My Trip to Campbell’s

I finally have some time to tell you all about my trip to The Campbell’s Kitchen in Camden, NJ.  Let me just say that it was an adventure getting there, but after that it was so fun!

A group of bloggers were asked to create a recipe using Swanson’s premium chunk canned chicken around the theme of the Super Bowl.

From left to right: Deborah from Taste and Tell, me, of course, and Cathy from Hazzard in the Kitchen – the three finalists.

Three finalists were chosen to go to the Campbell’s Kitchen in New Jersey and prepare their recipes for a panel of judges.  I was one of them.

I was lucky enough to also go with another finalist, Deborah from Taste and Tell.  We both are in Utah, and I have been to two other events with her.  It is always more fun to have a travel buddy to go with, and having someone you know is even better!

When the time came to head off to Campbell’s, I got to the airport early only to find out my flight was delayed, so I settled in with a smoothie.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:10 am.  However, weather back east delayed the flight until 8:30 am.  The problem with that was that we were leaving Salt Lake for a connecting flight in Chicago and then heading to Philly.  I checked on our connecting flight and was told it may be delayed also.  So, Deborah and I boarded our flight in Salt Lake, hoping our connecting flight would be delayed.

When we landed in Chicago, we hurried off the plane as fast as we could, which wasn’t very fast because they made us check our carry-on bags, and we had to wait at the gate for those to be taken off the plane.  When we got our bags, we hurried off to check the flight board.  Our flight was delayed, and we had about 20 minutes before it was scheduled to leave.

So we raced to our gate and made it just in time.  

Keep in mind, this is now 1:30 pm in Chicago, and I was running on a smoothie.  We were hoping to snag some food before boarding our Chicago flight, but there wasn’t enough time.  We figured we would just buy some lunch on the plane.  So we get to take off, and then we are told that the flight would have to wait 1 hour before we could leave.  All flights were being delayed by an hour.

At this point, I was dying.  

I was starting to get a migraine.  I really needed some food, and Deborah had some granola bars in her carry-on, but we had to check our carry-ons again for this flight.  We were both starving, and Deborah, by the way, was 7 months pregnant.  As we are waiting on the runway for an hour, we decided to check out the menu so when we finally do get in the air, we can get some lunch.  We then discovered our flight wasn’t long enough for lunch, so they only offered snacks.  We both decided to order the cheese and cracker tray.  That was more filling than a cookie, etc., that was offered.

When we were finally able to take off and order our food, I am telling you it was the best cheese and crackers we have ever had.  It also had some mixed nuts and raisins with it.  We really loved our airplane lunch.

Now, we didn’t land until just before 6 pm in Philly.  We were supposed to be meeting the other finalist, Cathy Hazzard, along with one of the Campbells’ people in the lobby of our hotel for dinner at 6:15 pm. We knew we wouldn’t make that.  So, I made a phone call and plans were made for Deborah and I to check in at the hotel and take a few minutes to freshen up.  Then, we took a taxi to meet everyone at dinner.

We went to dinner at Tinto.  

This is a Jorge Garces’ (one of the Iron Chefs on the Food Network) restaurant.  We got to eat with several of the Campbell’s people from different divisions of the company.  It happened to be restaurant week in Philly, so we got to sample several things for a great deal.  I had an arugula salad with onion soup, followed by some yummy beef and asparagus.  Of course, we had a dessert too. I ordered a cherry something with pastry cream, but didn’t really like it.  One of the Campbell’s girls let me have some of her dessert, and it was heaven.  It was a chocolate thing.  Think of chocolate ganache, but even better than that.  Oh, it was GOOD.  I took pictures, but they didn’t really turn out because of the lighting in the restaurant.

After that, it was off to bed after a long travel day, and we had an early morning. In the morning, we headed to Campbell’s in Camden, NJ.  It was a really short drive.  We went straight to the kitchen, where we were greeted with a light breakfast.  Then it was time to get cookin’.  We each had our own kitchen, which was just like any kitchen you would find in a regular house.  I felt right at home.  We each prepared our recipe.  We made a plate to show and then another one for the judges to sample.

Deborah from Taste and Tell made Bacon Chicken and Cream Cheese Mini Taquitos with a Ranch Guacamole Dipping Sauce.

Cathy from Hazzard in the Kitchen made End Zone Empanadas with Roasted Red Pepper Poblano Dip

 

The whole time in the kitchen, we were followed by cameras for both photos and video.  That was a little weird, but it actually wasn’t too distracting.  We more or less just talked with the camera guys while they were there.

After we finished cooking, we presented our dishes to the judges, and then we headed off to lunch.  

We had a fabulous lunch.

 My favorite was the crab cakes and roasted red pepper soup.  Of course, you gotta have a bowl of soup while you are at Campbell’s. I just wish they would put that red pepper soup in a can.  It was SOOOOO GOOOOOOD.
After lunch, it was time for the big announcement of the winner. Lo and behold, it was me and my quick chicken enchilada nachos.  I couldn’t believe it!  Little old me won a recipe contest.  I was so honored.

After some more video and photos, all the finalists got to go to the Campbell’s store on a shopping spree.  I even got some stuff to share with you guys.  Now, I have decided that cookbooks would be the best option.  I mean, you guys come to my site for recipes, so why not say thanks to you with MORE recipes?