Tomato Basil Bisque

On a whim, I decided to make Tomato Basil Bisque and serve alongside a gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. To ensure the kids liked them I cut the sandwiches into strips and called the whole thing, “grilled dippers.” Guess what? Harper was in love, asking for this meal the next two nights. Lucky for her, this Bisque recipe makes A LOT of soup although I could easily half the ingredients next time. Here we are a week later and I’m still enjoying the soup and I must declare it is the best Tomato Basil Bisque I have EVER tasted. Ever. No Lie.

Menu of the Week

Go figure the week that Jim thinks I hit it out of the ballpark I miss the pic of my chalkboard menu wall. At least I snapped a few pics of the dishes before we devoured them.

Pressure Cooker Chicken, Lentil, and Bacon Stew With Carrots

I'm learning that my pressure cooker is an amazing device for making flavor-packed stews in very short order. In this version, lentils are flavored with big chunks of bacon, chicken stock, carrots, onions, bay leaves, and fall-off-the-bone tender chicken. It all cooks in under an hour from start to finish.

Chicken Enchiladas in the Pressure Cooker

I've been wanting to cook with a Pressure Cooker for a long time. When I heard that the kitchen gadget made it possible to have a meal during the work week that I would normally hold for a weekend, I was instantly curious. 

My first go at Pressure Cooking went well, but the recipe I chose took me twice as long to prepare as planned. Luckily I'm on vacation and had the time to work in the kitchen.

Serious Eats has a great round up of Pressure Cooked receipes and for the New Year I chose a Chicken Enchilada meal. I loved that this was the real deal - no canned enchilada sauce here! For the first time EVER I bought bone-in-skin-on chicken thighs. I know. I know. Everyone says this is the most flavorful chicken but I've struggled with the "bones" and have only used boneless skinless chicken breast in my previous cooking.