Cranberry Pork Chops

This had a wonderful sweet and savory flavor that the whole family loved. I served the pork chops on a bed of Rice Pilaf. I'll include the recipe below.

Ingredients:

*4-6 pork chops (I used bone in)

*Salt and Pepper each chop

*season with seasoning salt

*sprinkle with dried Parsley

Brown chops in pressure cooker

Add:

* 1 1/4 cup Apple-Cranberry juice

*3/4 cup dried Cranberries (Craisens)

* Approximately 2-3 Tbsp. honey drizzled on top of everything.


Close lid and set to High pressure for 11-12 minutes (if cooking BONE-IN pork chops) If cooking with boneless I would cook for more like 8-9 minutes. I allowed it to depressurize for around 5-10 minutes then I released the remaining pressure. I'm sure it will work either way.

After it is done cooking, remove the chops. Thicken the remaining juices with corn starch or Ultra Jell until it looks like gravy. Serve chops on a bed of Rice Pilaf and cover with cranberry gravy. YUM YUM!

Simple Rice Pilaf:

*1/4-1/2 onion chopped

*2 Tbsp butter

Cook onions in butter on low heat 6-8 minutes until onions are translucent and starting to brown.

Add:

*1 cup uncooked white rice

Stir the dry rice in onion and butter mixture over low heat until completely coated: around 2-3 minutes

Add:

*2 cups liquid (water or chicken broth) add salt if using water

Bring to a boil. Stir rice once, then cover and cook on low for 15 minutes. Serve and Enjoy!

Banana Bread Oatmeal- with steel cut oats

This is a yummy variation of a super healthy breakfast. My kids gave it 2 thumbs up.

*3 1/2 cups water

*1 cup steel cut oats

*1/2 banana (or more if you like)

* 1 tsp. cinnamon

*1/4 tsp. ginger

* 1 Tbsp. real maple syrup

* 1 Tbsp. Agave nectar (natural sweetener)

* 1 Tbsp. butter

* shake of salt

* (3/4 cup water for the bottom of your pressure cooker)


Pour the 3/4 cup of water into the bottom of your pressure cooker. Place rack on top of water. Place all ingredients in a glass or metal bowl that fits inside your pressure cooker. Place on top of rack. Pressurize on High for 5-8 minutes. (the longer you cook, the softer the oats)

When finished, depressurize manually or let it depressurize on it's own, then mix oatmeal to break up the banana pieces.

Top with brown sugar and nuts. Serve and enjoy!!!

3 minute pressure cooker corn chowder

I grabbed this recipe off of Chef Brad's website. It looks like a good one. He has a bunch of other free recipes, go check them out... http://www.chefbrad.com/

"So wonderful and easy to make. Serve with hot rolls or bread."

Prep Time: 6 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes

This recipe is Gluten Free

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes, cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup frozen organic corn
2 carrots, cut into cubes
1 small white or yellow onion chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. ground beef
6 cups vegetable broth,
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch green onions
salt and pepper

Instructions
In pressure cooker add ground beef and cook until done, add onion, potatoes, garlic, carrots, corn, and broth. Pressure for 3 minutes and serve warm. Right before serving add chopped cilantro and green onions."

Pork Spare Ribs

I have never made ribs in my life, they always seemed too time consuming... not anymore! They were so tender and tasty, they seriously fell off the bone! It was the perfect Valentine dinner.
I definitely recommend these babies!

*Approx. 3 pounds of Pork Spare Ribs

*2 Tablespoons olive oil

*Seasoning salt

*onion powder

*fresh garlic

*your favorite BBQ sauce


Set your pressure cooker to brown. Cut the ribs into 3 rib sections. Season with onion powder and seasoning salt. Throw garlic and Olive oil in pressure cooker then place rib sections in pressure cooker to brown. You may have to rotate browning rib sections if your pressure cooker is not large enough to do them all at the same time. Once they are all browned, pour your BBQ sauce on top of the ribs. Check your manual for cooking times. I cooked mine for 28 minutes on high pressure. I let them release pressure naturally while I fixed all the side dishes.

Serve and enjoy.

Game Day Pressure cooking with Jacques Pepin

I found this interesting, first because Jacques uses MY pressure cooker to cook his meal. Wahoo! Plus he uses uncooked, unsoaked beans in his chili. That is SO cool! I will warn you, he is not very specific on how long to cook. He says around an hour to an hour and a half. In my pressure cooking manual is says to cook unsoaked beans for 30-35 minutes. I think an hour to an hour an a half is a little over kill. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but if anyone else does, please let me know how it works out!

*Keep in mind this is a full episode of his show, there are other recipes that he goes over as well*

Split Pea and Ham Soup

I got this recipe from http://www.food.com/ a great place to find pressure cooker recipes! It was super cold out today, so I decided it would be a perfect day for soup. I have never tried split pea soup, but everyone raved about it on food.com so I figured I'd give it a shot. I was surprised how yummy it was, and I was impressed by how healthy it was. I new my kids might frown at the appearance, so I jazzed it up a bit and called it "Monster Soup" They really liked it!



Ingredients:

* 1 bag (1 pound) dried split peas (found in the bean section of your grocery store)

*8 cups water

*1 small ham bone or 1 pound ham chunks (I used chopped up lunch meat-worked great!)

* 1 onion diced

* 2-3 carrots, diced

*2-3 celery ribs, diced

* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme (I only used half that, about 3/4 teaspoon)

*Lawry seasoning to taste

*salt and pepper to taste

*1 bay leaf (the recipe didn't call for it, but I threw it in for flavor)

I like to start my pressure cooker on saute right off the bat, just to heat up the pan, it speeds up the pressurizing if the pan is already warm. So I threw in the onions and celery with a little butter to saute for a few minutes while I was chopping everything else.

Rinse and sort split peas.

Throw all the rest of the ingredients in pan. Set on High Pressure for 20 minutes. The recipe says to release pressure naturally, but I didn't, I let it sit for a few minutes and then depressurized it myself. I really don't think you can go wrong.

Stir it up and serve. It tastes great with homemade bread!!! YUM!!!

Chicken Pesto

I love using Chicken drumsticks, my kids love them and they are normally very inexpensive.

Ingredients:

3 pounds bone in chicken thighs or drumsticks
(around 8 drumsticks)

1/3 cup pesto (I used "Classico" brand from Walmart)

1/2 cup chicken broth 0r 1/2 cup water and 1
chicken bouillon cube

1 large onion, chopped

8 small red potatoes, peeled, I used larger ones and chopped into quarters (I also like to leave some of the skin on because they are so good for you!)

1 1-pound bag baby carrots or a few large carrots chopped into chunky pieces.

Salt and Pepper to taste


1. Remove the skin from the meat (a little time consuming but well worth it) Throw the meat in a zip lock bag and add pesto, shake and coat meat.

2. Add the broth/water to the bottom of pressure cooker, along with the onions. Place rack on top of the onions. Arrange chicken on top of the rack. (I threw the potatoes into the leftover bag and shook it up to give the potatoes a little seasoning) Throw potatoes and carrots on top of the chicken.

3. Bring to High Pressure for 11 minutes. Quick release. Use tongs to remove chicken and veggies. Remove rack and use the onions and juices over the chicken and vegetables.

So tender and juicy! You're gonna love it. I'm not normally an onion fan, but those onions on the bottom were like candy, they just melted in your mouth, YUM!!!

Enjoy!