Under Pressure

My new favorite appliance in our kitchen is an electric pressure cooker. It's amazing. I have wanted a pressure cooker for awhile so I could better use a lot of the things we have in food storage, like dried beans, without a lot of planning and hours of cooking. I have a glass top stove so I can't use a stove-top pressure cooker on it. I found a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker at Williams-Sonoma last year and put it at the top of my wish-list. Dwight found the same one at Costco and gave it to me for Christmas.

So far I have cooked dried beans in about an hour and a half, I overcooked broccoli when I cooked it for three minutes. I made brown rice in under an hour and I cooked yummy pork ribs in about 40 minutes.

I think the ribs are the best thing I have made in the pressure cooker so far. I put a dry rub on them and let them sit over night. I cooked them in the pressure cooker for about 35 minutes and then smothered them with homemade barbecue sauce and put them under the broiler in the oven for about 5 minutes. The meat fell off the bones. What usually takes hours of slow cooking took less than an hour.

I was nervous the first time I used it because I expected it to rumble and send steam shooting out, but it was very quiet and the only time steam came out was when I manually released it.

I can't wait to try more recipes.

Worth the Wait

In January of 2009, I decided to get a tortilla maker. I ordered one made by Villaware, but didn't get it because it was discontinued.

During the Christmas season last year, Dwight and his Sister, Cherisse did some research and found out that Chef Pro made a similar tortilla maker and Amazon.com was going to sell it. Cherisse and her family sent us an Amazon.com gift card so we could purchase it once it was available. We were finally able to order it a few weeks ago.

It is a fabulous thing to have. It flattens the tortillas perfectly and cooks as it presses them. I made a batch of whole wheat/spelt tortillas (which are more like wraps). We used them for fajitas, breakfast burritos and filled them with chicken salad. I am also going to try using it to make flat bread.

It was worth the wait. Thanks Cherisse!

Great Gadgets

I like to collect kitchen gadgets, some because it makes it easier when I cook, and others just because I like the way they look.

I found two gadgets that I like for both reasons. I received a gift card for Williams-Sonoma for my Birthday (Thanks, Steph!) , and after much debating about which gadgets I should get, I settled for two (so far).

I use limes and lemons a lot. I enjoy the flavor they add to dishes and I really enjoy the cleaning power of the lemon. I decided to get a fun looking citrus juicer. I was drawn to the bright yellow color. The thing I liked most about the idea of getting a juicer was that I no longer had to fish the seeds out when I juiced the lemons. I made a good choice. It extracts virtually every drop of juice, all with one little squeeze, and is easy to clean.


I have been wanting to get a Microplane grater for awhile. I use a lot of lime zest. I decided to get the fine grater so I can grate citrus zest, garlic and spices. The first time I used it I was convinced I had added the right gadget to my overflowing gadget drawer. I made garlic shrimp and the grated garlic melted into the shrimp, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and parsley. It was wonderful.

I can't wait to spend the rest of my gift card!

(The pictures are from Williams-Sonoma's website)

Yummy Kiwi Mango Relish

I have been wanting to try a recipe that I found in Body & Soul magazine for quite awhile. The recipe was for a kiwi lime relish to be served with shrimp. I finally decided to make it tonight. I added some ingredients (mango and green onion) to the original recipe and really liked how it turned out. We ate it with shrimp, but I especially liked eating it with tortilla chips. I had a hard time deciding if I would call it a relish or salsa. I decided that since I enjoyed eating it so much relish fit just fine.

Here is the recipe I made tonight.

Kiwi Mango Relish

2 kiwi, peeled and diced
1 mango (still a little green, not too ripe) peeled and diced
1 jalapeno pepper diced (I didn't include the seeds)
1 green onion, white and green parts
a small hand full of cilantro, chopped
juice from 1 lime
salt to taste

I also think this would be good over grilled chicken.

Apples

I have enjoyed using the apples my Dad brought a couple of weeks ago. I haven't made juice yet, but we have found other uses for the apples.

Last night Dwight and I made apple pie. It was delicious. We made the crust using one of my favorite Martha Stewart recipes. I made the flour using soft white wheat. It tasted great, but the texture wasn't quite the same. I'm going to have to experiment with it some more. Here is the recipe from the Martha Stewart website:

Pate Brisee (Pie Dough)

Ingredients:

Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water
  

Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies

Directions:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to one month.

I used more of the apples tonight. We got bratwurst sausage from the deli on Saturday and I decided to caramelize onions and apples to garnish them. I sliced the onions and apples very thin and sauteed them in butter and a little olive oil. I cooked them in the same pan as the bratwurst. I really liked the sweetness of the apple with the onions. We put it all on a ciabatta bun and topped it off with honey dijon mustard.

