Divine Dinners' Lori Cooper is one of 30 finalists in the Next Top Product contest launched by US Foods to identify America's next food trend.

Help Cooper's Sesame Dijon Chicken dish win the main dish category by voting for her on the US Foods Facebook page at facebook.com/usfoods. (Find a link at ledger-enquirer.com/dawn)

You can vote once each day until Sept. 7.

Top prize in the contest is $20,000 in cash and prizes but to move onto the next level, Cooper will need to be a top three vote getter on the site.

Contest spokesperson Shannon McGhee said Columbus voters will need to join together and vote as often as they can to get Cooper to the final round because Columbus is one of the smaller cities in the competition.

"We have chefs from Texas to Chicago. It's really a prestigious crowd that Lori's a part of," she said.

Cooper said her Sesame Dijon Chicken is a favorite with customers and friends. "Even people who don't like mustard tell me they love it," she said.

She created the dish as a healthier alternative to fried chicken options. "I wanted something that was a little crispy and crunchy but not fried." Her dish is baked. Sesame seeds give the chicken a nice crunch and the Dijon mustard keeps it most while it bakes.

One goal of Divine Dinners is to prepare meals that are healthy but still tasty. "I like to call them comfort food without the guilt," Cooper said.

She loves that her Sesame Dijon Chicken can be used in a variety of ways. It can be served as an entree, sliced and spread over a salad, served as an appetizer in bite sized pieces or as a fun alternative to chicken nuggets.

Learn more about Divine Dinners online at divinedinnerscolumbus.com or by calling 706-992-6500.

Labor Day

Many families will celebrate Labor Day weekend by grilling. While in some parts of the country, Labor Day marks the end of summer and thus the grilling season, in Georgia we can grill all year long. But what are we grilling?

It's a safe assumption that pork will be a highlight at many of our area's backyard parties but a survey conducted by AmazonLocal.com indicates that chicken will be most commonly found item at gatherings across the country. Chicken got 39 percent of the vote beating pork, which had 30 percent. Beef came in third with 26 percent.

It seems folks across the country share our love for barbecue. The study showed 84 percent of Americans planned to serve sweet and tangy barbecue at some point during Labor Day weekend.

For best barbecue destination, Texas earned 43 percent of the vote, beating Memphis (24 percent) and North Carolina (15 percent).

Dawn Minty can be reached at 706-571-8512 or dminty@ledger-enquirer.com. For more recipes and food news log onto Dawn's Dish at ledger-enquirer.com/dawn