Chopped!

For today's challenge, I put myself into an episode of Food Network's CHOPPED! If you're not familiar with the show, they typically pick three self-important bratty chefs to compete against each other. Each round, the chefs are given mystery ingredients that, to most people, would never be in a dish together.

Today, my ingredients were:

In case you're wondering, yes, I took this picture on my rug. I have ugly counter tops.

• Left over baby bell peppers
• Half a left over onion
• Can of Pumpkin
• Basil Leaves

My ingredients weren't quite as hard as the typical CHOPPED--but it was a challenge. It was a relatively rough day at the office (I think my boss would agree) so I really needed something comforting. I relied on my second favorite food: SOUP! (My first favorite food is Apples. My family seems to think this is weird, so what?)

I took some inspiration from my all time favorite food blog, Budget Bytes. She has an amazing recipe for Pumpkin Soup, and I put my own spin on it.

Here's what I did:

My all time favorite seasoning combination is
ginger + cumin + chili pepper. mmm.

Chopped up some onion. Put some oil in a pot. Put the onions in the pot (medium heat.) Add a couple shakes of cumin, a bunch of fresh ginger (grate it, duh), couple shakes of cayenne (if you can handle), little bit of s&p.

Cute baby peppers.

Cut up some peppers. Put them in the pot. Cover the pot and let it cook for about 5 mins, until they're squishy. Added the can of coconut milk, the can of pumpkin, and a can of water. Added a TBSP of Better than Bouillon. Let this do its thing for about 5 minutes.

I love you.

Then, I brought out my most favorite tool. My immersion blender. This thing seriously makes me feel so fancy. So I gave it a big whirl until it was well blended. I had some chicken left over, so I added that and tossed in some basil leaves at the end.


Overall, GINORMOUS SUCCESS. Exactly what I was looking for tonight. Flexed some creative culinary muscles, and had a delicious dinner. Ben even liked it, and he firmly believes soup to be 'A waste.'