Canning Spaghetti Sauce

Needs have changed in our house, and I rarely pull out the big stovetop canner anymore.  In this video, I demonstrate some small batch canning using an electric pressure canner.

This is perfect for those of us who find due to arthritis and other issues that lifting and fiddling with the larger canner has become more difficult.

Easy Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese

This is my grandson's favorite mac and cheese.  It's my idea of fast, easy food.  A win-win!

Although I made this in the Instant Pot, I have tried it in two other electric pressure cookers with good results.

Cold Start Yogurt

Over last weekend I made Greek style yogurt for our family using the IP.  I didn’t want to share the post until I knew how it went over.

This is it straining because I wanted it thick.

One bottle of this milk and 1 heaping tablespoon of starter yogurt (Aldi brand Greek)

yielded:

2 1/2 pint jars full and 3/4 of a jar of whey

The yogurt is very tart and just the way I like it.

I used it for a sour cream replacement, in potato salad for a quick lunch, as a base for a ranch style dressing,  and as a breakfast food.

The whey went into my baking.

(My husband took 1 jar with him.)

It doesn’t get any easier to make.

Make sure your Instant Pot liner is sterilized.  

Pour in cold milk.

(It needs to be ultra pasteurized.  Aldi brand organic in the red carton will work. 

I’ll try to remember to get a future photo.)

Whisk in a heaping tablespoon of starter.

Hit the yogurt button, cover, and let count down for 8 hours.

(Normal setting.) 

If you want to make yogurt with other milks you will need to follow the more traditional method.

Links for ideas:

Cold Start Yogurt

Traditional Yogurt Recipes

Pinto Bean Chili Recipe 6 of 12

I know it seems like I have forgotten my 12 Days of Pintos.  I haven’t....life is just nutty around here.  It’s okay.  That is how life is.  My go with the flow is “flowing along.”  Haha — couldn’t resist!

Anyway, I had originally hoped to have leftover pumpkin chili to go on my baked potato, but it didn’t work out that way.  We ate it last week on baked potatoes instead of having pizza. (However, my daughter basically turned her baked potato into a pizza.) 

I simply didn’t get home in time enough to make my crust....sometimes it happens if meetings go over.   Like many disappointments prove to be, this was a blessing in disguise....the perfect opportunity to add my next pinto bean recipe entry.

This recipe is the recipe I decided to use.  Pinto Bean Chili in the IP (using dried beans). It is from Neena over at Paint the Kitchen Red. Of course, I never do things quite as called for.  I also didn’t need a large batch of chili.  Since she gives step by step (extremely detailed instructions) I am not going to do so.  

Sorry about the water spots, but I don’t want to waste paper by printing this out again.

I’ll use it as is.

I did end up using 2 cans of Rotel.

Just to make certain I don’t have any trouble with tomatoes sticking, I leave them on top when I cook chili.

When it was done I gave it a good stir and this is what I ended up with.

Verdict:

This chili is pretty good!

I ate some in a bowl for my lunch.

Then I had some on a baked potato for my supper.

(With me being the only one home to eat it, I’m thinking I may freeze some leftovers.)

     

Pressure Cooker “Egg Bites” aka “Mini Quiches”

Apparently these things are all the rage amount the IP community.

Starbucks sells some overpriced version.

This is my quick version.

6 eggs, beaten with a dash of milk added

Some crumbled cooked bacon, shredded cheddar, onion powder, etc.

1 cup of water under the trivet in the IP

6 minutes high pressure

5 minutes natural release

Remove from pressure cooker.

Cool for 4 minutes and pop from liners.

You can easily use silicone baking cups.

If you don’t have any or just want this little shape they sell various molds.

Obviously this is a pretty versatile way to use up leftovers.

Pretty much any meat will work, pretty much any cheese, pretty much any form of milk/cream, etc.

 These are perfect to make up on a weekend to grab to go with breakfast throughout the week.

Gifts of Food

My sister and my soon to be brother in law brought me a bag of sweet potatoes.  

They know the way to my heart, because I always love gifts of food.

I washed them good, popped them in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes, and let the pressure drop naturally.

The results was perfectly cooked sweet potatoes.

