It looked like prayer and the Lord were on this side of Franciscan Sister Alicia Torres as she won a special Thanksgiving competition on the Food Network’s “Chopped,” which aired Nov. 9.

On the show, Sister Alicia, 30, a Franciscan of the Eucharist of Chicago who ministers at the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels, competed against three other chefs who, like herself, work in soup kitchens. In the first round, the chefs made appetizers using typical Thanksgiving leftovers of turkey, cranberries, green beans and potatoes. They were given similar ingredients to make entrees and then dessert. The chefs competed for a $10,000 donation to their charity.

Our Lady of the Angels is located Chicago’s West Humboldt Park neighborhood, which is home to crime, violence, drug trafficking and poverty. It is also the site of a tragic school fire on Dec. 1, 1958, that claimed the lives of 92 children and three religious sisters.

In 1990, the Archdiocese of Chicago closed the parish and the school. Cardinal Francis George wanted to maintain a Catholic presence there so in 2005 invited Franciscan Friar of the Renewal Father Bob Lombardo to create a mission there. Later a new religious community formed around the mission.

The mission assists about 700 families a month with food, clothing and household goods through its food pantry. Food and staples come from both the Chicago Food Depository, parishes and area businesses like Whole Foods and O'Hare Airport. There’s also a monthly mobile food pantry that also assists about 250-300 families the first Saturday of each month.

Sister Alicia said the experience of competing on “Chopped” deepened her faith experience.

“I didn’t expect that. I was very confident going into the competition that I very much could win,” she said. “And there were many people praying for me leading up to the competition and on the day of the competition.”

The fact that she was able to go on the competition at all was a sign from God, she said.

“I mean, come on. Why did God take me to this place and on this show if he wasn’t going to do something really powerful with it?”

Sister Alicia’s cooking skills come in handy during regular meals for the neighborhood. For example, every Tuesday there is a program for seniors.

"We have about 30 to 50 senior citizens from the neighborhood that come together for a Bible study, exercise and then we serve them a healthy meal. That's a really great opportunity, not only to get them food that's healthy but also to build community,” she said. “So everything that we do we try to connect our faith -- you know, our love for Jesus and our faith in the Lord and how he provides for us because everything here is through Divine Providence, through God's graciousness to us through those people he inspires -- but also in addition to that building that community.”

How did Sister Alicia become the lead chef for the community when she started out doing pro-life work?

"I think it's the process of elimination," she said, laughing. "You know when you enter religious life you come to serve, right? And you come to share your gifts and talents that you probably haven’t' before. I always loved cooking before I was a sister. I was always known in college for the big dinners and cheesecakes."

Upon entering religious life she was the one in the community with the most cooking experience. The fact that she can cook well, despite not being an organized person surprises her.

"For whatever reason, when I am in the kitchen and when it comes to food, it's like, bam, like I can actually do it,” she said. “I think that there's certainly a gift from God when it comes to me and food because I have no professional training in cooking. Nothing. But, for whatever reason, I have the ability, I think, through the Lord to help get out a breakfast for 500 people.”

For larger events the mission requests specific types of food from donors so they know that the staples will be available. Where Sister Alicia’s creativity comes in is during the smaller events like the quarterly community lunches and events to "support the archdiocese," she said, like gatherings of archdiocesan priests or consecrated religious men and women.

Here they use what they have on hand or what groups bring in to create meals.  

On one occasion they were given Basa, a type of catfish that has a strong "fishy" taste.

"I was like, 'Well, I've got this Basa, and we're going to have these people coming over. Let's do Mexican and we're going to make fish tacos,’” she said laughing. “People thought, 'You're not really going to do this.' I'm like, 'Yes, I am.'”

She chopped up sweet potatoes to mix with the fish and added some spicy seasoning.

“It was amazing. And people are like, 'Are you serious? This is so good. This is not the Basa.' So it just, like, takes a little bit of creativity, and to see what we have and to be good stewards of what God has provided.”

Sister Alicia wasn’t familiar with “Chopped” until an email came saying the show was looking for women religious participants.

“I went to Father Bob and I said, ‘You know, I think I have a fairly good chance of getting on this TV show.’” He gave his permission and she applied. They called her within 24 hours of receiving her application.

The whole experience “incredible,” she said.

“I’ve very grateful to the Food Network and to ‘Chopped’ for making it a priority to highlight a very real need in our country, about the issue of hunger in America,” she said. “It was a real joy to participate and represent our neighborhood.

The sisters at Our Lady of the Angels are a little unconventional, from Sister Alicia’s appearance on “Chopped” to Sister Stephanie Baliga being featured recently in the Wall Street Journal and Runner’s World magazine for trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials during the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

“I’m thrilled that they are able to use the gifts that God gave them,” Father Lombardo said. “The religious life should be geared toward us using our gifts at the service of God and the church.”

It’s a beautiful thing to use our gifts for God, he said.

“And to see young people that are joyful and that are able to use their gifts I think would also spark in others the sense of God’s call – to say, ‘You know what, I can do this. I don’t have to deny the gifts that God gave me. I can bring those gifts and they can be used, used in a way that is in harmony to the religious life and our obligations to the church.’”

And there’s one more benefit, he said.

“It also shows that we’re human beings as religious. We’re not Plaster of Paris statues,” he said. “We’re real, live people.”