just me.

Chris took the boys on a camping trip for the past couple of days...just the three of them.

"Why didn't you go, too?", you're probably asking.

Well, because as much as I try and wish and pretend, I am just not a "roughin' it" kinda girl. I like a nice, hot shower. And a bed. And a toilet...in a bathroom...with a door...that doesn't smell bad.

And they weren't just camping...they were going deep...apparently having to put it in 4-wheel drive to get to the actual campsite...with no running water...and bear tracks and bear poop...which was perfect for them. But...not so perfect for me.

So they packed a cooler full of burgers and hot dogs, loaded up the truck, strapped the canoe to the top of the shell and headed off to the mountains on an adventure.

And I stayed home.

And mopped and vacuumed and went in to work one last day to finish things up. I watched girly movies and had total control of the remote. I had an early dinner with a friend then sat in her backyard sipping iced tea until the sun set, sharing funny things on our iPhones like we were teenagers.

While I was home, just me, myself and I, I decided to try and make something that only I would eat...Mushroom Bisque. I say "bisque" because this is what it was called at Panera several years back when they sold it for a short time. It was SO GOOD. Rich and thick and so flavorful.

Unfortunately, what I made was not any of those things. I mean, it was edible. I ate it. But the whole time I just kept asking myself, "What is missing?"

I chopped up mushrooms...just your regular button variety because it's what I had. (And maybe this was the problem? Not using a more robust and flavorful mushroom?) I chopped up a yellow onion and minced two cloves of garlic. I heated up my dutch oven, drizzled a generous amount of olive oil into the bottom of it, topped by a pat of butter. Once it was warm and a little bubbly I added in the mushrooms, onions and garlic and let it saute a while.

In the meantime I grabbed a carton of chicken stock and a sprig of fresh thyme from the backyard. I added both to the dutch oven along with salt and pepper and let it continue to simmer. Once the vegetables were good and tender I stirred in a spoonful of greek yogurt and some half and half. I was hoping the yogurt would act as a thickener, and it did, just not as much as I'd hoped.

After about 20 minutes or so of simmering I decided I was too hungry to wait any longer so I ladled the concoction into a bowl and sat down to a dinner for one. And while it was fine and edible and a little bit tasty even, it was not what I had in mind and it was nowhere near the bisque I'd had at Panera.

My thoughts are this...next time I will use tastier mushrooms, I will create a bit of a roux before adding the stock, I will use beef stock rather than chicken and I will add some wine to the mix. I will let you know how it pans out when I get around to trying it out.

And hey, if you have a good mushroom soup recipe that you would like to share with me, by all means, do so!