Shrimp bisque, Dru Holland cookware, baking with the kids

We adults were both super happy with dinner last night so I want to write down how it was made.  I had intended to just buy some lobster bisque from the store yesterday but all of it listed clam juice in the ingredients and the husband is allergic.  Walking around the store I considered just making lobster bisque.  Then thought that we probably didn't need a $20 pot of soup so downgraded it to shrimp.  It was delicious.  It's a lobster bisque recipe from Allrecipes that I tweaked.

2 tbsp butter melted in the medium Dru Holland pot. 

Added half a white onion and a paste-style tomato. 

Let this simmer in 1/4 C chicken stock for awhile.

In a separate pan melted 2 tbs butter and added 2 tbsp flour to make a roux. 

This was added to the Dru pot along with  1&1/2 C milk,  3/4 c chicken stock & 1/4 c half and half.

Added 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, pinch paprika, some pepper and a bit of siracha sauce.  

3/4 lb raw shrimp that I minced finely.

This simmered for awhile and it just was not thickening up so I pulled off a cup of it (liquid and shrimp) and put it in the Nutribullet along with some cornstarch.  That really helped.

Speaking of the Dru cookware, this came out of hiding the other week (The big pot in back) and will probably spend the cool months just sitting out on the stove.  It's too big to store anywhere convenient and I can't get over how useful it is.  Probably every other day we've used it for something or another.  I think my mom made beef stew in this pot.  

She collected the mint green color of Dru and had a good assortment of it found at flea markets and antique shops over the years.  The three pieces of hers that I picked out are all lidded casseroles of various sizes.  They are such quality pieces that it would be nice to pick up a couple more.  I don't think they made a pie pan but there is an au gratin pan that might work well for baking.

The odd-sized cast iron pot is one I found on clearance at Tractor Supply years back.  I popped popcorn in it last night and we watched The Grinch together after my husband and the oldest carved a pumpkin.

This morning we made banana bread.  We're still loving this recipe but I've cut the sugar down to half, added a extra egg and extra banana.

The oldest is a pro at this point.

And the baby has just started his training.  I think I might make them aprons for Christmas.  Oh my goodness, I forgot about this post of the oldest, at not quite 2, with his Thomas apron.

We're getting a large collection of sprinkles.