Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pumpkins, Squashes Recipes

November 3, 2011
Rlynn and I decided to stay home this year for Halloween, Kari and Russ are always so nice to invite us.
We had one small pumpkin out of many we grew for Russ and his family, that I wanted to try Dinner in a Pumpkin with.  I looked on the internet and couldn't find a recipe I exactly liked so I made up my own.  I knew what I wanted in it.  Hamburger and Rice.
Rice:  Soak 1 cup brown rice overnight in water, besure and cover the rice with the water. Next morning, rinse the rice well, put in pressure cooker with enough water to cover the rice and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Pressure 8 minutes, natural release. Makes perfect rice, put in a container and store in refrigerator for use in many recipes.

Dinner in a Pumpkin:
Ingredients:
Small sugar pumpkin or any kind.
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 onion chopped
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 cup celery chopped
1 small can mushrooms, or fresh
1 small can waterchesnuts
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Chinese five spice (Penseys)
1 tlbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 to 2 tsp. Soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups brown rice.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut off top of pumpkin, scrape out seeds and wash inside and outside of pumpkin.
Brown hamburger with onion, celery, and garlic. Add other ingredients, simmer for a couple of minutes. Put into pumpkin.  Place pumpkin in a pan filled with a little water.  Bake until done.  About 1 1/2 hours or longer.  You many have leftover rice and hamburger leftover, I just froze mine for another day.

Butternut Squash Soup:
I found this recipe on the Internet and adapted it to do in the Pressure Cooker.  This soup is so good!
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds) peeled, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion
1 clove of garlic minced
1 apple chopped
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
1 or more cups water if needed
Sour cream, for garnish
1 apple shredded mixed with lemon juice for garnish
Directions:
Melt butter in the Pressure Cooker on the brown setting, add onion and garlic, cook until soft, add squash and brown for a minute or two.  Add other ingredients, pressure for 8 minutes, natural release.
Puree in batches in the blender until smooth, and return to saucepan.  Heat over low, thinning with more water if necessary.  Serve with the sour cream and shredded apples. 
We had grilled cheese sandwiches with the soup and made the perfect meal.

Pumpkin Parfait:
Serves 2
Mix together:
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp milk
2 tsp. sugar
6 oz. vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup granola
Directions:
 In small bowls or ramekins, layer the pumpkin mixture and yogurt, sprinkle with granola.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Fall weather brings Fresh Pasta Sauce over Spaghetti Squash

September 23, 2011
I love Fall, the days are warm and the nights are cool, no more air conditioners, yea!  Fall brings in our garden, watermelons, nectarines, peaches, cantaloupe, pumpkins, sweet meats, spaghetti, and butternut squashes.  We are in dated with this good produce, in fact, they are coming on so fast, we can't eat them fast enough.  So our ward neighbors have enjoyed some of our good veges and fruit.

Spaghetti Squash:
Cut in fourths, take out the seeds, put in pressure cooker with 1 cup water and pressure for 15 minutes.  Natural Release. Serve with Pasta Sauce or Butter with Salt and Pepper.

I love this home made Fresh Pasta Sauce. 
From the Book  "Get the Sugar Out" by Ann Louise Gittleman

Fresh Pasta Sauce:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 pound mushrooms, sliced thin
3-4 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced. ( I even put some whole tomatoes in my freezer, that way I can make this in the winter time.)
1-15 ounce can organic tomato sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon minced basil (or 2 tsp. dried)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced oregano (or 3/4 tsp. dried)

Directions:
Heat olive oil in pan, then saute' together the onion, garlic, and mushrooms, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes to the sauteed mixture along with the tomato sauce, basil oregano, and pepper to taste.  Simmer on low, covered, for 30-35 minutes.  Makes about 4 cups.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Corn Chowder

Soups!  I love soup, the weather is starting to cool down and it is almost time for  great soups.We were up to Russ and Kari's for a BBQ and I had brought corn on the cob, and I had a lot left over!    Kari this is the Corn Chowder recipe.

Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 stalks celery diced
1 cup onions diced
2 cups cubed cooked potatoes
12 oz corn or 1 1/2 to 2 cups corn cut off the cob.
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
2 cups water
I like to add 1/2 tsp. thyme
Rue:
1/3 cup flour
2 tbsp. flour

Instructions:
Cook bacon, saute onions and celery in the same pan.  Cook potatoes in pressure cooker for about 5 minutes and release steam, or cook on the stove in water.  Make rue with butter and flour.  Combine all ingredients (except rue) and bring to boil. (Also I like to add the bacon after the chowder has thickened).  Add rue until desired consistency is achieved (must stir/whisk constantly while adding rue at a hight heat).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  So good!

Here is another soup we love with corn and is so easy!

Southwestern Chunky Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
1 can chicken breast or 1 or more cups of cut up cooked chicken.
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained, or like me I make a big batch of beans and put in freezer bags and freeze.
1 can whole kernel corn or 1 1/2 cups corn, cooked and cut of the cob.
2 cans diced tomatoes
1-2 Tbs. taco seasoning
3 tbsp. ranch dressing mix
1 tbsp. dried onion

Instructions:
Place all ingredients in crock pot and cook for 2-3 hours.
Serve with Cheese and tortilla chips.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cheesy Stuffed Burgers

August 2011
Sometimes you make a recipe that is so yummy, you just want to share and it has nothing to do with pressure cooking.  These recipe I found in the parade magazine by Gwyneth Pultrow.  However we tried the burgers in the George Foreman and the cheese came out of the burger.  You should probably grill them like the recipe suggests.  They were still yummy.

