sunday dinner

I rarely have time to cook during the week this time of year, so rather than making a number of small meals throughout the week, I put all of my energy into one big meal, usually on Sunday.

This time the cooking was for my visiting teachees, and we had such a lovely time. Today's dinner option was maybe overly ambitious, as I spent about five hours making chipotle chicken tortilla soup (not all active involvement, but that's still a loooong process). But Oh. My. Gosh. this soup was delicious. Seriously go look up that recipe and try it yourself. I can always count on Epicurious to come through with some good recipes.
Here I am boiling a whole chicken (who needs the convenience of frozen chicken breasts-- not me) and making my own chicken stock for the base of the soup, obv. I thought it might be fun to make my own stock because I've never tried it before. I had no idea how much better it would taste. I've been missing out, and will most certainly be trying to do this more often (in that other life where I magically have more free time). The soup was delicious dressed with tortilla strips, fresh cilantro, and a lime wedge. I didn't do avocado tonight, but think it would be a lovely addition next time. One friend brought gluten-free rolls and another brought kale. It was a perfectly healthy, perfectly delicious, perfectly Portland dinner party.