Pressure Cooker Diaries

Thai Red Curry Recipe – Beef Red Curry Pressure Cooker Recipe

Leslie — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:52:53 +0000

I absolutely love Thai red curry but for some reason I thought cooking curry would be difficult. I couldn't have been more wrong. The dish was easy to make and tasted just like a Thai restaurant meal. When I saw that Dad Cooks Dinner had made massaman curry in his pressure cooker, I knew we had to try it.

Thai Red Curry Recipe - Delicious

So, just what is curry exactly?

Curry is broad term that simply refers to the sauce made with coconut milk mixed with a paste of peppers and spices, usually served topping a dish of meat, vegetables, and rice. It is commonly found in Indian and Thai cuisines. There are all kinds of curries from green, to red, to yellow, to massaman curries. All have slightly different tastes and ingredients, but they're all spicy and pepperful. You can use any meat you want, but chicken, beef, and lamb are the most common. You can also add any vegetables you feel are complementary to the flavors. For more info check out the Temple of Thai.

Check out our video: Thai Red Curry Recipe or see all Pressure Cooker Recipe Videos

Beef Thai Red Curry Recipe for the Pressure Cooker

Ingredients:
1 jar Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
(there are other brands, but this is what was at our local Wegman's)
1 (14 oz) can of coconut milk (we used full fat, you can use lite if you want)
1 Tbs olive oil
2 medium onions, quartered
1 large red bell pepper
1 cup water
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
3 lbs beef chuck roast
1 tsp kosher salt
4 - 6 red potatoes
1 cup rice (we used texmati brown)
2 Tbs dried basil (we didn't include this originally, but the basil flavor really made the sauce complete and when we make it again I will definitely be including it in the cooking process rather than adding it afterwards)

Pressure Cooker Recipe Steps:

First prepare all the meat and vegetables.

Cut the meat into 1 - 2 inch section, trimming any excess fat.

Chicken or beef - 1" chunks

Roughly cut the bell pepper, and quarter the onions.

Brown the onions and peppers in olive oil, until one side is slightly charred.

Brown the onions and peppers

Remove the vegetables and make the curry sauce:

add the cream from the top of the coconut milk, and deglaze the pan.
Then add all 4 oz of Thai curry paste and mix well.

Cook 4 - 6 minutes until bubbling and frying. (stir often)

Cook/fry the curry and coconut milk

Add the rest of the coconut milk, the water, and the rest of the ingredients (soy sauce, brown sugar, fish sauce, basil) and mix well.

Dump the beef, and vegetables back in, and top with whole red potatoes.

Add back all the ingredients

Optional: We decided to make this a complete one pot pressure cooker meal and cooked our rice at the same time. It worked perfectly.

Place the rice, with 2 cups water, in a metal bowl. Cover with a lid or tinfoil, and carefully place on top of the curry. (Gotta love double tasking and one pot meals)

Bring to pressure on high heat then immediately reduce the heat to the lowest setting that maintains pressure and cook for 12 minutes.

Pressure cook high for 12 minutes

Use the pressure cooker natural release method.

When you open the lid, carefully remove the rice bowl, and scoop some into the bowl first. Then top with curry, meat, and veggies.

Awesome flavours - a new favorite for us

Enjoy! If you are looking to mix up the flavors in your weekly meal rotation this is a great way to do it; we'll definitely be making it again.Similar Posts:

Pressure Cooker Cranberry Orange Chicken – Reader Submitted Recipe

Leslie — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:16:07 +0000

Cranberries are delicious. Ever since we made home-made cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving we have been trying to include cranberries wherever we can. In recipes, dried on salads and in oatmeal, we forgot just how sweet and tangy they can be, which is why I was so excited when we got this recipe submission from one of our readers.

Karl wrote in and shared his pressure cooker cranberry orange chicken recipe, and he even included photos and a detailed description. We had to try it and of course the cameras were rolling.

Check out our video recipe for Karl's pressure cooker cranberry orange chicken

We decided to go ahead and cook the rice in the pressure cooker the same time as the meat and sauce which turned out great. It couldn't have been much easier. Here's what his recipe calls for:

Pressure Cooker Cranberry Orange Chicken

Ingredients

2 tbsp. butter
1 chicken breast
2 chicken thighs
1 onion, chopped
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
2/3 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground Cinnamon
1/8 tsp. Allspice
1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Optional (for a more festive flavor)
1/4 cup fire roasted sweet red peppers
4 cardamon pods

Directions

Melt the butter and brown chicken in your pressure cooker.
Add the chopped onion (and peppers if you are using them) and cook till slightly translucent - about 3 - 5 minutes.

Add cranberries, orange juice, honey and spices, mix well. Make sure to deglaze the pan and really mix all the spices together.

We decided to make the rice in the pressure cooker at the same time as the chicken, making this a one-pot meal. To "double team it" like this is really easy, all you need to do is brown the chicken and make the sauce as per his original instructions, then place the metal stand on top of the chicken, add the uncooked rice to a metal bowl (1 cup rice to 2 cups water for white rice) and place on top. To make it easy to take the bowl out of the pressure cooker when everything is done, make foil handles.

This way, the rice will cook at the same time as the chicken and you get don't have to worry about the timing. If there is a little bit of extra water in your rice when you open the pressure cooker, don't worry - just stir it and let it sit for a few minutes and it will be absorbed. Karl used coconut rice, which would be great to try - really any kind would be good.

Bring to high pressure (15 psi) for 8 minutes, and then use the natural release method. That's it.

The resulting chicken, rice, and sauce is great. The spices and flavors of the cranberries and orange juice go really well together. If you are looking for a quick, weeknight meal, this is one to add to the rotation. Thanks for telling us about it, Karl!

Here are all the photos, Karl's are the first 4:

Thanks so much!