Cheesy Stuffed Burgers

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. EVOO
1/2 cup peeled and finely minced yellow onion, I also put in a clove of minced garlic.
1 Tbsp. very finely chopped fresh rosemary.  For 1/2 recipe I put 1 Tbsp.  I loved the rosemary flavor.
1 lb. ground turkey or chicken
1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup coarsely grated cheese of your choice.
4 sprouted grain or whole-wheat burger buns.

Directions:
Heat oil in a small skillet, over low heat.  Add onion and rosemary, cook until soft and sweet, about 10 minutes.  Let onion mixture cool a bit and put it in a large mixing bowl with turkey, salt and pepper.
Combine ingredients.  Divide mixture into quarters.  Cut each quarter in half and form into 2 patties.
Place 2 Tbsp. cheese on one patty, place other patty on top, pinch edges together.  Repeat with remaining patties.  Preheat grill to high.  Cook burgers 5 minutes on one side; flip then cook until burgers are browned and firm, about 4 minutes.  Serve with your favorite fixing.

We fixed sweet potato fries with these burgers. 
Cut sweet potato in wedges or fries.  Put on a cookie sheet with parchment papers.  Use any oil to coat the fries, add any spices.  We used Pennsy's Northwoods, we have also used there Italion Herb mix.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
We also had fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and peaches from our garden.  It was a fun meal and oh so good.  I usually don't like chicken burgers but these are really good.



Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Taco Rice

I love to cook rice in the pressure cooker.  I have learned recently taking a class on grains, that if you soak your rice 8-12 hours, you can cut your time pressuring by half.  And it makes really good tasting rice. We made this recipe while Dylan and Karly were here for a couple of days one night for dinner and they loved it.  In fact, we fed the Missionaries Taco Rice last night and they also loved it.  One Missionary's comment: "I think I will made Taco's from now on with rice instead of tortillas", and the other Missionary had 2 helpings.  But with Missionaries you can't judge if a recipe is good or not, as they will eat anything.

Taco Rice:

Rice:
2 cups cooked rice (We used the Orgainic Harvest Medley from Cosco).  Soak all day 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water.  Rinse and drain and put in pressure cooker with 1 1/2 cup water and 1/4 tsp. salt.  Pressure for 10 minutes, release.  Drain extra water off.  Extra rice you can keep in the refrigerator or freeze and use in salads or with fish.

Meat:
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
2-3 Tb. Taco seasoning
1/4 cup water.
Brown ground beef or turkey until nice and brown and fully cooked, add taco seasoning and water, simmer for about 2 minutes.

Optional Toppings:
Refried Beans
Shredded Lettuce
Shredded Cheese
Chopped Onion
Sliced Black Olives
Diced Avocado
Salsa
Sour Cream

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Shredded Chicken in Barbecue Sauce

I love going to the DI and looking in their book section for any amazing books for cheap.  I found a great find in this book called Pressure Perfect by Lorna Sass for only $3.00.  The barbecue sauce was for ribs, but I changed the recipe a little bit for the shredded chicken for sandwiches.

Shredded Chicken in a Barbecue Sauce
For the Chicken:
1 1/2 lbs. chicken tenders or chicken breasts cut in two pieces and not too thick.
1 cup water
Add 1 tsp. salt
Pressure 8 minutes+4 minutes natural release, then quick-release.
Cool the chicken and then cut or shred the chicken.

For the Barbecue Sauce:
1 cup catsup
1 cup tomato sauce or more
1/4 cup molasses
3 tbsp. Dijon mustard, preferably whole-grain
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce.  Can add more or less depending on how hot you like it.
1 tsp. powdered garlic, next time I will probably add real garlic.
A few drops of Liquid Smoke.
Mix together.

Directions:
I put the cut up chicken in a crock pot added the mixed barbecue sauce and let it cook on low for a couple of hours.  If it isn't sweet enough add any kind of sweetener, same with the other ingredients.  If it isn't saucy enough add more catsup or tomato sauce. 

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Farmer's Market and Broccoli!

I love Farmer's Market, every chance I get I go to one, they are so fun and you meet the neatest vendors. I love it.  Last Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market in Salt Lake.  We had so much fun buying all these fresh vegetables.  Lettuce, Russian Kale, Zucchini, Red fresh onions, Cucumbers from Wyoming can you believe it.  No they weren't grown outside, instead in a green house, but they are so good, and Broccoli. We have had so many good salads and vegetables this week.
I love cooking Broccoli in the pressure cooker.  So easy! 
Broccoli-1/2 cup water, pressure 3 minutes, release pressure and voila, wonderful Broccoli.
I found this Cream of Broccoli Soup in the Weight Watchers, I tweaked it a little bit and it is really good.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:
1 tlbsp. coconut oil
1 onion chopped
1 garlic, pressed
1 small carrot, chopped
1/2 celery stalk, chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup milk
3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. ground pepper.

Directions:
Put your pressure cooker on the brown setting, add the coconut oil, onions, garlic,carrots, celery and thyme; cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the broccoli and broth and pressure for 4 minutes and release steam immediatly.  Take off lid and add lemon juice.  Let cool, I didn't, I just put the broccoli into my blender and blended.  I then turned the pressure cooker on the brown setting again and put the soup back into the pan, added milk, salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until hot, 4-5 minutes.  We loved this with cheese and the Boulder brand rice and bean chips.  So Good!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken with Sesame Seeds

I'm so excited, I did this recipe a few weeks ago and somehow the recipe disappeared, could it be I have too many recipes, anyway Leslie called Rlynn to tell him they were coming to fertilize our lawn, and I asked her if I could have this recipe again as it had been in a Fertalawn newsletter. She e-mailed it to me and here it is.  Leslie did this in a crockpot, I adapted it to the pressure cooker.  I will do this recipe  again. The crock pot took 3 to 4 hours and the pressure cooker took 20 minutes.

