February 2024 Cooking & Baking Challenge: Monthly Recipe Contest

Join Urban Bliss Life in the kitchen for our monthly cooking & baking challenge for 2024! Each month readers are invited to create a recipe based on a new theme.

To celebrate our 20th year of blogging, we’re thrilled to continue the 2024 Urban Bliss Life Cooking & Baking Challenge!

You were amazing in last month’s challenge — thank you for participating. The winner will be announced in our Instagram stories and in an upcoming Sunday newsletter.

We love hearing when you try a recipe and it becomes part of your regular dinner rotation. We were so happy to see readers make our Pork and Peanut Dragon Noodles and Chewy Chocolate Fudge Cookies last month!

Your support over the past two decades means so much. These monthly challenges are a way to expand our community spirit and say thanks — each month we give away an Amazon gift card to a participating reader.

Challenge recipes

February is the month of love and also my birthday month, so this month’s cooking challenge is a favorite that makes an elegant Valentine’s dinner: Risotto with Prawns. For baking, we’re featuring a reader favorite that’s perfect in pink for the holiday: Strawberry Crinkle Cookies.

We invite you to make one or both recipes this month.

To enter our monthly Amazon gift card drawing:

• Make one or both featured recipes.
• Leave a comment and star rating on the recipe’s blog post.
• Snap a quick phone photo of the finished dish and share it on Instagram and/or Facebook. Tag @UrbanBlissLife and use the hashtag #UrbanBlissLife. Make sure your post is public so we can see it.

Each valid entry will be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card.

Cooking challenge: Risotto with prawns

This month’s cooking challenge is a personal favorite: Risotto with Prawns. If you’ve never made risotto before, don’t worry — it’s straightforward and rewarding. It takes a bit of attention, but the result is wonderfully creamy and flavorful.

Tips for success:

• Use Arborio rice for the best texture; its high starch content gives risotto its signature creaminess. If needed, short-grain sushi rice can work in a pinch.
• Shrink wrap: you can substitute shrimp for prawns—choose jumbo shrimp for a similar size and texture.
• If you prefer to skip the wine, simply add more broth or stock.
• Risotto requires attention: stay by the stove, stir regularly, and ladle in stock gradually. Enjoy the process and the delicious payoff.

Baking challenge: strawberry crinkle cookies

This month’s baking pick is our Strawberry Crinkle Cookies. They’re charming, simple to make, and ideal for Valentine’s Day.

Baking tips:

• Use a strawberry boxed cake mix between 14 and 15.25 ounces for best consistency.
• Bring eggs to room temperature before mixing to ensure a smooth batter and better texture.
• Let cookies cool briefly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.

How to enter

1. Make one of the featured recipes for the month.
2. Leave a comment and star rating on the recipe’s blog post.
3. Post a photo of the finished dish on Instagram or Facebook as a public post, tag @UrbanBlissLife, and use #UrbanBlissLife.

The prize: Each month one participant will be chosen at random to win a $100 USD Amazon Gift Card, delivered via email.

Cooking Challenge FAQs

Full challenge rules

• This month’s challenge ends at 10:00 pm PST on January 31, 2024.
• Entrants must be 18 or older and provide a valid email address in the blog comment that is checked regularly.
• The winner is chosen at random and will be notified by email. The winner must respond within 48 hours of the notification email timestamp or forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected.
• The prize is a $100 USD Amazon Gift Card sent to the winner’s email address.
• This giveaway is not affiliated with or endorsed by Instagram or Facebook.

Kitchen tools to make this month’s recipes

For the Risotto with Prawns

For the Strawberry Crinkle Cookies

More questions?

Feel free to send us an email with any questions not covered here. You can also DM us on Instagram.

Happy cooking and baking!

Try our latest recipes