Woman impresses judges with original recipe

With her recipe for Little Italy Sausage Burgers, Rebecca Reece of Henderson won an original recipe contest for the first time.

Reece, 63, won first place in the 17th annual Sutter Home Build A Better Burger National Recipe Contest Sept. 29 in Napa Valley, Calif.

Ten finalists competed in the cook-off with five each competing in the alternative category, for burgers containing less than 75 percent beef, and the Best Burger category, won by Karen Bernards of Oregon with her recipe for Sweet Hot Thai Burgers. Bernards won $50,000.

Reece, who has been competing in recipe contests for three years, won $10,000 for her entry in the alternative (nonbeef) category.

"When I first got the call that I was a finalist, I cried," Reece recalls. "I was thrilled and surprised for the initial shock and then winning was unbelievable."

For her original burger recipe, Reece, a retired home economics teacher from Fort Wayne, Ind., combined her love for Italian sausage with pepperoncini. The idea to add pepperoncini came from a Greek salad Reece would enjoy at an Indiana restaurant. She also added Asiago cheese and bread crumbs with the ground pork loin patties, and then topped off the grilled burgers with red wine vinaigrette mayonnaise and a slice of mozzarella cheese.

In addition to the burger contest, Reece also is a finalist in the Bundts Across America contest. Her entry for the holiday-themed contest, Lemon Lime Easter Cake, was judged in a bake-off Oct. 9 in San Francisco. The grand prize winner will be announced on National Bundt Day Nov. 15.

"It's a fun thing to do," Reece says of entering recipe contests. "There are thousands of contests held."

"This contest was a lifetime experience," adds Reece. "If I never win again this has just been really fun."

Reece hopes to use her winnings for an Alaskan cruise vacation next year. The recipe for Reece's Little Italy Sausage Burgers can be found on the Web site buildabetterburger.com.

In other news:

The Junior League of Las Vegas, a women's volunteer organization, recently appointed its 2007-2008 Board of Directors. Stephanie Vogel was named president of the nonproft organization's board of directors and Patricia Wippel was named president-elect. Other newly appointed board members are: Charity Johnson, administrative vice president; Jennifer Schmidt, community vice president; Vanessa Kissel, finance vice president; Laura Schmitt, fund development vice president; Bonnie Winkleman, membership vice president; Sharon Miller, recording secretary; Megan Schimick, treasurer; Tara Faber-Weinberg, administrative member at large; Liz Sherley, community member at large; Jodi Diskin, fund development member at large; Deni Conrad, sustaining president; and Judy Beal, sustaining adviser.

If you know of a worthy candidate for this column, mail information to Newsmakers, Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070, or send faxes to 383-4676.