Fiesta Bisque

It has been so long since I uploaded a recipe that I have forgotten how to add to this blog.  Oops.  After many attempts this morning, I am finally successful.

Although it isn't technically a pressure cooker recipe, my pc lives on the counter and I find it very convenient to use, but you can use a regular stove top pot if thats what works best for you.

 A bisque is usually what is used to describe a soup with seafood, with dairy blended in.  Although there is no seafood in this amazing dinner, I'm going to call it a bisque anyway, because it has the dairy blended into it, and I really just like saying Bisque!  The first rule of cooking in my home is that my husband is not allowed into the kitchen while I am cooking.  That man (whom I adore most of the time) can disassemble a diner faster than anyone I have ever met.  If he knew I was feeding him cream cheese on a regular basis, he'd make some kind of disparaging remark, so it's best to remove him from the kitchen while Im cooking. He has no allergy or adverse reaction to cream cheese other than it's white and creamy.  I know, he's a strange man.  But I digress... Fiesta Bisque is making regular rotations through our meal plan.  Because it is that amazing!

Cast of characters: 

  

1 lb hot sausage

1 c seasoning blend (onion, pepper, celery mix)

{in the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store}

you can also use fresh chopped aromatic vegetables

2 tbs chopped garlic

1 10 oz can of Rotel

1 10 oz can medium heat red enchilada sauce

1 14.5 can stewed tomatoes

2 blocks of cream cheese

Brown the sausage in a skillet, set aside.

In the pressure cooker, using the brown function, sautéed the onion mix and garlic in a few tbsp of olive oil (or butter or bacon drippings, whatever fat you have available).  Cook until onions are translucent.

Add the cans of Rotel, enchilada sauce and stewed tomatoes.  Bring up to heat until the vegetables and tomatoes start to boil.  Add the blocks of cream cheese.

Using your handy dandy stick blender (also called immersion blender), or if you are old school, scoop into your regular blender, but be careful you don't burn yourself.  Blend vegetables and cream cheese until smooth.  This is a thick soup.  Once the soup has been blended, turn off the heat on your pc or pot.  It might scorch if you leave the heat up.

Once the soup is blended, add the browned sausage to the pot.

If your husband is a heathen, like mine is... you know the kind of man who "likes his food naked"...meaning no sauces, gravy or cream of any kind.  This is how his dinner was served.  naked.  

But if you are a normal person, who likes added pizazz to your food, dress your bowl with black olives, a swizzle of ranch dressing and something crunchy.   When my youngest came home from college the first time she let me know that Ranch Dressing can be used anywhere sour cream was accepted.  And it squeezes into a nice swirl easier than a plop of sour cream.  Although if you don't have the ranch dressing handy, sour cream works just fine. I think a garnish of cilantro would look really good, but there is a lack of cilantro in my fridge today.   I am eating low carb, so I enjoy parmesan chips as opposed to tortilla chips.  Either way, enjoy the crunch with your soup. 

This is not low carb...it's lower carb...there are carbs in the tomato products.  It is also as far from low-fat as a soup can get.  But it is delicious and very filling. 💋💋💋

And there you have it.  Very fast and very yummy Fiesta Bisque.  Enjoy!

Not quite a success...

So the good news is we ate dinner last night.  The bad news, it took some to get there...

A few years back I had a friend tell me about a simple dinner she feeds her kids.  It's called South Dakota Supper.  Simple enough, you slice potatoes, layer them on the bottom of a pan, add seasoned ground beef on top of the potatoes, and cover with a can of cream corn.  Bake until potatoes are done.    I thought to myself, it's potatoes, I can do this in my pc.  Um not quite.  I had a busy day, I was teaching pre-teens to sew until late in the afternoon, but no worries, I had plans to use my pc for dinner.    So I sliced 2 potatoes, layered them in a foil pan that fits in my pressure cooker.  seasoned with salt and pepper.  I browned a pound of ground turkey (see me trying to be healthier?) seasoned my meat with fajita seasoning, because everything is better with garlic and chili powder.  Added meat to my potatoes and covered with the corn.  Since my potatoes are sliced thin, I reasoned that 6 minutes on high would be sufficient.  Nope.  the potatoes were still crunchy.  So I went for another 6 minutes on high.  This time they were less crunchy, but not edible.  I took my foil pan out of the cooker, poured my casserole in a Pyrex bowl and covered the top, 3 minutes in the microwave for fully cooked potatoes.

So on the one hand, we did get to eat.  And it tasted very good.  On  the other hand, I realized that Potatoes need to be exposed to the steam that builds up the pressure, and being in a foil pan on top of the trivet above the water did nothing to help soften the tubers.  Live and learn.  Next time I'll just cook the old fashioned way and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Wheat Berry Chili

You might have heard me refer to that man I live with, "the love of my life" or sometimes he might be referred to as "the pickiest eater on the planet".  Yeah same dude.  So here's the thing, the man who won't eat food if it's not naked (no sauces, creams, cheese or toppings), likes what he likes. And for a picky eater, sometimes I am surprised at what he likes.  I am currently sprouting wheat berries in my kitchen, and every time I fail and throw away the bloated kernels, he reminds me that he likes puffed wheat.  Ok good.  I just happen to have 29 5 gallon buckets of wheat in storage.  So this is what inspired today's meal.  Wheat.

and since I rarely plan ahead, I pulled out (cough cough, since it lives on the counter at all times) my trusty pressure cooker.   I decided I "knew" how to puff my wheat without checking any directions and off I went.  While my wheat was being pressured, I did check directions and found quite the discrepancy in various directions.  The first told me to pressure on low for 45 minutes.  The 2nd said 7 minutes on high.  The 3rd said 30 minutes, 10 natural release and quick after that.  Since I had already set my cooker to 20 minutes, I opted to leave it as it was and decide after if I needed more time.  SCORE!! It was just a chewy as we like.  I cooked on high for 20 minutes, natural release for 10 and quick release after that.

