Money From the Oven

Here’s the latest batch of cooking contests. All that’s needed is paper, postage and plenty of imagination. Be sure to follow the rules because you can be disqualified for something as simple as forgetting to write down a pan size.

* If money isn’t your only motive for entering recipe contests, “Love That Cheesecake,” sponsored by American Reflections, is a recipe contest for . . . what else? The top 50 cheesecake recipes will be published in a book titled “The 50 Best Cheesecakes in the World,” and each winner will receive a Lenox pewter cake server. Send your cheesecake recipe to Love That Cheesecake, P.O. Box 7231, Princeton, N.J. 08543. Contest deadline is Dec. 1.

* Making a favorite recipe healthier is not only smart, it could also be profitable. Top prize for a recipe make-over using only three-fourths of a cup of Quaker Oaks (quick or the old-fashioned kind, uncooked) is $10,000. Last year’s grand prize was won by Julia E. Winter, a high school math/science teacher, for gingerbread scones with lemon breakfast cream. Winter used her chemistry background to revise a basic scone recipe so that it was lower in fat and cholesterol and higher in fiber. This year’s categories include breakfast; main dishes; breads/muffins, and desserts/cookies. For a copy of the complete contest rules, send a stamped, self-addressed business-size envelope to: Quaker Contest Rules, P.O. Box 1370, Barrington, Ill. 60011. Entries must be postmarked by midnight Nov. 29.

* The deadline for the granddaddy of all cooking contests, The Pillsbury Bake-Off Cooking and Baking Contest, is fast approaching. The 35th Bake-Off will be held Feb. 22 through 25, 1992, at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The 100 finalists each win an expense-paid trip to the Bake-Off, where they compete for more than $136,000 in prize money. (The grand prize winner takes home $50,000.) For an entry blank, write to Pillsbury Bake-Off Entry Blanks, P.O. Box 5894, Minneapolis, Minn. 55460. Entries must be postmarked by Oct. 21.

* Come up with an original recipe using at least a third cup of Pace Picante Sauce and you could win $1,000. There’s just one hitch--the contest is open exclusively to 12 through 18-year-olds. Enter as many recipes as you want in any of the three categories: main dishes; soups and stews; and appetizers, snacks, side dishes and breads. Each recipe must be mailed in a separate envelope. For a copy of the contest rules (don’t forget to read them carefully), send your name and address to: Rules, Pace Young Cooks Recipe Contest, 3484 West 11th St., Houston, Tex. 77008. Entries will be accepted through Jan. 31, 1992.

* Midnight March 16, 1992 is the deadline for Sargento’s Cheese Makes the Recipe Contest. Contestants are asked for an original recipe using a minimum of 1 1/2 cups of Sargento shredded cheese in one of three categories: appetizers and snacks; side dishes; main dishes. The grand prize is $5,000. Last year’s winning recipe, cheese and spinach tortilla pizza, called for 2 1/2 cups of various Sargento cheeses. Each recipe is judged on originality, taste, appearance and ease of preparation. Entries will be accepted beginning Jan. 1, 1992. Each entry must be typed or printed on 8 1/2x11-inch paper. Your name, address and name of the recipe category must appear in the top right-hand corner; each entry must be mailed separately and must be accompanied by one gold-and-black Sargento of Wisconsin logo from any package of cheese as proof of purchase. Send entries to Sargento Cheese Makes the Recipe Contest, 221 N. LaSalle St., Suite 3900, Chicago Ill. 60601.