PELHAM – Riverchase Middle seventh-grader Avery Fuller is making a name for herself as one of Shelby County’s most promising young chefs.

On April 8, Fuller competed in the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association’s 2017 Junior Beef Cook-off. The event was held at Carver High School in Montgomery.

Fuller placed second in the Junior South Division with her dish called Lissy’s Baby Bleu Salad, which consisted of skirt steak atop spinach with strawberries, mandarin oranges, bleu cheese crumbles and pecans.

RMS family and consumer science teacher Pamela Simpson said students in the junior division were required to create a dish that included one pound of beef.

“I’m so proud of her and all of the hard work she’s put in,” Simpson said. “There was some tough competition and she was also competing against some ninth-graders.”

Prior to the April 8 competition, Fuller competed in school-level and county-level cook-offs. The first place winners in each category of the school-level competition went on to compete in the countywide cook-off.

In the countywide cook-off, Fuller placed first in the beef category with her Lissy’s Baby Bleu Salad creation and second in the dairy dessert category with her dulce de leche cheesecake recipe.