Food Network Star - Episode #6 — Nikki Dinki Cooking

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This week it's all about selling a product that represents you... and of course it has to be super tasty (by the way, they have totally done this challenge in past seasons)!

I love to make alternatives to tomato sauce, like red pepper or eggplant sauce. And I serve them over pasta or rice or on top of chicken, fish and pork. So I immediately think of bottling one of these sauces for the challenge. I want to show people a new way of eating veggies.

So what's the problem? Well the first batch is turning out a terrible color... and I'm well aware that poop-colored sauce is not going to fly of the shelves- so I throw in tons of spinach and make it a slightly more appetizing color of green... but it's a real problem.

My second sauce has a funny metallic taste to it, so I'm also adding in tons of things I never intended and it turns out like Frankenstein's monster- a similar but ugly version of what it should be.

Combine all this with my choice of using blenders (which I have never done at home) and my two sauces are not exactly what I wanted to serve.

Fortunately we get another hour to cook 10 jars worth of our product and samples for the judges. I am able to correct my sauce and present it in a way I liked. Luckily (though this never aired) they all loved the new version and thought is was fresh and bright. (Click HERE for recipe)

The problem again?? Well, since I changed the product so much from the original I didn't really have a clear view of where the product would be sold and though I was able to explain myself in the end- not having quick answers was a problem.

I wasn't too nervous at elimination, they liked the taste of my product, my presentation, and my POV, I just didn't have all the right answers from a business perspective.

Even as I was standing in the bottom I felt rejuvenated. Something clicked this week and I realized how different I had been acting and feeling from how I am in my normal life. This competition had made me doubt myself and I had become insecure- which was not me! I knew that if I went on I was going to show them the Nikki I should have from the beginning...

And though it felt like time had stopped and the air was crushing as i stood there, I was right not to worry, and Chris was sent home.

Chris had a hard time defining his POV and a harder time putting it in a jar. He is super sweet and a very talented chef but in the end, it just wasn't enough.