We go through phases. In the fourth grade, we carried a briefcase to school instead of a backpack. It conveyed that we meant business. In college, we sported a rotation of Hawaiian shirts. That’s how laid-back, fun-loving dudes dress. A few years ago, we became obsessed with canning. We preserved and pickled and jarred. We can survive a nuclear apocalypse for roughly ten days, unless we tire of jerky.

Right now, we find ourselves in a pressure-cooker soup phrase. That’s a strange sentence, perhaps the strangest sentence ever drafted by us. But it bears the distinction for being 100% true. Pressure cookers make delightful soup, and pressure cookers work swiftly. Flavor that would take a day to build in a pot can be developed in a handful of minutes in a pressure cooker. How? Science, probably. Google it.

For us, our electric pressure cooker proves invaluable in two situations. First, on Sunday night, we make enough soup for an entire week of lunches. That saves time and money, which are the same because time is money. Cha-Ching! Second, around dinner, the pressure cooker rescues us from a lack of preparation. If the pantry abides, we can quickly fix something delicious.

Recently, we made shredded chicken jalapeno enchilada soup. It was tangy, really tangy, but pleasantly tangy.

Shredded Chicken Jalapeno Enchilada Soup

Ingredients

• One tablespoon of canola oil
• One half of a yellow onion, chopped
• One clove of garlic, chopped
• Two chicken breasts
• Two cups of chicken stock
• One 28-ounce can of enchilada sauce (hot or mild)
• One fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
• One 4.5-ounce can of mild green chilies
• Four Roma tomatoes, diced
• Two cups of raw corn kernels

Directions

Set the pressure cooker to “saute,” and add oil. When the pressure cooker becomes hot, add the onion and garlic, cooking until the onion becomes translucent. Turn off the pressure cooker. Add the remaining ingredients. Cook on high pressure for seven minutes. Preform a quick pressure release.

Set the pressure cooker to “saute” again. Remove the chicken breasts, and shred the chicken. Return shredded chicken. Reduce liquid to desired consistency. Serve with tortilla chips, Greek yogurt and shredded cheese.

Thank you for the inspiration Gimme Some Oven, Pressure Cooker Today, and Pillsbury.