I mashed them and kept out two cups full to eat.

The rest went into the freezer.

7 cups of sweet potato for the freezer!

Waste Not Want Not (Using up Produce)

It never fails that I end up with something lingering in the veg bin of the refrigerator.   While I was making out my menus, I did a quick glance to see what was there, and a huge eggplant was staring back at me.  I’ve been craving tomatoes — vitamin C I am guessing.  So I decided to make eggplant lasagna with the self imposed restriction of only being able to use what I had on hand.

A quick pull through and I found I had more than enough ingredients to pull together a decent vegetarian lasagna.  I used:

Garlic (Sam’s Club)

Kalmata Olives (Aldi)

Parmesan (Lidl/Aldi)

Mushrooms (Dollar Tree)

Tomato Powder (food storage)

Canned tomatoes (Walmart purchased on sale and with coupon)

Dried onion (food storage)

Dried bell pepper (food storage)

Ricotta (Lidl?)

Egg (Aldi)

Italian seasoning (Sam’s Club)

Eggplant (Aldi)

I sliced my eggplant and salted it to draw out some moisture and bitterness.

I mixed the ricotta, the powdered parm, and an egg together and set aside.

I put the sauce ingredients (except for tomato powder) in the pressure cooker along with a can of water.

30 minutes (soup function)

Then stirred in tomato powder to thicken it.

Rinsed and drained the eggplant and assembled two lasagnas.

This one I topped with cheese immediately and put in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes.

The one in the glass baking dish is not topped with cheese. 

I’ll top it with cheese when I get ready to cook it, but for now it is going in the freezer.

This was really good!

Itty Bitty Cheesecake

Did anyone else like Larkrise to Candleford?  

Dorcas Lane would always refer to something as “my one weakness.”

Well cheesecake is my one weakness.

I love, love, love cheesecake.

In fact, I’ve never tried one I didn’t like.

Normally I would say that is a good thing, but I have to be careful because if it is around I can eat the whole cake.

Yeah...literally if given a day or two.

So in an effort to both indulge and limit my indulgence I made an itty bitty cheesecake.

I started with this recipe 

“Instant Pot Cheesecake for Two”

And immediately changed it.

Another weakness of mine, I suppose.

To be fair, who uses 6 ounces of an 8 ounce package of cream cheese.

So this is my version:

8 ounces of Neufatchel cream cheese (I use Aldi brand at 65 cents a package.

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt

2 1/2 tablespoons of Turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

A pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour

I let everything come to room temperature, put it in a bowl, and stirred it with a rubber spatula until it was smooth.

Then I added in 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips.

I put this in a small cheesecake pan that I lightly sprayed with oil.

I skipped the crust simply because I don’t have any GF graham crackers on hand.

They’re quite expensive and just so-so — I also haven’t tried making my own.

Plus I figure the chocolate chips will make up for the calories so I’m not cheating myself.

On the trivet, 1 cup of water, high pressure 45 minutes.  

Natural pressure release for 15 minutes and then finish releasing.

(The cup is shown for size comparison.  It is a standard 6 ounce coffee cup.)

Refrigerate.

Serve with whatever you like with your cheesecake.

Notes — If I make this again I will decrease the cooking time to 30 minutes and try it.

It wasn’t bad, but I think it could have cooked a little less time.

I’ll let you know how it does the next time I try it at a shorter time.

5 of 12 — Pressure Cooked Ham and Pinto Bean Soup

I didn’t forget my 12 Days of Pintos plan.  I promise.  December just got crazy.  We relied on fast, convenient foods, but even as I type that I realize it is just an excuse.  Dried beans can be a fast and convenient food.  Sure they require a little advanced work — an no I am actually not talking about soaking, but more I refer to planning.  I can think of several ways they can actually be quite fast and convenient.

• Slow cooker — now here me out before you laugh at me.....yes I know slow cooker and fast don’t go together....but for me fast is about the amount of effort I have to put into something.  If I know tomorrow is going to be a busy day I can simply set out the slow cooker tonight and put my dry beans in, sprinkle any seasonings on I am going to use.  I cover the pot and in the morning I add my liquid and cook.  My time is minimal, they cook while I do other things, and when the day is near end I have a “fast” meal ready.  However, for my world this pretty much works only for the evening meal.