Wheat Berry Chili

2 c white wheat berries (or whatever you have open in your food storage)

4 c water

1 tsp salt

1 glurg olive oil or pat of butter. Whatever cooking fat you have available.  This keeps the berries from foaming and spitting at you once you release the rest of the pressure.

Pressure 20 minutes, natural release 10 minutes, quick thereafter.

While wheat is pressuring, on the stovetop brown

3/4 c chopped onion and celery (I have this wonderful seasoning mix I get in the freezer section at the grocery that is always in my freezer for quick meals)

1 lb hamburger.  

season with salt and pepper

Brown meat and vegetables.  Drain if you bought the cheap meat like I did...

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can mexican style corn

2 tbs tobacco style hot sauce.

Drain the corn.  Mix all cans with the meat.

After draining the excess water from the cooked wheat berries, add the meat mixture to the wheat.  Mine was a little dry, so I added a can of V8 spicy to the mix.

I will serve with soft white rolls and a dollop of sour cream on top (because sour cream makes everything even better than it is already)  And probably some grated cheese.  Because hello, cheese and sour cream...

This makes enough for 2 grown adults who will be starving after 3 hours of church that doesn't start until 2:30, and plenty of leftovers for lunch next week.

:-)

Died and gone to foodie heaven Coconut Rice

Amazingly mellow and perfect with any Asian inspired dish. Tonight it was leftover red curry from the Chinese place up the street that I bought too much of a month ago and froze the leftovers.

1 can of coconut milk

3/4 c jasmine rice

1 tsp salt

1 TBS sugar

Mix all in PC, use rice setting.  Mine rice setting is 6 minutes.  Natural release for 5 minutes, quick release the rest if there is any pressure left. 

Try not to devour the entire pot full in one sitting 😋

Quick Pasta and Sausage

 I know I tend to cook a lot of the same type of meals, but what can I say, sometimes I open the pantry and wonder what I can combine to make dinner.  On the up side, my kitchen smells divine.  On the upper side, it was done in 4 minutes, so there is really no complaining from me.

Quick Pasta and Sausage.

1/2 box bowtie pasta

1/2 jar salsa verde

1/2 box (2 c) chicken broth

1 package jalapeño and cheese sausages (4)

1 package frozen peas, steamed for 4 minutes in microwave

1/2 c sour cream.

Cook the pasta and salsa and broth on high for 4 minutes.

Quick release.

Stir

slice sausages, and add with peas and sour cream to pasta.  

voila!  it's ready to serve.  

Pasole

Or I've been sick for a week and need a good soup with what I can find in my pantry and freezer...

Yeah it's a little tough to say three times fast, but it is what it is.

2 c pork, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 yellow onion
7 small yellow potatoes
1 can corn
1 can hominy
1 can navy beans (pintos are more authentic, but this is what I had)
1 can green enchilada sauce
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder

Defrost pork.  sprinkle with cumin and garlic, in pressure cooker, use brown setting, brown pork in a little oil.  Remove.  Add chopped onion and brown until translucent,  Leaving onion in pc, top with chunked potatoes, add cans of corn and hominy (not drained), beans, add pork on top, pour enchilada sauce over all.  check liquid level, i added 1/2 c water to the corn juice, to bring it to pressure.  Pressure high 15 minutes, natural release.  mmmm my house smells delicious!  I plan on eating mine with a dollop of sour cream.  Because sour cream makes the world a better place

Im pretty sure this is what heaven smells like

BEEF STEW

So let's just say I have never liked making beef stew because it always turns out watery and there's no flavor.  I've tried many recipes over the years and pretty much gave up.  Stew meat was on sale last week and I picked some up.  Not to make stew however because remember, I gave that up a long time ago.  At 3 pm I thought what am I going to make for dinner.  I found the stew meat in the freezer and thought let's just look for a pc stew recipe.  I thawed the meat in the microwave but I'm sure you can still pc it frozen.  I just wanted to brown it so I thawed it.  I found 2 stew recipes that looked pretty good and combined the ingredients I liked and had on hand.  Oh babes was it good!  I finally have acquired beef stew skills!  My hubby loved it and that was even a bonus!  I made some wheat bread in my bread maker and what took me about an hour to make made me look like I slaved in the kitchen all day!

Char's Beef Stew

1-2 lb stew meat (I had 1.25 lbs)
2 cans beef broth
1 can tomato soup (undiluted)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp spicy mustard
1/2 yellow onion diced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp paprika
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
5-6 potatoes cut in bite size pieces
20-30 baby carrots cut in half (more or less depending on your preference)
2 celery stalks diced
cornstarch

Heat olive oil on brown setting.  Add onion, garlic and meat.  Brown meat.  Add beef broth, soup, worcestershire, and mustard.  Pressure cook on high for 20 min.  Natural release.

Open pc and add veggies and seasonings to meat and juice. You may need to add a little water to cover the veggies.  Pressure on high for 15 min.  Quick release.  Thicken juice with cornstarch dissolved in cold water.