Grape Juice

I spent the day making grape juice. I was a little nervous to do it because it seemed like such an intensive process. I looked for recipes on the internet and found most of them to be quite consuming. Some of the steps included picking each grape off the stem and then mashing them. I borrowed my Mom's steam juicer and decided to give it a try.

I started by putting the grapes in a sink full of water. I wanted the dry leaves and loose stems to float to the top, so I could easily remove them. I also wanted the spiders and other bugs to come out. I then put them, stems and all, in the strainer portion of the steamer and set it on the stove to cook. After they steamed for awhile, I mashed the grapes with a potato masher to extract any additional juice. It took about 1 1/2 hours per batch. I made close to 8 quarts of juice.

I decided to freeze the juice. I saw a great idea for freezing liquids in last month's Better Homes and Gardens. I put 3 cups of juice in a quart sized freezer bag and laid it on a cookie sheet so once they freeze I can easily stack them, or stand them in the freezer doors.

The juice tastes wonderful and the house smells like concord grapes.

I put a towel down to protect the floor. Ellie thought it was a great place to lay.

The grapes I used were from my Dad's yard. The vines he and my Mom planted a couple of years ago really took off this year. The concord grape clusters were beautiful. He delivered them to me earlier this week. He also brought some of the apples from the yard. The way he packaged them made me think he had purchased them at a gourmet grocery store. I may try making apple juice next week.

Apricot Nectar

My Dad gave me a huge bowl of apricots last week. They were the biggest apricots I've seen. They were also very sweet. I wasn't sure what to do with all of them. I finally decided to make them into apricot nectar. Dwight and I like adding mango nectar to orange juice to sweeten it up a bit, so I thought we'd try apricot nectar.

I washed the apricots, sliced them in half and took the pit out. I boiled them for a few minutes and removed the skin. I put the apricots in the blender and blended them with some sugar and lemon juice. I put it all in a pan and cooked it until it boiled. I also added a little of the water that I boiled the apricots in to thin it a bit.

I put some empty jars in the oven set to the lowest temperature to sterilize them. I didn't have lids for my canning jars, so I used old spaghetti sauce and pickle jars with their lids. I put the hot nectar in the jars and when they cooled, the jars sealed. I don't think they will keep at room temperature because I didn't cook them in a water bath, but I think they will keep for awhile in the fridge.

The nectar does taste great mixed with orange juice. It's even good by itself. Little by little I'm learning how to preserve some of the fresh fruits and vegetables we have access to this time of year.

Blender Pancakes

Here's another recipe that I got from Kitchen Kneads. It's a fast and easy pancake recipe. We really enjoy them.


Blender Pancakes

1 1/4 cups water
1 cup of whole grain kernels
1/4 cup powdered milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp honey or sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder

In a blender mix water, grain kernels, dry milk, egg, oil, honey, and salt. Blend 3 minutes. Add baking powder and blend just until mixed. Mixture will foam up and get very light. Cook immediately on a hot griddle.


When I made them this morning, I added a couple teaspoons of whole flax seeds. I didn't grind them first because I knew they would grind in the blender. I also put blueberries on the pancakes once I put them in the pan so we had blueberry pancakes. I used applesauce instead of oil and I used a breakfast blend (a mixture of buckwheat, barley, rice, millet, and oats) for the grains.

Coconut Craze

I have been reading a book touting the nutritional benefits of coconut (kills bacteria, boosts energy, improves digestion and absorption of nutrients, supports thyroid function). It's pretty interesting. The book suggests using coconut oil every day and adding more saturated fats to the diet. I'm not sure how I feel about using coconut oil and boosting meals with additional saturated fats, but I have enjoyed using coconut milk and shredded coconut as a garnish (I especially like it toasted).

Yesterday, I made oatmeal and just after I removed it from the stove I added a banana, dried cranberries, coconut and a little bit of honey. I also like adding coconut, ground flax seed, and dried cranberries to my cold cereal - especially Wheat Chex.

Here are some other things that I have made with coconut in the past couple of weeks. If you would like the recipe, click on it and it will direct you to the website where I found the recipe.

Cilantro Lime Grilled Shrimp with Coconut Fire Sauce
Carribean Chicken (I highly recommend this one)
Nanaimo Bars (This one isn't very nutritious, but it does have coconut in it)
Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

Food Storage: Powdered Milk

For the past couple of years I have tried to increase our food storage. It was overwhelming in the beginning because I knew I should store things that I had never used before, such as whole wheat and powdered milk. A few weeks ago my neighbor hosted a class on how to use powdered milk. I thought it was very interesting and helpful. I haven't tried making the recipes myself yet, but I thought I would share a few of them so those of you who are still learning how to use food storage items can try them too.

