in Wellesley to compete for the grand prize (see below).
I had no idea what to expect, how many people we’d be serving, where we’d be cooking, etc. but my eyes were on the prize (I get kind of competitive sometimes, what can I say). I shopped for my ingredients (seriously the store was gigantic and incredibly beautiful – it was kind of hard to focus because I wanted to just get lost browsing through millions of products)… and then it was game-time!
I had a small toaster oven to work with, a tiny space one-cutting board wide (luckily I brought my own knife!) so it was a bit overwhelming at the beginning as I was trying to get into the grove of things.
Kristi’s recipe was a little less involved – she was making chocolate covered popchips that required only 2 ingredients. They were delicious so she had customers voting for her recipe before I even had my first batch made!
Luckily, 20 minutes in, I was on a roll. I was chopping, spreading, getting the crowd to taste and vote (!!!) and I was having a blast!
Everyone really loved my nachos and Kristi’s chocolate covered popchips – many had a hard time picking a favorite since it was essentially dinner and dessert. Not an easy choice for sure!
Working the crowds 
This kid came back like 4 times… he was clearly a big fan!
After a few hours we closed shop and it was time for the vote counts! I had a good feeling about it because I got really positive feedback on my recipe (and I was honestly happy with it myself and I’m a tough critic). I was still nervous though – I was competing with CHOCOLATE after all.
At the end… I WON! It was a close game – 34/29 but I was the winner of the champion-chip 
The popchips judges decided that Kristi and I were both winners though so we both received $250. I also get a year’s worth of supply of popchips. Not bad for a day’s worth of work [Adam is psyched!]
Have you ever entered (and won?) a recipe competition? I had such a good time, I think I may try my hand at the local smaller scale competitions more often. This was so much fun!
Yay! Congrats
I’ve only had Pop chips once, and they’re pretty tasty. I love the idea of making nachos out of them.
‘Atta girl! Congrats, Elina – you deserved that win for sure. The nachos look amazing
. I wish I had known you’d be competing at Roche Bros – it’s about 5 minutes from our apartment! You’re right, it is gorgeous, but it’s also a bit overpriced and usually ridiculously crowded. Ah, Wellesley.
Congrats again!! I’m expecting a bunch of recipes involving Popchips
.
Wow! Congrats! I have never had popchips before (cant find them here) but they sure do look delicious in your pictures! YUM!
That is so exciting!!! And a year’s worth of Pop Chips- SO fun!! Congrats:-) I think I’ll have to try your nachos.
Congratulations, Elina!! Very cool. My husband would be pretty stoked, too. He loves any kind of chips.
Congrats on winning! What a great prize and a fun event!
Congrats! How fun. I’ve never entered a recipe contest. I’m still not very good at coming up with my own recipes.
Congratulations Elina! That looks like a fun time!
Congratulations! I’ve only entered one recipe contest for Olivia’s Organics and I won! I’m still working through the Williams Sonoma giftcard that I won!
So cool that you won!!! That sounds like tons of fun. What am accomplishment!!! Oh and pop chips for a year? Score!
Congrats Elina! Adam must be so excited about all the popchips!!
Woohoo! POPCHIPS.
I’m totally going to OD on these things over the next year
Congratulations Elina!! That is so awesome. And a year’s supply is fantastic! Great job
Congratulations!!! How cool!!!
Awesome! I tried popchips a few times and like them. A year’s supply of them would be heavenly… =P
Congrats!
Holy crap, that’s wicked cool! Congrats!!
-Josh
congrats, those nachos looked mighty tasty!
Congratulations, this is awesome!! It looks like you had SO much fun
And who wouldn’t love a year’s worth of Popchips 
Your nachos look awesome!
I’m loving the idea of popchip nachos – it definitely sounds like a winner! Congrats on the experience!
Congratulations! That is so awesome! I’ve never had PopChips, but I need to find them and try your recipe. It looks like you had a great time doing this!
Wow, that is so cool! Congratulations!! Using popchips in nachos is a great idea because they are so crispy and airy! Looks like so much fun
This is fantastic Elina! Something to be proud of and looks like so much fun!
congrats!!! that is awesome
and love the recap, glad you had a good time too!
Congrats! Sounds like a really fun experience!
That’s so awesome, congrats! I’m totally looking forward to some popchips next time I come over!
Congratulations, Elina! That sounds like such a cool experience, and it’s awesome that the nachos won!!
Thank you all for such sweet words! I had a great time and loved sharing the recap with you!
awesome!! congrats!
Congrats on winning! This looks like so much fun!
That’s awesome! I’ve participated in a cooking competition. It was a great experience.
Congrats~you look great in the pictures and your idea was great! So fun!
Yay, congrats Elina!!! I love that last pic of you too – so cute!