So what if you want beans or bean soup for lunch?  Well there are several options to use dried beans, which are more economical than buying tinned beans.

• If you are a home canner, you can pressure can your own.  Most of us canners have the sunk cost of both the canner and jars....some even reuse the lids....while I don’t reuse lids and I haven’t tried Tattler’s brand lids....I still find canning my own to be quite economical.  I also like that I can control the amount of salt added.  Home canned beans, like all home canned products, are recommended to be boiled for 10 minutes.  (I’m throwing that out there as a precaution.....not a heated debate statement before anyone shoots me.  This isn’t an issue for me because I either use my home canned beans as an ingredient in a cooked dish or as the base for soup and they are well heated by the time I finish.). Either way, home canned beans are just as convenient and fast as purchased beans if you have had the foresight to can them.  Yes, canning does take time, but running a canner of beans while you are detailing your kitchen or perhaps doing your weekly baking lets you effectively do two things at once.

Of course, my favorite options is — yes, if you are a frequent reader here, it is probably easy to guess — a pressure cooker.  I have both a stove top and an electric pressure cooker.  (While I do use the Instant Pot brand, they are all relatively interchangeable with a little tweaking.  I use two methods of cooking dried beans in the pressure cooker depending on what my calendar shows for the day.

• Scenario 1 — Calendar shows I will be out of the house and coming in about an hour before I want to serve supper.  I, being tired the night before go to bed without setting out all the slow cooker “stuff”....I confess it has been known to happen.  (There’s a reason I set up the coffee pot for the next morning when I am cleaning up supper dishes.).  In the morning, I simply put my beans in a large bowl or pot and cover several inches over with water.  Depending upon the weather (if it is winter I don’t bother) I may refrigerate them while they soak for the day.  When I come home, I simply drain my beans, pop them in the pressure cooker with whatever I want to add, set my timer for 30 to 40 minutes and go about preparing the rest of our meal.  
• Scenario 2 — I am going to be home all day.  Maybe we changed our mind about what we wanted to eat.  Maybe I realized I need to use some ingredients up.  Maybe — just maybe I love to use the pressure cooker, but I am slack and rarely soak my beans.  All three of those happen in my life....one more often than the others, but in an attempt to not incriminate myself I’ll let you guess which one that is.  

Now that I have prattled on, I’m sure you are asking yourself, “Is Shara going anywhere with this?” The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

Today we have a forecast for snow.  Yes, it does occasionally snow in Eastern North Carolina.  Yes, we do like all Southern towns and shut down.  Yes, I am indeed freezing.  All the standard stereotypes of Southerners in snow does indeed have a basis in real life.

So three things have happened:

1.  I am going to be home all day.

2.  We have changed our minds about what we want to eat....thanks to the temperatures.

3.  I have some things to use up.

Basically today is Scenario 2 and the perfect time to share another pinto bean idea with you.  As promised, I’ve found an online recipe that everyone can easily access.  Pressure Cooker Smoky Ham Hock and Pinto Bean Soup from Pressure Cooking Today.  However, as usual I’ve made a few changes.  The version below shows what I did and shares my results.

I assembled my ingredients:

2 cups of pinto beans

5 cups of chicken stock (I used all my home canned and went with bouillon and water.)

2 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic because it is cold season

1/4 teaspoon onion powder in deference to my daughter

1 heaping teaspoon of cumin

1/8 teaspoon of rosemary

1/8 teaspoon of oregano

Leftover ham and bone from my last ham

I added some black pepper, but no salt.  

I’ll add salt after they cook because I don’t know how salty the ham will be.

Then I added my secret ingredient:

A bit of crushed red pepper.

Everything literally went into the pot.

I set it for 60 minutes because I know I like my beans soft.

So that I could give you a real life cooking time estimate:

I turned it on at 11:01

At 12:41 they had finished and Natural Pressure Released for 20 or so minutes.

The results:

I served mine with a dollop of salsa.  

These were delicious!

My daughter even enjoyed them — of course, she skipped the salsa.

