Dinner: Shrimp Scampi

Tonight for dinner I made Shrimp Scampi

It was DELICIOUS.

The best part is.... it took 2 minutes in the Pressure Cooker!

If you have a Pressure Cooker, you really MUST purchase this cookbook. 

The recipes are delicious and very easy to make.

Bob Warden's Slow Food Fast

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10

Even Kid-Mo ate it....yes, shrimp and all!  

(Okay.. I told him they were Bubble Guppies from NickJr...lol)

Improvements: I think next time I would add some heavy cream at the end to make the sauce a little thicker and creamier

Dinner: Ground Beef Stroganoff - Pressure Cooker

We have found another NEW favorite dish for our Pressure Cooker!

Ground Beef Stroganoff!



This recipe comes from the cookbook: Slow Food Fast, by Bob Warden.

You can purchase it online here:

Bob Warden's Slow Food Fast


I can't say enough good things about this cookbook! It's amazing and the recipes are easy too!


Ingredients Needed:

1 tablespoon butter

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

2 celery stalks chopped

4 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon beef base mixed into 1/2 cup water (or 1/2 cup beef broth)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 1/2 cups sour cream

salt & pepper to taste

egg noodles, cooked separately



1. Heat butter in the pressure cooker on the brown setting until it sizzles. Add ground beef. (If your pressure cooker doesn't have this setting, just Brown the meat on the stove top)





2. Once beef is browned, try to drain the fat from the pot. Then add onion and celery. (Note- I substituted onion powder in this step so my 4 year old would eat it since he doesn't like onion)

3. Stir for 2 minutes until onion and celery soften



4. Add remaining ingredients except for sour cream and egg noodles.



5. Lock pressure cooker, set to high and cook for 6 minutes. (During this step, boil water and cook egg noodles on stove top)



6. Let the pressure cooker release naturally for 10 minutes and then quick release for any remaining pressure. Stir in Sour Cream, salt and pepper and serve immediately over egg noodles.



This photo does not do it justice - it was really good!


Served over egg noodles:

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10!

This is for SURE a new family favorite. KID-Mo gobbled it up as well. We added some pre-made red marinara sauce to his and he really loved that.

SUGGESTIONS: You could easily make this recipe on a stove top if you don't have a pressure cooker! Give it a try!

Dinner: Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Tonight for dinner we made Homemade Macaroni and Cheese in our pressure cooker!

If you don't have a pressure cooker, just cook the noodles and add the cheese at the end. I'm sure it will end up tasting the same.

The recipe is found in the Bob Warden's Slow Food Fast Cookbook. You can purchase it online at QVC (http://www.qvc.com/)


MACARONI
2 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
2 teaspoons chicken base mixed into 2 cups water
(I just used 2 cups chicken broth that I had on hand)
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

CHEESE
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 ounces cream cheese (1/4 of a regular sized block)
1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1. Add all macaroni ingredients to pressure cooker, securely lock on lid and set the cooker to high and cook for 6 minutes

2. Perform a quick release to release the pressure. Safely remove lid and slowly stir in cheese ingredients until melted and serve immediately.

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10!

We all thought this recipe tasted really good - 100% times better than packaged Mac n' Cheese!

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Creamy Celery and Potato Soup!

Pressure Cooker Soup!

Tonight we had Creamy Celery and Potato Soup.

It was very good and took FIVE MINUTES in the pressure cooker. How cool is that?

Here is the recipe:
(found in Recipes for the Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Joanna White)

2 tbs butter
2 1/2 cups diced celery
1 cup diced onion
3 medium potatoes, diced
4 cups water
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp dried thyme, optional
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Heat butter in the pressure cooker over high heat and saute' celery and onions until soft.
2. Add remaining ingredients, except heavy cream, and bring to a boil.
3. Seal cooker, bring up to a high pressure and cook for 5 minutes
4. Remove cooker from heat and release pressure. ( I just released pressure on mine and turned off the unit)
5. Add cream and just heat through over low heat, do not boil.
6. Taste and adjust seasoning

THE FEEDBACK: 9 out of 10! SOUPer Yummy!

KID-mo does not appreciate potatoes and even he ate some of the soup!
(It did take an hour for him to eat about 10 spoon fulls however!)

Pressure Cooker Meal Adventure: Chicken Noodle Soup

Tonight's dinner adventure is Pressure Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup featuring yesterday's chicken (see post below).