Yogurt:
3 3/4 cups warm water
1 2/3 cups Instant nonfat dry milk
2 to 4 Tbsp store-bought, plain yogurt with active yogurt cultures

In a large saucepan combine the water and dry milk powder. Stir well and let it sit for a few minutes, then stir again. All of the dry milk should be dissolved. Heat the milk over medium/low heat until it reaches 180 degrees. This kills off any competing bacteria so that the yogurt will respond better to the acidophilus cultures. Remove from the stove and allow to cool to 115 degrees. If the milk is any hotter than this then it will kill off the yogurt cultures. Add the store-bought plain yogurt to the warm milk (the store-bought yougert can be stored in the freezer. Put in ice cube trays and then store in freezer bags once frozen). Stir well. allow it to sit for a few minutes and stir a final time. This should dissolve the store-bought yogurt completely. Carefully pour the mixture into a very clean quart-sized, wide-mouthed canning jar. Incubate the yogurt in a warm spot (such as in a crockpot with a little water, set on low) for 6 to 8 hours, or until it is thick. Chill and eat.

Riccotta Cheese:
6 cups water
3 cups Instant powdered milk
1/2 cup to 3/4 cups white vinegar
Salt to taste

Combine water and powdered milk. Heat gently so it won't burn. Heat to 120 degrees. When hot, remove from burner and GENTLY stir in vinegar. Don't use a whisk. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes if some of the liquid is still milky white, stir in more vinegar to separate. Start with just a spoon full and continue until the liquid is an amber color. Line a strainer with cheesecloth, or dishtowel. Dump cheese curds into the strainer and rinse with cool water. Break up clumps and rinse well. Allow all the liquid to drain ofr. Fold the dishtowel over the cheese and squeeze out all the liquid. Do this until the cheese ball is quite dry. After it is dry, put it in a bowl, break it up and salt it to taste.

Cottage Cheese:
Follow the recipe above to make Riccotta cheese. Stir in a little bit of yogurt or evaporated milk or cream.

Appliance Addiction

I have to admit, I enjoy collecting kitchen gadgets and appliances. I am probably the only woman who enjoys getting appliances as gifts. I enjoy cooking and I like having gadgets that make it easier and faster to prepare good meals.


One of my new favorites is the rice cooker that Dwight bought me for Christmas. It cooks the rice perfectly. We have had a rice cooker for years, but this one cooks the brown rice much better. It takes about an hour and a half to make 4 cups of brown rice, but it is well worth the wait.


Thanks to a new Belgian waffle maker, I finally feel like I can cook waffles. Last time I tried, it was disastrous. The waffles were heavy, and I couldn't get them out of the waffle maker in one piece, they would get stuck to the top and the bottom of the waffle maker and split down the middle. I tried making waffles from scratch last night, so we could test out the new waffle maker. The recipe was a little more intense than I expected. I had to whip the egg whites and gently fold them into a batter of yeast, flour, water, sugar, butter, oil, vanilla and milk and then let it sit for an hour. They turned out beautifully. They were light and fluffy and tasted like dessert.


Now I just have to be patient until the tortilla/flatbread maker that I ordered last month arrives.

First Attempt

Yesterday, I made Ciabatta bread. I actually had to start it on Saturday night, because it required a starter - a combination of flour, honey, yeast and water. The starter had to sit for over 12 hours. I added flour, salt, yeast and olive oil to the starter and let it sit for another three hours. The Ciabatta dough is extremely sticky, so it was harder to work with than the wheat dough I am used to. The directions said to "handle it like a baby" so the air bubbles wouldn't burst. I think I was a little too rough with my dough so I didn't get the huge air pockets in the bread, but it tasted wonderful.

We dipped it in a mixture of olive oil and balsamic viniger.

I have figured out what I will do differently next time, but I think it was a pretty good outcome for my first attempt.

A New Favorite

I have a new favorite snack - Pomegranate arils.

They are tasty, juicy and crunchy. I like putting them in salads, or eating them by the spoonful.

Don't you love how I threw out the word arils, like I have used it numerous times before? I had no idea what an aril was until I read the instructions on how to cut the pomegranate.

Sprouts

I took a class on sprouting at a local store called Kitchen Kneads. I have always loved eating alfalfa sprouts so I am enjoying being able to sprout them myself. I like to eat them on sandwiches and in salads. I also think that the seeds have been a great addition to our food storage.

So far I have sprouted alfalfa, pro-vita mix (which is a combination of wheat, fenugreek, lentils, peas, mung beans, adzuki beans and triticale), and garbanzo beans. I like to eat the sprouted pro-vita mix on peanut butter sandwiches. I tried to sprout the garbanzo beans and then make hommos (Dwight's family calls it hommos, but it's also called hummus). It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I think next time I will sprout them for a couple of days and then cook them a little.