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.  

Green Corn Tamales

Every once in a while I have a strong NEED to taste the food of my teenage years. Having spent my teen years in southern Arizona, Green Corn Tamales were the food of the fall and holiday season.  I seem to remember them with fresh corn, strait off the cob, but I now live in Texas and it is February and a girl does what a girl has to do.  So I have spent weeks perusing various tamale recipes.  And finally decided I was ready to tackle this big project.

Our cast of characters:  Corn Husks.  Masa.  Monterey Jack Cheese.  Corn.  Green Chilies.  Chicken.  Unsalted Butter.

the pieces ready for assembly.  Shredded cheese, masa mix, shredded chicken.

I know it looks gross, but trust me it's important

Lunch is Served!

Green Corn Tamales

20 dry corn husks, soaked in hot water to make pliable

3 chicken breasts

4 medium heat green chiles

Layer in pressure cooker, add 1 c water, pressure high 15 minutes.  Natural release.  When cool use Bosch with paddles to shred. (Chicken and chilies, not liquid)

2 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 c unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

1tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbs sugar

In clean mixer, using paddles whip until fluffy.

Meanwhile in another bowl mix 2 c masa harina (This is the dry stuff, found in the mexican food isle of the grocery...not the dough like I have in the picture...I had to go back to the market)  and 1 can of drained corn (processed in food processor so it's cut smaller, but not paste).  Add 1 1/2 c chicken broth, 1/2 c at a time.  Mix should be pea size, like making piecrust.

Now mix masa mixture into fluffy butter, adding a cup at a time, continue mixing with paddles 10 minutes.  Drop a small peice into a cup of water.  If it floats, you are ready.

Use glad press n seal on counter top to keep mess to a minimum.

Taking a corn husk lay flat and add a scoop of masa.   Spread with rubber spatula keeping about1/3 inch thick.  Put a line of cheese topped with chicken in center.  Pull sides of husk together, then gently open up.  Using the husk, make sure tamale is sealed.  Open husk again, now roll like a burrito, pull top down, roll the sides in.  I left one end open.  

Once all tamales are assembled, stack on steamer close together with open end up.  Add 1 c water, pressure on High for 20 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes.

I served mine with a swizzle of Ranch dressing on top.

Unconsumed tamales may be wrapped in ziplock bags and frozen.

Seriously Yummy Monday Night Pasta

Pasta in the pressure cooker doesn't have to be a hard thing.  Once you know the secret, it's super easy. So here's the secret.  Use a pasta shape that won't stick to itself (like spaghetti or fettuccini)  The more awkward the shape, the better it will work in the pc. And use just enough liquid to barely cover the pasta.  Now turn your pc on high, for HALF the time it tells you to boil it for.  Quick release.  Voila! it's done.

cast of characters

This is a little difficult to see, because I was cooking in the near dark, and using my cell phone.  There's no explaining why I do what I do. Just accept it and move on... But look at the cute message board my daughter-in-law made for me for christmas...

1 lb lean hamburger (please defrost so your won't look brown like it just came out of the microwave)

chopped onion (true there is no picture, but I am assuming you know what chopped onion looks like)

1/2 package pasta

1 jar sundried tomato pesto

fresh mozzarella pearls

brown meat and onions

Brown hamburger and onions... until almost completely brown...since we are going to pressure cook, I left it just a little pink.

place raw pasta on top of meat, cover (just barely) with water or broth

Once your meat is brown, pour the pasta and liquid on top.

pressure on high 6 minutes

Lock the lid in place and pressure on high for 6 minutes (the package directions said to boil 12-14 minutes)

finished product

Once the time is up, do a quick release of the pressure, remove lid.  At this point it was soupier than I wanted, so I drained off my liquid.  Added the jar of pesto and about 1/4 c mozzarella pearls.  Because I love melted cheese, but the man I cook for is not a big fan, so this is a great compromise, I get my melty cheese and he can easily take his and put it on my dish.  Yeah we are a study if perfect symbiocity. *I am almost certain I just made that word up.