Mary Louise Lever of Rome, Georgia, is a veteran of the recipe contest circuit. In 1980, she entered her first contest and won first place and a blender in the fish category for her baked fish fillets in the Rich’s Home Style Days. And then she was hooked.
Now, she’s triumphed again with a first-place win in the Taste of Authenticity contest sponsored by Stella Cheese. Her dish? Tuscan-Style Gorgonzola Cheesecake With Fresh Strawberry Thyme Salsa.
“Cheesecakes have always been my favorite to create and cook,” she says. “I continue to be inspired from my world travel adventures, especially Italy and the wonderful Gorgonzola cheese that I discovered years ago, so working with it and adding complementary ingredients in the recipe was really easy. I added finishing touches of a fresh strawberry thyme salsa to the cheesecake, and the first time out of the oven, it was perfect.”
So she entered her sweet creation, which, she adds, makes a show-stopping dessert for the holidays, and was soon notified by Stella that her recipe had been selected as one of 25 finalists among more than 250 entries. Her dish was judged by a dozen culinary professionals who made the cheesecake and deemed it the grand-prize winner. Lever was notified via email.
“To say that I was thrilled would certainly be an understatement,” she says.