Scottsdale Girl Scout Submits Winning Recipe for All About Healthy Living Contest

Aspiring chef, Ava Sandifer, a 10-year-old Girl Scout from Scottsdale has won Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona’s All About Healthy Living Recipe Contest with her “Simple Feta Salad” entry. Her light and refreshing salad includes tomatoes, cucumber, green onion and feta cheese tossed with Greek seasoning and olive oil.

The contest, hosted in collaboration with Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council (GSACPC), encouraged participants to submit their favorite healthy, original recipe for a cold side dish as part of the BCBSAZ All About Healthy Living patch program. The recipe was required to include at least one fruit and/or vegetable and be prepared within 20 minutes.

There were also four Girl Scouts who were named as finalists for their recipe submissions, which include:

• Alyssa Christian, 10-year-old of Peoria for her Black Bean and Corn Salad

• Mikayla Shields, Six-year-old of Glendale for her Yummy Salad (Vegetarian Antipasta Salad)

• Megan Yeo, Eight-year-old of Florence for her Broccoli and Apple Yogurt Salad

• Danielle Lard, 10-year-old of Scottsdale for her Jicama Mango Salad

The winner and finalists will have the opportunity to attend community events to share samples of their recipes. In addition, all Girl Scouts who entered a recipe earned the All About Healthy Living patch and Health rocker. As the winner, Sandifer received a $150 gift card to the Girl Scout Council shop.

The recipes were judged based on nutritional value, potential taste, originality and average cost per person. All five winning creative recipes can be viewed at: www.nourishingarizona.com/what-you-can-do.

The All About Healthy Living patch was launched earlier this year to help Girl Scouts discover, connect and take action around the importance of healthy living. It’s an engaging model designed to inspire a culture of health and wellness for Arizona’s youth.

This Girl Scout initiative is one of many community efforts that BCBSAZ supports under its Nourishing Arizona program. Through the Nourishing Arizona program, BCBSAZ educates communities across the state about making better food choices and preventing chronic health conditions. Helping Arizona families build active lifestyles and form lifelong healthy habits remains a significant focus for the not-for-profit company.