Joni Hilton had three goals when she was developing a recipe for the Hungry Jack "Use Up the Box" recipe and essay contest: include shrimp, the savory combination of sweet and salty and submit a winning recipe.
Her recipe for maple-glazed prosciutto wrapped shrimp fulfills the first two and may just help her nail the third.
Hilton, of Rocklin, is one of just nine finalists in the recipe contest, which saw a total of 324 entries. Participants had to submit original recipes that used Hungry Jack Instant Mashed Potatoes, Hungry Jack Pancake Mix or Hungry Jack Syrup.
Entrants also had to submit a 200 word or less essay explaining how they created the recipe.
Hilton said coming up with her recipe wasn't too difficult.
The family eats shrimp a lot - her husband, former CBS 13 anchor Bob Hilton, grew up eating shrimp in Louisiana - and Joni Hilton loves the combination salty meat and shrimp, so combining the two elements seemed like a perfect fit.
"It's explosively delicious," she said of the dish. "It's been a real hit with our family."
Hilton, 53, is well-seasoned when it comes to entering recipe contests.
She has entered hundreds of contests and won 60. She was a finalist in the National Beef Cookoff and has won trips to Hawaii, New York, Florida and lots of appliances.
The best prize thus far was a $25,000 trip to France in 1997 that she scored for having won a Bays English Muffin recipe contest.
The trip included a week of cooking school.
"It was just the trip of a lifetime," she said.
Prizes for the Hungry Jack recipe contests aren't too shabby either. A grand prize of a year's worth of groceries (in the form of a check for $6,000) will be awarded for each category, and runners-up will be awarded a gift basket of Hungry Jack products.
Online voting begins Friday on Hungry Jack's contest Web site.
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