Waffle machines are fun to use, and nowadays you can waffle just about anything. For this recipe, just make your usual PB&J and waffle it!
Vegetarian Nopales Burrito
Nopales, basically cactus leaves, may look prickly and scary, but once the needles are carefully removed, the leaves can be sauteed or grilled until tender. Try making them into fun, easily portable burritos.
BBQ Broccoli Salad
Try a new spin on broccoli slaw, replacing the broccoli with slightly bitter broccoli rabe, and the mayonnaise with barbecue sauce. Top with fried onions for some crunch.
Tofu Cocktail
Spice up chunks of flavor-neutral tofu with a sprinkling of Old Bay, give them a squeeze of lemon and serve them with cocktail sauce. It's a vegetarian take on shrimp cocktail!
Potato Pancake Sandwich
This bagels-and-lox-inspired sandwich uses leftover potato pancakes (or latkes) as the vehicle. It's definitely an elegant way to enjoy lunch.
Pumpkin Hummus
Spice up your plain hummus with the basket ingredient pumpkin pie spice. Here it's served with another basket ingredient, rainbow carrots, which add a fun splash of color.
Guacamole on the Half Shell
Here's a fun and easy way to pack a portable single serving of guacamole. Just mash an avocado half in its shell and add chopped onion and cilantro, some corn and a drizzle of lime juice, and finish with salt.
Horchata Rice Pudding
Inspired by the Mexican rice drink, this recipe jazzes up store-bought rice pudding with some cinnamon, crispy rice cereal and toasted almonds. Add the toppings just before serving.
Ham and Cheese Roll-Ups with Wasabi-Peach Sauce
These lunch meat roll-ups are fun for kids to make — and eat. Serve them with a wasabi-peach mayo, which can be used for dipping the roll-ups or spread onto a sandwich to spice things up.
Caesar Salad with Pepperoni Pizza Croutons
In this instance pepperoni pizza was the basket ingredient. Turn chunks of the pizza into croutons to top a classic Caesar salad. Just make sure to pack the dressing separately.
Shrimp Chip Snack Mix
Move over, Chex mix — there's a new sheriff in town. This Asian-inspired snack mix includes the basket ingredient of shrimp chips, along with wasabi peas, almonds, sesame sticks and crispy seaweed.
The Cupcake Sandwich
How do you get the perfect cake-to-frosting bite when eating a cupcake? Here's the solution: Cut off the bottom and sandwich it over the top.
More Chopped Junior
Go behind the scenes of the set, hear more from the judges and host, and tune in for new episodes on Tuesdays at 8|7c.