As a note:

I keep a print out of recipes I find online and add them to a binder if they are a success.

I write notes on them to show what we did.

As far as this recipe I did make a few changes.

In the future, I think I would add about 10 to 15 more minutes cooking time.

The flavor was great,but I think the beans could have been a little softer for a bit more of a creamier texture.

Southern New Year’s Day

I used the Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker) to prepare our New Year’s Day meal.

While Hoppin’ John is traditionally prepared together, those of you who read my chatter know that my daughter does not do well with certain foods.  As a result of this I often make dishes in separate pieces so everyone can have what works best for them.

I cooked my black eyed peas in home canned chicken stock with some of my dried red onion and dried bell pepper tossed in.

I added some rosemary to give it a little boost.

I like my peas soft and cooked them for 30 minutes.

If you like a little firmer, go with 20 minutes.

I transferred them to a soup tureen and put on my rice and greens.

I used kale this year.  Collards are more traditional, but I couldn’t find any that looked great to me.

I cooked these for 7 minutes on high pressure.

I pulled out bacon I had chopped and frozen to add ot the meal.

(While I do have a ham bone in the freezer, I am saving it for something specific to be shared soon.)

Pressure Cooker Breakfast Casserole (Recipe Included)

We started off our new year with coffee and breakfast casserole.

The recipe is pretty much my “unrecipe” style.

I used part of my dried food storage in it, but you could easily use fresh....simply saute the onions/pepper before adding and use shredded potato.

Breakfast Casserole

Rehydrate:

3/4 cup of hash browns

2 tbsp of onion

2 tbsp of bell pepper

When rehydrated, drain and squeeze in paper towel to remove excess water.

6 eggs, beaten with 1/4 cup of milk added

Stir in 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar.

Add about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of cooked breakfast meat.

(I diced bacon and tossed in the microwave for a moment to cook it.)

Pour into a greased pan that will fit inside your pressure cooker.

Cover...foil or a lid 

Set on rack and add about 1 1/2 cups of water to bottom of pot.

Cook on high for 30 minutes.

Let pressure drop naturally for 10 minutes.

Then release.

Let the casserole cool for a few minutes and serve.

My family really enjoyed this. 

It allowed me to not run the stove.

I also got to sit and drink my coffee with everyone instead of babysitting anything in the kitchen.

Pot in Pot Pressure Cooking

For Christmas I got a new gadget for my pressure cooker.  I realized, after joing a Facebook group, that I had not really been utilizing it to its full potential.  Most of the “gadgets” seem to be just ho-hum to me....but these pots are a total game changer.  Mine came from Amazon, but I am sure there are other retailers and/or brands.

I tried my first meal in it.  

I was able to cook the boneless skinless chicken thighs and the rice at the same time.

I put a few cups of water in the bottom of the pressure cooker and stacked the pot.

High pressure for 20 minutes and then I let it release naturally for 10 minutes.

While the pressure dropped, I heated a quick veggie to serve along side.

In hindsight, I didn’t need to add extra liquid to my BBQ sauce since my chicken was frozen.

Still the taste was good and we ate it all....my measure for a success.  

Next time I’ll adjust accordingly.  

 

Lazy Night Pasta (Unrecipe)

This is the ultimate lazy night vegetarian pasta dish.

My recipe is enough for two, but you can double it without changing the cooking time.

In the electric pressure cooker — I use an Instant Pot — layer:

16 ounces of thick pasta sauce 

8 ounces of corn pasta (GF from Aldi — Penne is the perfect thickness)

3/4 of the jar filled with water (about 1 1/2 cups)

Put everything in in that order.

DO NOT STIR!

Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.

Quick release and stir.

I know it sounds like it should be soupy, but the pasta absorbs the water as it cooks.

If you aren’t feeling as lazy as I was, you can spend a few minutes browning beef first.

You could also just toss in leftover meat from something else.

Since I was the only one eating it, I went with vegetarian and cooked enough for my next day’s lunch.

Cold and Flu Season — Cold Tonic Recipe Link Included

Elderberry Syrup

This syrup is excellent for helping boost the immune system.

It is not a thick mixture and is easily made in the pressure cooker.