Ingredients:
One 3 to 5 pound broiler/fryer.
2/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar or 1/3 cup agave
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup apple juice
2 Tlb. ketchup
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, optional or reduced, it does make it spicey) (My favorite spice)
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 green onions, trimmed and halved or 1/4 onion cut up
4 Tlb. cornstarch
2 Tlb. water
1 or 2 Tlb. sesame seeds.
Cooked rice

Directions:
Wash and dry the chicken thoroughly. Cut off any lumps of fat, can also remove the skin.  Put the chicken in the cooker, breast side up. Leslie doesn't say too, but I browned the chicken.  Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, water, apple juice, ketchup, red pepper flakes and garlic in a small bowl.  Pour over chicken.  Pressure cook for 20 minutes, natural release.  If it doesn't seem done enough, cook 10 more minutes.  When I did it, it was done enough for me. Transfer chicken to a platter and pull off all the meat from the bones and cut or shred in small pieces.  Combine the cornstarch and water and stir into the juice mixture.  Cook until thickened. I had to do the cornstarch mixture twice as I didn't stir fast enough and the cornstarch went into one big blob.  Put cut up chicken over rice, then sauce, then your green onions and sesame seeds.  So Good!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

I made this recipe once and loved it, some how I had the first page of the recipe and couldn't find the 2nd page.  A friend gave us a pkg. of tortillas and I wanted to make this recipe.  I went online to WholeFoodsMarket.com and believe it or not I found the recipe.  I made it today for lunch and it was delicious. I've changed the recipe a little bit.  If you want the original recipe from Whole Foods go to their Web Site and look under Vegetarian recipes and type in sweet potato and black bean.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1-10 oz. La Victoria Enchilada Sauce-Green Chile/Chile Verde, Mild Poco Picante.
1 pkg of white tortillas
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Mozzerella.

In one bowl mix:
2 cups black beans, rinsed, drained
4 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh lime juice from 1 big juicy lime.

In the 2nd bowl mix:
2 heaping cups cooked diced sweet potatoes ( pressure cut up sweet potatoes in a electric pressure cooker for 10 minutes, natural release)
1/2 cup chopped roasted mild green chiles.
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili pepper, I put 1/2 tsp chipotle pepper.
2 tlbsp.chopped fresh cillantro.

Instructions:
Make sure your baking dish will hold 6 tortillas.  The recipe calls for 8 tortillas, but I had only enough fillings for 6 tortillas.
Pour about 1/4 cup of the Green Chile Sauce into the bottom of a baking dish.
Lay the first tortilla in the sauced baking dish; wet it with the sauce.  Add 1/6 of the sweet potato mixture down the center.  Top with 1/6 mixture of the black beans.  Wrap and roll the tortilla to the end of the baking dish.  Repeat for the remaining tortillas.  Top with the rest of the sauce.  Top with cheese.
Bake 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until the enchiladas are piping hot and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Stovetop Fideos

We love this meal, so easy and quick. We came home today from the Computer Store, after being there for 2 hours.  I put this in the pressure cooker and in an half hour we were eating lunch.

Stovetop Fideos
4 Servings:

Ingredients:
8 ozs. whole-wheat angel hair pasta, broken into 2 inch pieces (about 3 cups)
2 cups 1-inch green bean pieces
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen, (we like green peas instead)
1 tsp. Herb Italion Seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups broth and 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Put all ingredients in the pressure cooker, besure the pasta is covered with water, and pressure 3 minutes, natural release.
Stir in frozen green peas and serve.
We like Parmesan cheese, sunflower seeds and sprouted seeds on top.  Oh so good!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Sorry it's taken so long to write and have a recipe on my blog.  About 3 weeks ago Rlynn said "I don't want you to cook!"  I thought what does he mean he doesn't want me to cook.  Is he going on the "Raw Food" diet that is the new craze right now?  No, he meant he wanted us to eat up the leftover stuff that I had frozen in the freezer the last year, as he thinks he is bringing home a lot of Salmon in July when he takes his four sons, two grandsons, and one son-in-law to Alaska fishing.  Anyway he hopes he is.
     So amongst the frozen tinfoil dinners, plastic ware, I found this hunk of cheese we had frozen, Tilmook Cheddar Cheese.  So here is the recipe I made with it. I used to make this recipe when our children were growing up and I still love it.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups macaroni
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
Put in pressure cooker and pressure 2 minutes, natural release.
Put the macaroni in a strainer and strain off the water.

Brown:
I really like to make white sauce on the browning setting of the pressure cooker.  Be sure to have all of your ingredients as it cooks fast.
Melt 2 tbsp. butter in the pressure cooker,
Add 2 tbsp flour and mix well
Add 2 cups milk ( I didn't have any milk, so I used 1 cup almond milk and 1 cup can milk.)
Let it cook until hot and bubbly, stirring constantly.
Add:
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp. white onion powder or 1 tbsp. dehydrated onions
1/2 to 1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp. 45 seasoned salt, I didn't have any of this so I just added sea salt.
1/2 tsp dill ( I think I would try 1 tsp.)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes.
Mix and put into a 7x11 greased baking pan.
Sprinkle on Sweet paprika

May add breadcrumbs mixed with melted butter.  (I found a couple of old frozen muffins, I put them in the blender added melted butter and put them on top of the casserole, believe or not they tasted wonderful.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  We have enough left over for two more meals.
Bake Macaroni and Cheese is certainly one of my comfort foods.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Sweet Potato Casserole for Easter

Ingredients:
6 medium sweet potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

Scrub potatoes, cut into big chunks.
Pressure cook 10 minutes, natural release. 
When cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and place in a mixing bowl.
Mash with a fork or a potato masher.

