Hey Friends! How’s it goin?
You’d never guess what happened to me on Monday: I finally got a little fed up of pumpkin! Totally blasphemous I know, but after axing my 3rd attempt at trying to create a new pumpkin/chocolate muffin, I decided to take a break from all things pumpkin. Cue Mexican Butternut Squash Tomato Soup:
If you haven’t noticed, I absolutely love cooking, baking and developing recipes. It gives my creative side an outlet and lets me eat basically all day, which is always awesome. One thing I don’t always love though? Coming up with names for my food creations.
I usually try to name my recipes before I make them because once I have a general idea of what I’m gonna put into the dish most names are a no brainer. But sometimes, things happen that send me back to the drawing board name-wise. Take today’s Mexican Butternut Squash Tomato Soup for example; It took like 5 bazillion tries before I finally settled on that name.
The problem was that the soup actually began it’s life in my brain as chili. It was chili when I was dicing the onions, peppers and garlic. It was chili when I was peeling and chopping the butternut squash. It was chili when I was measuring out cumin, chili powder and other spices.
Unfortunately, it could no longer be chili once I realized I was out of chilis, jalepenos, diced tomatoes and my favourite 6 bean medley.
Now you might be wondering why I’d just randomly start making chili without double checking that I had all the ingredients, especially the most important ones. But the things is, those four things are staples in my pantry. I usually have multiple cans of each on hand at all times. Until Monday that is.
Anyway, since everything was already prepped, I had two choices: cry or improvise. If you recall, I’m attempting to be an adult now, I went with improv and decided to cry later if it didn’t pan out.
But from the first taste of the finished product, I knew I had a winner. Each spoonful packs a hearty punch of butternut squash, black beans and corn. Plus, the tomato base is flavourful without being too spicy- which is good if you’re not a fan of the hot stuff.
So in the end, I topped my chili soup with avocados and black bean chips and cried tears of joy, cuz something finally went my way.
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 bell pepper, chopped (I used red)
- 2 tsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 can reduced sodium tomato sauce
- 1 can black beans, rinsed well
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups vegetable stock + 1 cup water
- 1 can whole kernel corn
- ½ small butternut squash, cubed (About 2½ cups)
- Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in peppers and garlic and cook for another minute or two.
- Add in tomato sauce, stock, spices, black beans and squash and bring to a boil.
- Add the corn and simmer over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, or until squash is cooked through. If the soup is too thick, add up to a cup of water until you get the desired consistency.
What about you?
How do you deal with kitchen mistakes? Cry or improvise? If you’re a food blogger what are your favourite parts? What’s most challenging for you?
Share in the comments below!
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I always make my recipes work even when the worst things happen, haha! It is all part of the fun to improvise!
This looks so warm cozy and yummy!
This sounds super delicious! I LOVE adding butternut quash to soup!
Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl recently posted…WIAW: October 22, 2014 (Recent Eats)
Oh Yum! My daughter and I were just talking about how good Butternut Squash w\soup sounded right now. We’ll have to try the Mexican twist.
Jenny recently posted…Daily Affirmations for Women
Shh! Don’t tell pumpkin this but I actually like butternut squash BETTER!!! Oh and I was just introduced to WHITE ACORN SQUASH and HOLY MOLY – loveeeeeee! It’s true love! 😉
GiGi Eats recently posted…Recipe Redux: Lets Go Skinny Dipping!
Sick of pumpkin??! :O That’s okay though, because it spawned this delicious-looking recipe! I love making soups in the fall and this will definitely be making an appearance soon. Thanks for sharing!
Ariana recently posted…Healthy Halloween Recipe Roundup
Wow! looks so good! Perfect Fall recipe. I can already smell it. #bloglove
I also hate coming up with names for my food creations haha you are not alone. Love the soup and no worries if your muffins didn’t turn out…. I’m getting a little pumpkined out too…. did I just say that??
Erin @ The Almond Eater recently posted…10×10 Full Body Workout
If all else fails, I just drown it in almond butter 😆 In all seriousness, though, I’m an improviser. In fact, some of my best recipes are the results of flukes and/or missing ingredients. And it looks like the same is true for you because this soup looks ah.maze.ing.
Amanda @ .running with spoons. recently posted…. no-bake pumpkin spice granola bars .
That sounds so good.. so good I think I’ll be making it this weekend! I do the same thing all the time– get halfway in to a recipe, and realize I’m missing the most important ingredient! Luckily, right now, I live in a Plaza, and we have a grocery store downstairs. Not ideal to have to run out in the middle, but doable!
Glad it turned out for you– and glad it turned out for me!!
Michelle @ Vitamin Sunshine recently posted…Watercress Pesto Pasta with Roasted Parsnips and Peppers
As a food blogger, I get pretty bummed when something tastes delicious but looks hideous. I want to share it because it was so good for the taste buds, but no one will believe me if it’s an eye sore. I try make it look pretty as pretty as possible, but as Shakira says, “pics don’t lie” (oh it’s hips, hips don’t lie – same difference, right?!)
Nicole @ Fitful Focus recently posted…Fit, Focused, & Fun Finds (from around the web!) #19
I’m on a soup roll lately! Your recipe sounds delicious.
jill conyers recently posted…Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Bites
A beautiful disaster. Baha.
I will Mexican dance for these. Ole.
Arman @ thebigmansworld recently posted…Black Forest Pancakes