Round 2 Game Stats and Summary: Gary’s Chicken vs Wheatberry Salad

	Gary’s Chicken	Wheatberry Salad
Prep time/ease of ingredients (15 pts)	15	8
Likeliness of making it again (20 pts)	20	2
Overall Flavor (50 pts)	45	35
Value $ (15 pts)	15	9

Final Score:
Wheatberry Salad 54-Gary’s Chicken 95

Laura was cooking up these two winners.  What did you think, Laura?

Wheatberry Salad notes:
My town doesn’t have the greatest selection in the world when it comes to grocery stores…with that said, I had the hardest time finding wheat! I ended up getting Bulgar wheat because that was the closest thing I could find that I thought would work with the recipe. Putting the wheat together for the crock pot was a cinch, but the rest of the steps were putzy. I normally don’t mind putzy, but with a toddler running around, it makes things more challenging! The ingredients were a little on the spendy side with having to buy nuts and the wheat itself…I tried it and didn’t like it as much as I had hoped. Maybe it was the kind of wheat I used, but the wheat flavor was too strong for my liking. I loved the other flavors together though…I think if you used raw baby spinach instead of wheat and added the rest of the ingredients, you’d have a fabulous salad. I noticed the last person who tried this loved it…sorry, just individual taste!


Gary’s Chicken notes:
I didn’t realize I was supposed to use bone-in chicken thighs until too late so all I did was cut down the cooking time to 4 1/2 hours and it turned out fine! Ingredients easy to find, I had several on hand which helps. Super easy to put together and then all you have to do is cook noodles which is a no-brainer. My husband and I loved this dish! We’re partial to Italian though so, I have to admit we’re biased judges! Although, my toddler even loved it and those who have toddlers know that they are the most picky palates on the face of the planet! So, it must be good! I liked the more concentrated tomato flavor in the tomato sauce and how it used chicken rather than ground beef. The cheeses definitely add an “umph” to the flavor, helps mellow out the acidity of the tomato sauce. The ingredients themselves were fairly cheap and it made a lot, so you get some good bang for your buck. Obviously, this is my winner!