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Chopped at Home

  No recipe today.

Just a story of how we spent our Friday night having fun and making a memory!

The other day, a friend told us at their house they do "Chopped" at home. 

Each family member puts an ingredient in a basket and then they have to make a meal.

We adapted the concept a bit and came up with our own entertainment .  . .and meal!

Each person had to put an item in the "entree" basket and an item in the "dessert" basket.

The boy cherub and I had the responsibility of cooking the entree.

The Mr. and the girl cherub were creative with the dessert.

The rules were simple:
  • use the ingredients in your basket 
  • items from the pantry and refrigerator were available
 Let's start with dessert first! 

Get ready -- this is . . .interesting!  Not only the ingredients but the finished product!


Are your wheels turning yet?  What would you have
created with such unique ingredients?







Their finished creation!  To the chocolate cake mix they
added chopped reese's and baked as directed.
In the refrigerator was left-over cream cheese frosting,
which they colored electric green (because why?).  They crushed
the whale crackers and put them on top of the cake
and then frosted as normal (?) and stuck the peeps around
the edge! 

I must say, my sweet cherub was rather proud of her creation! 

Now for the entree!  Our ingredients were:
  






  • grape jelly
  • strawberry preserves
  • yellow bell pepper
  • peppridge farms stuffing mix
The meat was chicken!

The boy cherub and I went to work and created a fairly descent conncoction that we were proud of!

We pounded the chicken thin and dredged it in the dry stuffing mix, creating a coating.  We cooked it in a bit of olive oil until done.

While the chicken was cooking, we made a sauce of equal parts grape jelly and strawberry preserves.  We added 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar and made a reduction.

While keeping the chicken warm, we used the pan to sautee the yellow bell pepper, chopped onion, and fresh spinach. We tossed the veggies with cooked pasta. 

It's hard to tell from the picture exactly what it is we ate for dinner -- but it was actually pretty good!

The kids chowed!  It's always more fun to eat something you've created!

I quote my boy cherub, "Mom, I could eat this spinach and pasta all day long!"  (Umm, does he realize it's cooked spinach?


















Go ahead, live on the edge and try "Chopped" at your house sometime soon!

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