Add:
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cream, or half and half

Cream and mix until smooth.  Spoon into a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking
pan.

Streusel topping
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Put ingredients into a medium bowl, mix with 2 forks or a pastry blender
to the consistency of coarse meal.  Stir in the pecans if using.  Sprinkle
over the sweet potato mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or
until the topping is crisp and lightly browned.

McKayla our great grand daughter came up to her Grandma and said I like that and pointed to the sweet potato casserole. She is not one for liking vegetables.  It was nearly all gone, one little smidgen for a leftover.  So it must have been a hit.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Salpicon Steak Salad

When I noticed this recipe in the Penzey's Catalog, I thought I bet I could cook the meat in the pressure cooker.  Sure enough I could and it was so good.  I made this salad for lunch and it was so delicious.  As I read the recipe for the dressing, I didn't care for the ingredients, so I did a Creamy Cilantro-Avocado Dressing, that was really good and went well with this salad.
Salpicon Steak Salad
1 lb. flank steak
1 white onion, roughly chopped
2-3 garlic cloves crushed or 1/2 to 3/4 tsp.Pensey's minced garlic
5 whole black peppercorns
1 whole bay leaf
1 tsp Mexican Oregano.  I didn't have mexican oregano,  I just used regular oregano.
Put the flank steak in the Pressure Cooker.  Add enough water to cover the beef.  Add the onion, salt, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf and oregano.  Pressure for 40 minutes, natural release. Remove the beef, let cool and then shred or cut into small pieces.
Salad:
4 cups lettuce, you can also add spinach, and kale, or just spinach.
1/2 sliced red onion
1 avocado sliced
I also added some frozen peas, as we love uncooked peas in our salads.
Dressing:
Puree in a blender until smooth:
1/2 ripe avocado
3/4 cup packed cilantro
1/2 cup plain yogurt,
2 chopped scallions,
1 quartered garlic clove
1 TB. lime juice
1 tsp. agave or honey
1/2 tsp. salt
If you want the dressing that goes with the salad go to Penzey's .com., search under Mexican oregano.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Two Recipes that Ken and Nan enjoy.

I made this one morning when Ken and Nan were coming down to do some shopping.  Nan liked it so well she took the recipe book home so she could copy some other recipes.  We bought this recipe book from the bed and breakfast place in Cedar City when we went to the Shakespearean festival. It was a collection of recipes by the Cedar City area bed and breakfast association, and has some great recipes.  Tomorrow morning I'm making it again as we will be up early to get down to the Temple for McKenna's wedding.
Blueberry Breakfast Bake:
8 slices white bread, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 6 cups)
1 (8-oz) pkg. cream cheese, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup fresh blueberries, (I used frozen blueberries, thawed and drained)
8 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
Blueberry Syrup
Grease 11 x 7-inch baking dish.  Spread half of the bread pieces evenly in baking dish.  Top with cream cheese.  Sprinkle with blueberries.  Spread remaining bread over blueberries.  Beat eggs and milk in medium bowl until blended; pour over bread.  Cover unbaked mixture tightly with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least 8 hours but not longer than 24 hours.  When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake covered for 30 minutees; uncover and bake 25-30 minutes longer or until top is puffed and center is set.  Serve with blueberry syrup
Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas:
4 cooked Chicken breasts or Foster Farms Grilled Chicken pieces.
6 or 7 flour tortillas
Mix and simmer together:
1 can cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup can milk
1 can of green chili's
minced onion and garlic
1 cup montery jack cheese.
Tear flour tortillas in pieces.  Layer with sauce and chicken, ending with sauce and chicken, cover with the remaining 1 cup cheese.
Crockpot 2 to 3 hours on low, or bake 350 degrees 15 to 20 minutes or until hot.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Using Rice done in the Pressure Cooker and our two terrifice recipes to use over the rice!

