Cook With Amber goes to The White House

Hi, I'm Amber Kelley. I'm 10 years old. I think being healthy is COOL, so I started a healthy online cooking show. I want to show kids everywhere that its easy and super fun to cook healthy meals for your friends and family! 

Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited to the White House for a Kids' State Dinner! I was invited because I was the winner in my state for the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, a contest created by the First Lady Michelle Obama, and Epicurious to encourage kids and families to cook healthy meals. The only reason I even knew about the challenge is because our friends at Laptop Lunches told us about it! How lucky for us! We had no idea this challenge existed. Thank you, Laptop Lunches!

Everyone, download this awesome cookbook! It has the winning recipes from all the states, plus the U.S. Territories. It's free to everyone. It's full of amazing healthy recipes from kids! SO COOL! 

The Kids' State Dinner was amazing, and there is so much to tell. I have a blogon my website that tells all the details of my trip to Washington D.C. but here are some of my favorite moments:

I met many kids from around the country. Everyone was super nice, and everyone was so excited about being there!

Before entering the dining room, all the kids crowded around the animal-balloon man, who was AMAZNING. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records! My mom said all the parents were laughing because we were at the White House but the kids were just interested in the balloon man.

The menu featured some of the recipes that were submitted by the winners. It was all super yummy, and my favorites were the Zucchini Cornbread and Fun Mini Pizzas with  Veggies and Cauliflower Crust (it's gluten-free!) 

I could NOT BELIEVE I was seated next to the First Lady Michelle Obama! Holy Smokes! And she mentioned me in her speech! What an honor!

 

Also at our table was Tanya Steel, Editor in Chief at Epicurious.com, who came up with the idea for this challenge and worked with Mrs. Obama to make it come true. She told us that at first, she thought the White House would never agree to do it! Thank you, Tanya! :D

The First Lady told us we should eat with our fingers, and showed us how.

We had a special guest stop by! OMG it was the President of the United States! He gave a speech and he is really funny and made us laugh. He went to every table to say hello

Mrs. Obama is the nicest person! We talked about all sorts of things, like her house, her garden, what it's like to be First Lady, and her workout routine. She also asked us questions about our summer and our school.

There were so many people from newspapers and magazines and TV stations there! I got to meet and be interviewed by Sam Kass, the chef at the White House. Some of the press were kids!

It's so awesome that the First Lady thinks it's COOL to be healthy too! She told everyone in the room to keep spreading the word on health, and that we can do anything. 

It was the best 4.5 hours of my life! I will never, ever forget this trip.