Deadline nears for cooking competition

A flurry of applications arrived over the weekend for our third annual Cook of the Week Challenge, but if you want to be part of the fun there’s still time. Cooks have until midnight Wednesday to fill out an application and submit a recipe to be considered for the competition.

The contest challenges 16 home cooks to come up with weeknight-friendly recipes using mystery ingredients plus common pantry items. Past mystery baskets have included ground turkey, figs, walnuts and barbecue sauce.

The 16 cooks face off in two preliminary elimination-style recipe challenge rounds; four finalists will compete in a live cook-off Oct. 30 at the Hyatt Woodfield Schaumburg. The winner will be crowned Cook of the Year 2013 and awarded $3,000 in prizes.

Entering is easy. Grab an original recipe and head to surveymonkey.com/s/COTW2013. You’ll be asked a series of questions and provided a space to include your recipe.

Still have questions? Email cookoftheweek@dailyherald.com