I love using the Pressure Cooker for doing rice.  I love Brown Rice, I won't go in detail why it is so much better for you, it just is.  I like the brown rice from Lundberg.  Some one suggested using the sweet brown rice, it's okay but I really like the short or long grain rice from Lundberg.
Rice:
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
Pressure for 15 minutes, natural release.
I forgot my rice and left it in there for a couple of hours, it still was wonderful and done to perfection.
Simple Chicken Curry:
1 lb Chicken, which is boned and chopped
2 TB. vegetable oil or butter
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced, or 1/2 tsp. Garlic Granules
4 inch section fresh Ginger, peeled and grated- or 1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp. Sweet Curry powder
1 tsp. Hot Curry Powder
1 tsp. Garam Masala
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tb. water, divided
2 ripe tomatoes, good-sized, washed, cored and chopped into large hunks
1 Cup plain low-fat yogurt
Place all dry spices in a small bowl, cover with 2 TB. water, let stand while chopping the chicken into bite-sized pieces, mincing the onion and garlic.  Heat oil over medium heat.  When hot, add onion, garlic and ginger.  Fry, for about 3 minutes until onions start to brown and everything smells really good.  Spoon in the curry/water mixture, stir quickly.  The mix will become quite dry, keep stirring until everything is a smooth paste, about 2 minutes.  Add the chicken pieces, saute quickly for a few minutes until well coated, then add water and chopped tomatoes, stirl well,  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.  Add yogurt, stir well, raise heat to medium, simmer until the sauce is thick and golden.  I added about 2 tlbsp. arrow root, or cornstarch to a littl water, mix and add to chicken mixture, I like it a little thicker than what it was doing. Serve over the rice.
Serves 4.
Recipe from Penzeys Spices
Chicken Fried Rice:
1/2 pound ground chicken
Onion and garlic minced
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 TB. Teriyaki Sauce/Marinade
1/2 tsp. Coriander
2 Tsp. Peanut oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. minced peeled fresh ginger
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
6 scallions, sliced
1 1/2 cups cold cooked brown rice
1/2 cup thawed frozen green peas
Spray a large nonstick skillet; heat.  Saute the chicken until browned, add onion and garlic if you like,
Transfer to a medium bowl; stirl in the broth, teriyaki sauce and coriander.
Stir-fry the eggs until set but still moist.  Transfer to the bowl.
Heat the remaining tsp. of oil; saute the ginger, carrots, bell pepper, and scallions until tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the rice and peas; about 5 minutes. Add the chicken mixture; cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
Makes 4 servings.  1 1/2 cups  272 calories.
From Weight Watchers Cookbook

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Turkey, Mash Potatoes and Tradition

For many years we would fix turkey for Sunday Conference, the married kids could come over and have turkey and all the trimmings with us and the children that were at home.
This year it is different. Four of our children live out of state.  Russ and Family are on their way to a cruise, and our son in law, Carl, is recuperating from surgery.  So Rlynn and I are by ourselves for our Turkey tradition.
We decided we would fix our turkey fixins on Saturday and then piece with sandwiches, I made my good whole wheat roll recipe, and leftovers on Sunday.
On Friday or Saturday night
Turkey:
Put a frozen turkey breast in a crock pot, you don't have to season it just take the cover off and plop in the crock pot and put on low.  This year we used a turkey roast with white and brown meat.  It was moist and so good. About 4 o'clock in the morning the aroma of the turkey comes drifting into your bedroom and the smell wants you to get up and have turkey.
Mashed Potatoes:
Rlynn peeled and cut up about 10 potatoes.
Put the potatoes in the pressure cooker with 1/2 cup water and 1 tsp. salt.  Pressure for 8 minutes, natural release.  They are ready to mash.  We did enough so we could have more turkey, gravey, and mashed potatoes today.
We love corn on the cob, oh so easy in the Pressure cooker, Corn, 1/2 cup water, pressure for 6 minutes and release or let it go down naturally.  Your guide that came with your pressure cooker will tell you the times to pressure cook the vegetables.  We like yams, squash, green beans, potatoes, carrots, and corn.  I tried broccoli, but I thought it made the broccoli too soft.
Here's a great carrot recipe I made last Sunday when Russ and Kari and Family came down to Sunday dinner.
Sweet Mace Carrots:
Cut in circles about 10 carrots. ( I don't know I'm just guessing, Rlynn had just dug up our carrots from the garden and we had a gallon sack full in the fridge, to use up). Add 1/2 cup water pressure for 3 minutes, natural release or release.  Put the pan onto brown, add 1/4 cup butter, sugar and mace to taste, experiment with the sugar and mace. Continue cooking until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved and the carrots are hot and covered with the sauce. They were so good.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Spaghetti Skillet dinner and Spinach Salad

I love this recipe, I will probably use this instead of making regular spaghetti.
Spaghetti Skillet Dinner:
1/4 lb hamburger
1/4 lb ground turkey
1/2 minced onion
1 clove garlic
Brown on the brown setting of the pressure cooker pan.
Add:
1-15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can mushrooms or fresh mushrooms
1 cup water
2 sliced celery ribs
4 ozs. uncooked spaghetti
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. Salt
Be sure the spaghetti is covered completely with the sauce
Pressure 6 minutes, natural release.

From the Fertlawn newsletter.
Spinach Salad with Pears, Pecans and Feta Cheese:
1/2 cup Pecans
Toast the pecans in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring often, for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant.  Tip onto a plate and let cool. Then cut up into pieces.
Dressing:
1 Tlb. Rice or White wine vinegar
1-2 Tlb. Honey
2 Tlb. Oil
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
whisk in a bowl, set aside.
In the Salad Bowl:
3 Tb. Chopped red onion
2 large red or green pears, cut in squares.  We had a green pear, but the salad would really look pretty with red pears.
1-6 oz bag baby spinach
Mix the onion, pears and spinach together.
Pour the dressing over the pears, onion and spinach.
Sprinkle on 3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled, and the pecans.
Since we don't like feta cheese, we used parmesan cheese.
Rlynn made the salad while I made the Spaghetti, they were both delicious, and they made a complete filling meal.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Two recipes using your left over Cafe Rio Beans

I love left over beans, I just pop them in the freezer and when I need canned beans, I defrost my beans and they are ready to go in a recipe.
Black Bean Tostadas
This recipe is from the Pennzey catalog, but revised to use in the pressure cooker.
2 cups of black beans
1 16-oz can fat free refried black beans
1 TB. canola oil
1 onion, chopped
1 TB Arizona dreaming, you can make a mixture of cumin, chili pepper, garlic, paprika, chipotie pepper.
1/4 cup water
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 tsp. honey
1/4/ tsp red pepper flakes, or Ancho Chili Pepper or 1 fresh jalapeno.
1 TB fresh cilantro, finely minced
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup Gruyere or Chihuahua cheese, I didn't have any of these so I used Mozzarella Cheese
Heat the oil in your pressure cooker and brown the onion. After about 3 minutes, when the onion is turning translucent but not brown, add the Arizona Dreaming or other spices and stir.  Then add the rest of the ingredients except the cilantro, sour cream and cheese, pressure cook for 3 minutes, natural release,  Stir in the sour cream.  Use a potato masher to halfway mash up the whole black beans.  Serve on tostado shells topped with cheese, tomatos and cilantro.

