HELL'S KITCHEN — Danielle Rivers usually lets her mom do the cooking, while she bakes — but for $5,000 she figured she could bust out the pots and pans and try creating her own dinner recipe.
The 17-year-old Food and Finance High School senior recently won first place in a national recipe contest with a meatless pasta dish, netting her a $5,000 scholarship and an all-inclusive trip to a Canyon Ranch resort to learn healthy cooking techniques from Chef Scott Uehlein.
Rivers' pappardelle with mushrooms, baby spinach and roasted tomato sauce was the top pick in the national Healthy Pasta Recipe Contest for high school seniors put on by Meatless Monday and the Careers through Culinary Arts Program, a nonprofit organization that brings culinary programs to schools.