I look forward to our “Souper Bowl” at school each time we do it, and I’m always determined to win! I don’t think of myself as a competitive person, but it is oddly important to me to have people view me as a good cook. Check out the original recipe HERE and see what I did below…

First off, it’s January. I certainly wasn’t going to grill chicken. I opted for ready-to-go, delicious rotisserie chicken from the store and shredded it.

In addition to shredding the chicken, there was a ton of prep to do with the vegetables (five stalks of celery, two white onions, three carrots, three poblano peppers, two bulbs of garlic). My knife skills aren’t that great, but I find chopping veggies to be very therapeutic. This would be an excellent recipe to put together after a bad day!

I also opted to add bacon to the recipe (my girl Paula never disappoints, but I didn’t think she’d mind this addition). I fried six slices of chopped bacon in my biggest soup pot, removed the crumbles, and then sautéed all my veggies in the bacon fat (add a little extra olive oil if you don’t think there is enough grease…or add more bacon fat if you are like me and keep it in the fridge). I seasoned with 1/2 t. cumin, 1/2 t. thyme, 1/2 t. white pepper, 1 t. salt, and 1 T. of chicken bouillon granules.

When the veggies started to soften, I poured in two BIG (46.5 ounces) cans of chicken broth and one bunch chopped cilantro. I let the whole mess simmer over medium heat until the veggies were as soft as I wanted.

In a separate pan, I melted one stick of butter. The recipe said to stir in one cup of flour, but I found this to be a little much—I’d do ¾ cup next time to avoid lumps. After I cooked off the raw flour taste (1-2 minutes), I stirred in one cup of liquid from the soup. I used a whisk to combine fully before adding two more cups of liquid. Finally, I stirred in one cup of heavy whipping cream and a few swirls of sriracha.

Recombine your two liquids along with shredded chicken and bacon. Serve to rave reviews!*

*I’ll get back to you on whether or not I win the “Souper Bowl!”