The next recipe is from Eating Well magazine, adapted to do in the pressure cooker, we had this yesterday for Sunday dinner and it was delicious.  I put all the ingredients in the pan and stuck in the fridge. Rlynn usually doesn't get home from his last meeting until 5.30 p.m., so we want something fast to fix.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Soup
1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 TB. chili powder
4 Tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground chipotle chile
1/2 tsp. salt (For me it needed more salt)
1 1/2 cups water
4 cups black beans, rinsed
1 14-oz. diced tomatoes
4 tsp. lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Put everything in the pressure cooker and pressure for 6 minutes ( that seems to be my magical number 6),
natural release.  We love cheese on top. The sweet potato gives it a nice flavor, a little sweetness with the chili spices.  I halved this recipe for Rlynn and I, and we have enough for another meal. 

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Two great recipes from the South!

Southern cooking is amazing! But if you indulge in it too long, you would be adding a few pounds.  Believe me I know I added a couple of pounds when we were down there.  Anyway these two recipes are really good. I know they are not pressure cooker recipes, but I still wanted to share them with you.

Chicken Salad  (from Gabriels's Restaurant in Georgia, cousin to Paula Deen)
Serves 6
4 cups roasted chicken-besure it is roasted chicken, this makes a difference in the recipe, the ones at Cosco are really good and most of the time they are only $4.99.
2 cups thinly sliced celery.
Mix these together
Mix:
3/4 cup mayo.
1/4 cup whipping cream or I used can milk.
1/4 cup pickle relish
1 tlbsp. lemon juice
Pinch of white pepper.
Pour over chicken.
Add 1 cup red grapes cut in half before serving.  I didn't have any grapes, so I used a can of mandarin oranges and cut the oranges in thirds.
We ate this salad on large lettuce leaves.  So yummy!

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars
This recipe Julia served at Christian's Baptism.
Mix together:
2 smashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup butter-semi soft
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Add:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
Mix with the banana mixture, then add 1 cup chocolate chips.
Bake 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
So easy, fast and so good!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Pot Roast in the Pressure Cooker is amazing!

This recipe is so amazing and the roast was so tender and good!
Pressure Cooker Pot Roast
Courtesy Chef Bryan Wooley-Connect 2 Utah.com
1-3 pound pot roast
Penzey spices are the best!
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dill
1 1/2 cups beef stock
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil to brown roast, (which I didn't even use)
Pat dry the roast using paper towels.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Brown the roast in the pressure cooker on browning, 4 minutes on each side of the roast.
While the roast is browning, mix the herbs with the beef stock, when the roast is brown,
pour the beef stock and herbs over the roast.  Pressure for 50 minutes and let the pressure go down naturally.
I did this before Church, and left it in the pressure cooker until we came home, I repressured it for 6 minutes while the potatoes were pressuring in another pressure cooker. We even have enough roast left over for hot beef sandwiches for tomorrow. I think how I am going to do the hot beef sandwiches is put the gravey mix with the water in the pressure cooker, stir until dissolved, add the thin slices of roast.  Pressure for 5 minutes, natural release.  Serve on whole wheat toast, and with a salad should be good.
Mash Potatoes
1/3 cup water
8 large potatoes
1/2 tsp. salt.
Pressure for 8 minutes.  Release pressure.
Mash with butter and milk or how you do your mashed potatoes.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Split Pea Soup, Southwestern Chunky Chicken Chili and Fried Hoecakes

We went to Kennesaw Georgia for our Grandson's Baptism. Tuesday morning we headed down to Savannah Georgia with Clayton's family.  Deep Fried Chicken, Deep Fried Shrimp, Deep Fried Green Tomatoes, Deep Fried Dill Pickles, (which by the way I really liked), and Hoecakes(which were also really good) at Paula Deen's restaurant was what we tried!
However I really liked Paula Deen's brother's restaurant near Tybee Island called Uncle Bubba's better.
  What was really fun, was walking down to the sweets store and buying DARK CHOCOLATE CARMEL COVERED PECANS-TURTLES.  They were so darn good! Now I have to get back to the real world and lose weight!
Here are a couple of soups you could have with the Hoecakes.  The recipe is on the Food Network.  Type in Hoecakes and Paula Deen's recipe will come up. Cheese Biscuits would also be good with the Split Pea Soup.

This recipe comes from: For Your Kitchen-at the New Gate Mall in Ogden.
Split Pea Soup:
1 tlbsp. Butter
2 cups onions sliced
2 large celery stalks, diced
2 long carrots, sliced
8 cups water
1 pound green split peas (Approx 2 1/2 cups)
1 pound smoked ham (optional) (We sometimes omit this and just add some bacon bits and grated cheese.)
3 large bay leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp. Dried Thyme, add after cooking.
Add all ingredients into your pressure cooker and stir. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.  Allow pressure to release naturally, remove lid and stir well.  Add Thyme, if desired, and stir.  Serve and enjoy.

