Here's the beef

Erin Mylroie of St. George beefed-up her bank account last week as well as her cooking contest experience.

She took home $5,000 from the National Beef Cook-Off held in Rapid City, S.D. Mylroie's recipe for Carnitas-Style Grilled Beef Tacos was the runner-up in the grilled beef category.

She vied with 19 other contestants for the grand prize of $50,000. That went to Linda Morten of Katy, Texas, for her Blazin' Colorado Beef Steaks, which were marinated in lime juice and chipotle (smoked jalapeno) peppers. Recipes were judged on taste, ease of preparation and appearance.

"We got to try the grand-prize winner after the press conference, and it was so spicy and delicious," Mylroie said in a telephone interview.

Mylroie began entering recipe contests two years ago. Since then, she's made it to the national finals of the 2004 Pillsbury Bake-Off and placed fifth in the 2005 National Chicken Cooking Contest last May. (The Pillsbury, beef and chicken contests are considered the "triple crown" of the cook-off circuit.)

In late August, Mylroie was a finalist in the 2005 Cooking Light Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest, with her Chicken Piccata with Summer Vegetable Pasta. Her Chicken Pesto Club Pizza is in the semifinals of the Mama Mary's Pizza Creations Recipe Contest, which could net her a trip to Disney World, $5,000 and a year's supply of pizza crust.

And a couple of weeks ago she was notified that she'll be a finalist again, competing for the million-dollar grand prize in the 2006 Pillsbury Bake-Off next March.

"It's a fun hobby, and I'm having a great time," said Mylroie, a part-time Spanish professor at Dixie State College and mother of two. "I've had such good luck so far. I just try to keep it in perspective."

Her winning beef recipe calls for slices of marinated and grilled steak, wrapped in corn tortillas and served with avocado salsa. "It's a variation on a dish that I made for a big party we had when my husband got his master's degree in physical therapy. That was about eight years ago, and people still talk about how good the food was."

Mylroie said she enjoys the travel, meeting the other contestants and cooking for the judges. But the Cooking Light contest, held Aug. 28-30, offered some unexpected excitement when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. "There was no power in the hotel, and they had to postpone it (the contest) for a while until they could get power."