Here are the steps I took to make it...

Step 1. Set pressure cooker to BROWN and brown 2 tablespoons oil with about half of a chopped onion

Step 2: Add some cut carrots.
I used the last 1/4 package of baby carrots I had left over from last night's meal. It was about 24 baby carrots.

Step 3. Add your broth. About 5 cups should do the trick

This is a photo of my chicken bones cooking in a pot of water. I saved all the bones, skins and leftover meat from the "chicken carcas" the night before. I threw them all in a pot, covered with water (about 10 cups of water). Cook on high until a rapid boil and then simmer for 1-2 hours. Then pour through a strainer. Discard chicken carcas miscelaneous and keep the yummy broth.



Step 4: Add Pasta (about half a box)

*Special Note: While taking self portrait of the famous "pouring of the pasta" I poured in TOO MUCH pasta. I actually used the whole box. Oops. To avoid my blunder, please pay attention and only add half this amount. Thank you *


Step 5: Add Chicken (about 2 cups), 1 can cream of chicken Campbells Soup and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir together.


Step 6: Close pressure cooker and put on 15 high PSI for 12 minutes.

The result: Chicken Noodle Soup!

Or, in my case, DOUBLE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP!



I actually made up a second batch of chicken broth and added it into the soup. The result was pretty yummy!

Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Crackers.


THE FEEDBACK: 7 stars out of 10!

KID FEEDBACK: 0 out of 10. "Kid-MO" did not like the "mushy" noodles. He did however really like the soup broth!

APPROXIMATE COST: $2.50
$0 - Chicken
$1 - Campbell's soup
$1 - Noodles
$.25 - Onion
$.25 - Carrots

NOTES: Be cautious of your broth to noodle ratio. I clearly put in way too many noodles and had to add broth after the fact just to even it out.

Also, I'd experiement by adding in some extra veggies such as celery and peas.

TIPS: Cook your broth in advance. You can even freeze extra broth and store it for later. One easy way to store the broth is to freeze it in ice cube trays then store the broth-cubes in freezer bags. When the time comes to use them just take out what you need.

Did I mention that we love this pressure cooker?

Up Tomorrow: Chicken Pot Pies for Lunch! (Featuring chicken from our roast chicken yesterday!!)

Pressure Cookers Are Awesome: Roast Chicken and Veggies

Tonight's Dinner adventure features a chicken and a pressure cooker.
These two things are new to me.

First of all I need to say a big THANK YOU to my fantastic parents who gave us THIS pressure cooker for Christmas! You can go to QVC to purchase your own HERE.

Secondly, I need to let you know I've never touched a raw chicken in my life.

I've been nervous about this ALL day! I know it's something people do all the time, but the thought of touching a raw whole Chicken (Or Turkey) just totally groses me out!

I actually used some tongs to "fish" out the giblets from the inside of the chicken. One of the grosest things I've ever done. YUCK!

Nevertheless, I've overcome my fear in the persuit of DINNER!

Here is the result......



Can you say YUMMMMMMMMMM.

Ok, here are my ingredients:

1 whole fryer chicken
1 can chicken broth (I used about 3/4 of the can)
4 large potatoes
1 small bag baby carrots
1 onion (I used about 1/2 the onion)

I modified a recipe that came with the pressure cooker.
Here are my directions (modify as you wish)

1. Season Chicken (salt and pepper) I used McCormick Rotisserie Chicken seasoning! Turned out great.
2. Brown the chicken either on the stove top or in the pressure cooker (mine has a browning function so I used that).
3. Remove chicken from pressure cooker and add chopped onion to liquid (add garlic if you wish) Saute for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add chicken back to pressure cooker and add largely cut potatoes and carrots around the chicken.
5. Close and cook for 25 minutes on the highest pressure setting (mine is 15 psi).

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10! WAHOOOOO!

KID FEEDBACK: 8 of 10. "Kid-MO" really likes meat. He gobbled up the chicken. He wouldn' touch the potatoes or carrots, but he never eats those so that is not a surprise.

NOTES: I also cooked up some rice and served the chicken and veggies over rice! ForYummy.

UP TOMORROW: I'm going to use the leftover broth and some of the chicken to make chicken noodle soup tomorrow! Come back to see how that adventure goes!

Your Thoughts? :)