This  recipe I adapted using the ingredients from cans.   It is fast and you can have these ingredients in your food storage.
Southwestern Chunky Chicken Chili
2 tlbsp. dried minced onion
1-2 tlbsp. taco seasoning
3 tlbsp. ranch dressing mix
You can mix the above 3 ingredients and have in a plastic zip bag, with all the other ingredients for you food storage.
1 can of chicken, shred it with a fork when you put it in the pressure cooker.
1 can of black beans, drained
2 cans tomatoes with cilantro and lime (Can use other tomatoes)
1 can of corn (Cosco now has sweet corn in the can with just corn and sea salt and no sugar added.)
Pressure for 5 minutes, natural release.
Serve with cilantro, sour cream, cheese and tortilla chips.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

The best thing that Pressure Cookers do, are Soups!

Soups are the best,  in the Pressure Cooker and it takes more time to prepare the ingredients than to pressure them.
There is nothing better on a cold winter day than Soup! 
Over the next several weeks, I will be posting some of my favorite soups that I have adapted to the Pressure Cooker.  I'm sorry I haven't learned how you can print these recipes off.  I know it is a pain.
Left Over Soup:
This is great for all those left overs in the fridge.
1 cup cooked meat
Any kind of vegetables including garlic and onions.
1 can of tomatoes
1 1/8 cups pasta
Any kind of herbs or seasonings you want.  I love crushed red pepper flakes,
not too much, but gives the soup a hot taste
1 bay leaf
3 cups broth, any kind you like.
Pressure for 6 minutes, natural release. 

Bean and Butternut Squash Soup
1/2 lb. of any kind of meat
2 cups cook beans (anykind)
2 cups butternut squash
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
Fresh basil, chopped or 1 tsp. dried basil to taste
1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped or use some dried
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 cups chicken broth
Brown the meat and garlic in the Pressure Cooker.
Add rest of ingredients and pressure for 6 minutes. Natural release.

This next soup was adapted from a slow cooker recipe which would take 6 hours and in the Pressure Cooker 6 minutes.  See why I love the Pressure Cooker.
Turkey Minestrone Soup
1 medium size onion, chopped (Soup isn't soup unless we put in a onion)
2 small stalk celery with leaves chopped
2 small carrots or parsnips, sliced.  (I would put both in, Parsnips are sweet and give a soup a nice flavor.)
1 large red potato, diced
1 cup cabbage, chopped
1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small zuccchini,diced
1 cup chopped cooked turkey meat
1 tsp. dried basil or marjoram
Salt and black pepper to taste or red crushed pepper flakes.
1 cup canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup pasta
3 cups broth, any kind
1 14.5 oz can Italian-style tomatoes, undrained and broken up
Pressure 6 minutes, natural release

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Greener Eating: Cafe Rio Black Beans

I found this web site and I don't know why but the posting on these Black Beans I did before I couldn't post for some reason.  ( It couldn't be me, could it?)  So here is the recipe again.
Cafe Rio Black Beans:
1 lb dry black beans, rinsed and sorted. 
1 cup tomato sauce or juice or whatever
3 1/2 cups water
1/2 large sweet onion
2 garlice cloves, minced
1/2 T. salt
1 to 2 T. cumin
Put all ingredients in a pressure cooker.
Cook on high pressure, 60 minutes, natural release.
For me I would half this recipe and then pressure for 30 minutes.  The beans at 60 minutes were a little crunchy.  You might want to do them a little longer than 60 minutes.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Blueberry Breakfast Bake

I just happen to have this in the oven for breakfast, when I called to see where Ken, Nan and Mitchel were, when to my surprise they were just about to turn into our street from Wyoming.  They loved this recipe, in fact Nan took my cookbook home to copy other recipes.  The cookbook is recipes from the Bed and Breakfast's in Cedar City. We stayed at one last year when we went to the Shakespearen Festival, and I bought one of their cookbooks that was in our room.
I know this  isn't a Pressure Cooker recipe but is still yummy.
Blueberry Breakfast Bake
8 slices bread ( bought a bag of odd and ends of bread at Kneaders which I used, some white and some brown), cubed about 6 cups.
1 8 oz cream cheese, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  I didn't have 8 ozs. but had 4, works as well.
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries.
1 1/2 cup milk
8 eggs
1 cup blueberry syrup
Grease 11x7 inch baking dish.  Layer 1/2 the bread, top with the cubes of cream cheese.  Sprinkle on the blueberries.  Then top with remaining bread.  Beat eggs and milk, pour over the bread.  I love cinnamon so I sprinkled a lot on the top after I poured the eggs and milk over the bread. Cover with foil, refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
350 degree oven
Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake 25-30 more minutes untill top is puffed and center is set.   by Garden Cottage in Cedar City.

Yes, You Can do Pasta in Your Pressure Cooker!

I read in one pressure cooker recipe book.  "You can't pressure cook pasta."  But I'm here to tell you that you can! No more waiting for water to boil.  It is so simple.  Yesterday for lunch for us and our two great-grand children, we had spaghetti and meat balls.  I put in the amount of spaghetti I thought we would need, along with about 1/3 tsp. salt, covered the spaghetti with water, besure to cover the pasta with water and stir to make sure all the pasta is not sticking to each other. Pressure cook for 3 minutes, let the pasta sit in the water for additional 3 minutes.  Let steam off and now you have cooked pasta.  You can do this with any pasta.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Cooking Dry Beans in the Pressure Cooker are so easy.

