By The TV segment aired Tuesday morning at 7:42 a.m. and I didn't watch it live because I was getting Noah ready for school and the timing was what it was. I recorded it and watched while the house was quiet at noon. It was three minutes and twelve seconds. It opened with a shot of my kitchen and the interviewer's voice saying "most viral cooking teachers are on TV — this one is in American Fork, Utah." Which made me wince slightly but I understand why they said it.
The reporter was kind and asked good questions — why I started, what I hoped people got from the workshops, what the YouTube channel was becoming. I spoke clearly and didn't ramble, which was my main goal. At the end they showed me handing a plate of food to someone at a community center and it looked exactly like what it was: someone feeding people, meaning it.
My phone was full of messages by noon. Friends, acquaintances, people I hadn't spoken to in years. My mom called twice. The channel gained about 800 subscribers in the 24 hours after the segment aired, which was the most single-day growth I'd had.
Debra texted and said she'd been watching with her family and her daughter had said, "Mom, do you know her?" and Debra had said, "Yes, we cook together." I love that. We cook together. That's the whole relationship in three words.
I made soup for dinner that night — nothing special, just what was in the fridge, because some days the kitchen is purely function and not performance and that's exactly right too.
That Tuesday night, after the segment and the texts and my mom calling twice, I didn’t want to perform anything — not even dinner. I opened the fridge and worked with what was there, and what came together was this: a smoky, chipotle-laced chicken soup with soft cornmeal dumplings that asked nothing of me except a little time and a warm stove. It’s the kind of meal I’d teach in a workshop not because it’s impressive, but because it’s real — the sort of thing you make when the kitchen is purely function and that’s exactly enough.
Chipotle Chicken Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced (plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Cornmeal Dumplings:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- Sauté the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more until fragrant.
- Brown the chicken. Add the chicken pieces to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is lightly browned on the outside, about 4–5 minutes.
- Build the soup base. Stir in the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, cumin, smoked paprika, and oregano. Add the diced tomatoes, black beans, chicken broth, and corn. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to a steady simmer. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Make the dumpling batter. While the soup simmers, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the milk and melted butter and stir just until combined — do not overmix. Fold in cilantro if using. The batter will be thick.
- Drop and steam the dumplings. Using a tablespoon, drop heaping spoonfuls of batter directly onto the surface of the simmering soup, spacing them slightly apart (you should get about 12 dumplings). Cover the pot tightly with a lid and cook without lifting the lid for 15 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked through and no longer doughy in the center.
- Taste and serve. Remove the lid, taste the soup, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls, making sure each serving gets two dumplings, and serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 390 | Protein: 29g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 620mg