The berries can be semi - expensive, but a bag from Amazon is about $20 and makes 3 batches.

I ended up with this much from 1 batch — minus the 4 tablespoons we took immediately.

I noticed within the hour some improvement in some sinus symptoms I’ve been having.

I’m really hoping it will boost my immune system as we go into our busiest time of year.

Food Storage Breakfast (Recipe Included)

For those of you who are comfortable using an electric pressure cooker, a hot breakfast doesn’t get much easier than this.

I use an Instant Pot, but will include the times and pressure for reference.

This is all food storage items that most pantries will have.

This recipe was shared with me.

I’m sharing what I changed and then I’ll share in parentheses what they did.

Pumpkin Oatmeal

1 cup old fashioned oats (steel cut)

3 cups of water

1/2 can of pumpkin —not pie filling

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon)

1/2 cup dried cranberries (raisins)

1 to 2 teaspoons of butter if desired, but totally optional

Put the items in your pot in that order.  DO NOT STIR.

In the Instant Pot, use the porridge setting and change the pressure to low.

For other pressure cookers, do low on 20 minutes.

Release pressure, stir, and serve.

This makes 4 or so large servings.

My husband and I ate, and I put away that much more in the refrigerator for the next day.

He declared it the best oatmeal he had ever had.

Needless to say I’ll be keeping it in the repeat.

1 of 12 — Mediterranean Pinto Bean and Rice Soup

Meal 1 of 12 for the 12 Days of Pintos

For ease of recipe finding for everyone, I’ve decided to try whenever possible to use recipes I find online.

This recipe is the first in our plan.

Mediterranean Pinto Bean and Rice Soup

I’ve revised the recipe slightly to match both the pressure cooker and my daughter’s food preferences.

The original dish is cooked on the stove top.

However, at the end of this post I will share how I would convert this to a slow cooker meal for those who do not use a pressure cooker.

I used the Instant Pot and several of the settings on it, but I am also listing the times for ease of converting to other pressure cookers.

In the pot combine:

1 2/3 cup of dried pintos

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

1/4 cup of dried bell pepper

1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic

4 1/2 cups of water

Hit bean setting and increase time to 50 minutes. 

(Basically high pressure for 50 minutes.)

(I did not soak my beans first, but if you do I would think 30 minutes should work fine.) 

Let pressure drop naturally.

Add:

1 diced potato

3/4 cup of brown rice

1 cup of water

14.5 ounces of diced tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Set pressure cooker for 22 minutes.

Let sit for 10 minutes and then vent.

Serve soup warm.

(My daughter requested no tomatoes, so I heated mine separately and added to my bowl. Also note, our personal preference is a little softer bean.  If you like them less soft, you could decrease the 50 minute cook time because they will be cooking an additional 22 with the rice.)

For my family, with three of us eating this week, this will make at least two meals worth of soup when served with bread.

If there were two of us here, I think I would halve the recipe.

Now for the slowcooker version —

I would put the first ingredient set on in the morning.

Midday add the second half.

I only recommend dividing it because sometimes tomatoes make beans take longer to cook.

Cookbook Challenge

One of the things that I always have niggling in the back of my mind the question of how to best use my food storage.  Since Kimmy, of She's in Her Apron, issued a "fall in love with your cookbooks" challenge, I thought I would dig out a food storage cookbook.

This cookbook is a little different than my usual cookbooks.  The basic premise of this book is that the meals use "nothing fresh or frozen, and no water."  (Page 1 of 100 Day Pantry)  However, in the spirit of true food storage and frugality I am going to alter the recipe for Chicken Taco Soup.

(You'll notice I had already written a note to use black beans instead of ranch beans.)

So what am I using?

1 jar of my homecanned chicken

1 cup of dehydrated corn (because I have a #10 can open)

A jar of salsa

2 cups of homemade chicken broth

1 jar of home canned cranberry beans

1 chipotle pepper

Garlic, because it makes everything taste better

1 or 2 teaspoons of cumin

1 cup of whole wheat pasta

1/2 cup of water, because I added dried corn

I'm dumping it all in the Intant Pot and cooking it for 9 minutes.

Serving with shredded cheese and crackers for a quick "girls' day lunch."