I tried soaking the beans before pressuring them, but they ended up to mushy.  So this way works much better.
Black Beans:
2 cups washed dry black beans, makes 4 cups beans cooked.
Cover with water, besure the beans are covered with water.
Add 1/2 to 1 tsp salt.
Pressure for 25 minutes.  Let the pressure go down by itself.
I like to put the beans in freezer bags, and have them on hand to use in recipes.
This recipe is from the recent Pensey's catalog.  I love Pensey's spices, my daughter Karin got me hooked on their spices.  You can go to Penseys.Com for recipes and ordering their spices.
Spicy Sweet Potato Burritos
2 sweet potatoes (1 1/2 lb. or so total)  (I peel & cut them up and pressure them in the pressure cooker for 6 minutes and viola you have wonderful soft cooked sweet potatoes).
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper or 1/8 tsp red crushed pepper flakes
2 TB. lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
2 cups black beans
1 cup corn kernels
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
6 whole wheat tortillas
Optional fillings:
1/2 cup chopped olives
1 cup chopped tomatoes
Cilanto
Shredded cheese
Avocados
Mash the sweet potatoes with the spices and the lime juice.  Stir in the beans and corn.  Add salt to taste if using.  Spoon the mixture in the tortillas along with any optional fillings you desire.  Roll up and bake for 10 minutes until heated through. 
These are really tasty.  One tortilla is enough to fill you up.
2 burritos 489 calories, Total fat 5, Carbs. 109g, Dietary Fiber 15 g.

Here's another recipe we like.
Cuban Beans and Rice:
Rice is another grain that is so easy to do in the Pressure Cooker.
Serves 6:
Put 1 cup Brown rice in Pressure Cooker with 2 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt
Pressure for 15 minutes.  Let steam off.
Put in 2 cups cooked black beans
1/2 cup onion
2 cloves of garlic or more.
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. cumin
1 bay leaf
1 can cup up tomatoes
Some cut up parsley or cilanto
1 tsp blace pepper
Pressure for 6 minuts
You can garnish to your heart's content:  Sour cream, chopped cilantro, salsa, chopped green onions, cheese, or sliced Avocado.  YUM!  327 Calories per serving with 17 Grams of Protein.

Two days ago I made Ham and White Bean Soup:  It was a lot of trial and error, but it turned out so good.
Night before:  I put the ham bone from Christmas Family Party (yes I had it in the freezer) in the Pressure cooker with about 3 cups of homemade chicken broth.  Pressured for 20 minutes and let the steam come down.  Cooled the ham bone and cut the meat off the bone.  I put the homemade chicken broth in the fridge so the fat would hardened and I could skim if off in the morning.
I went to Penseys. Com to find out spices they would use in a ham and bean soup.
One of the spices was Epazote-It is used for bean dishes, from chili to black bean salad.  Split pea soup and ham and bean soup. 1 TB per pot.  In chili use 2-3 tsps. per 2 qts. of chili.
Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 cups washed dried white beans
About 4 cups chicken broth
2 cups cut up ham or less what ever you get off the ham bone.
1 cut up carrot
Of course onions and garlic, to me that's what makes a soup so good.
1 bay leaf
1/2 TB Thyme crushed leaves
1/2 TB to 1 TB Epazto-Mexico
And of course my favorite Red Pepper Crushed Flakes, just a few.
Pressure for 40 minutes and let steam come down by itself.
I tried 20 minutes and the beans weren't done, tried 10 more minutes, not quite done, but we ate the soup anyway because we were hungry.  Afterwards I did the soup 5 more minutes and let the steam come down, and the soup was perfect.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Pressure cooking is so much fun.

About a year ago, I went to a cooking class up to Ogden, Utah at, For Your Kitchen, with Chef Brad.  He used this amazing electric pressure cooker to make soup for us, and it was done in 6 minutes.  I was definitely hooked.  Since then I have been trying different recipes in my pressure cooker.  Some still need a little tweaking, but over the next few weeks I will be posting some recipes.  I won't be doing step by step with pictures.  Just the recipe.
Some advice:  I had to learn the hard way by giving my cell phone number on the internet to this place where you were to get recipes for pressure cooking.  Soon I was getting texts that wanted to give me the recipe on my cell phone, and when our telephone bill came there was a $10.64 charge, this would happen every month.
Our telephone service was nice enough to take that charge off our bill and put a block on our cell phones.  I learned my lesson the hard way.
This is the reason why (Brent) that I wanted to start a blog, to get these recipes out to all people that want to use the electric pressure cooker and need some new recipes.
My advice in buying a electric pressure cooker.  You don't need anything fancy, just one that will brown and pressure.  Some have a rice cooker, Nope you don't need that.  Some have slow cooker, Nope you don't need that.  Again one that will brown and pressure, and you are ready to go.
These recipes we do all the time in the morning:
Steel Oat Cereal
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cups steel cut oats
1/2 tsp. salt.
Pressure for 6 minutes, let the steam off at once or just let the steam go down itself. I like this because I can put this to pressuring and take a shower and it's ready to eat.
Nine Grain Cereal
2 tbsp. Nine grain cereal
3 tbsp. Quinoa
3 tbsp. regular oatmeal
1/2 apple
5 dates cut up or add a few raisins
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon   1/4 tsp. cardamon
1/4 cup Almonds chopped
1 1/4 cups water
 Pressure cook for 5 minutes.  Let pressure down by itself. So good with half and half and honey.