We love new recipes. If you have a favorite pressure cooker recipe and want to share we'd love to try it out. We have a "Reader Recipe Submission" page, and would love for you guys to share your pressure cooker experiences with us. It's so exciting to see what you make! If you send something in, we'll try to recreate the recipe, and then feature it on our site.Similar Posts:

200 Cookies in 40 Seconds – Merry Christmas

Leslie — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:27:33 +0000

Merry Christmas from our kitchen to yours.

Our family had fun making over 200 cookies in a pre-Christmas butter-using gut-busting binge-inducing bake off. We patched together a quick video to help celebrate.

No pressure cookers were used in the creation of these Christmas cookies, although we did consult with one first.

Here's a link to the video if the embeding isn't enabled: Baking 200 cookies in 40 seconds

While Thanksgiving is all about the pies, Christmas is all about the cookies. This year we made some old family favorites as well as some new delicious additions. We even tried the ambitious, and delicate, "no bakes."

There were many candies unwrapped, nuts chopped, and boxes of butter creamed with sugar. We joked about secret ingredients (which we share below...Shhhh!), remembered great family stories, and got ourselves covered in sugar and flour.

The end result was a fantastic day, and enough cookies to eat until your pants won't buckle, and still have some for gifts. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

Do you have a favorite holiday recipe? What are your family traditions at the holidays?

Here are our favorite Christmas Cookie Recipes:

We also uploaded a quick closeup video to show the different kinds.

Peanut Butter Blossoms:

1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbs. milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 bag Hershey's kisses

Mix everything (except the Hershey kisses) together, and roll into 1" (1 Tbs) balls. Place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading, and bake at 375 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes. Add the kisses, in the middle, for the last 2 minutes. Delicious! Makes about 2 dozen.

Snowballs aka Russian Tea Cakes:

1/2 cup shortening (this recipe requires shortening, not butter or margarine)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the first three ingredients well.

Add:
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Roll into 1 tsp. sized balls, and bake for 8 - 10 minutes at 375 degrees until the bottoms are just starting to brown when you roll them over.

While still hot, roll in a mixture of powdered sugar and sugar free raspberry jello mix. The raspberry jello is the secret ingredient that just makes them have a little more kick - and makes them a festive red.

Moist Cake-like Pumpkin Cookies:

1/2 cup butter (room temp is best)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 small can of pumpkin, just over 1/2 cup
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup flour

Cream the butter and sugars, and then mix in the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Add in flour, soda, powder, salt, and cinnamon and mix well. Dough will be very moist. Use two teaspoons to transfer to a cookie sheet, about 1 tbs dough placed 2 - 3 inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes, until cooked through but only barely browning. They will stay super moist. Optional: (before baking) top with chopped walnuts. Or after baking frost with cream cheese frosting, or a sugar glaze. I like the nut topping best.

"No Bakes" aka Chocolate Peanut Butter Awesomeness:

On the stove in a saucepan, mix:
2 cups sugar
3 Tbs. cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter

Bring the pot to a full boil, and let it boil for 5 minutes.

Take off the heat and immediately add:
2 tbs cold milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)

Bring back to a boil for 1 minute, and then spoon onto wax paper to cool. Dough will be gloopy but should set up in about 10 - 15 minutes. It will look shiny and still wet, but should be a soft, delicious cookie. (These are Ryan's favorites)

And the last, newest addition to the baking fiesta:

Diana's Heath Bark (tastes surprisingly like a Heath bar...

So Good!)

Ingredients:
Saltine crackers
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 bag chocolate chips (or dark chocolate, or peanut butter chips...)
(optional) chopped nuts, pretzels, any topping you'd like...

Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil, and add saltine crackers end to end like a quilt.
On the stovetop, mix the butter and sugar, and melt. Let boil for 3 minutes until a syrup is formed. Pour and spread evenly over the crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes until just starting to brown. While still hot and bubbly, melt the chocolate chips evenly over the top. Add any toppings you'd like. Place in the freezer for an hour until everything is solid again. Break apart by hand, and enjoy the crunchy, sweet, explosion of flavor. (and don't tell anyone that the secret ingredient is the saltines until after they try a piece...)

We have so many awesome things planned for 2012. Here's to the start of a fantastic New Year. Cheers, and happy cooking!Similar Posts:

Fagor Pressure Cooker Giveaway – Last Chance to Enter

Leslie — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:00:51 +0000

Hi everyone. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving last week.

This is just a quick reminder that the contest for a FREE Fagor 6qt pressure cooker ends tonight at midnight. If you haven't done so already you can enter at the contest page on our website.

Good luck to all the entrants.

The family Thanksgiving table. I can't believe we missed getting a photo when all the food was brought out.

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Recipe for Stuffing – Homemade Stuffing with Sausage in a Pressure Cooker

Leslie — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:09:20 +0000

There is heated debate over the terms for this bready side-dish. Is it "stuffing" or "dressing?"

One of my friends always tells the funny story of how as a child his grandma asked him to bring the dressing to the table, so he got out the Ranch and Thousand Island. He was slightly confused because they weren't having salad that day, but he brought them over to the table anyway. When his grandma came back in she was flabbergasted, she meant turkey dressing! He had never heard the term, and they both had a good laugh. So even among family, the use isn't always consistent.

As you can probably guess, traditionally stuffing was the term used if the mixture was cooked directly in the animal it was accompanying, while dressing was used if it was baked along side. That makes this dish technically dressing.

Now the terms are generally interchangeable, and whatever you grew up using is likely the word you use. We always used the term stuffing in my family, so even though this isn't baking in our turkey, I'm still calling it "stuffing." And it is a very delicious, homemade stuffing that couldn't get much easier to make.

This recipe is incredibly easy, and would be very easy to tailor to fit your favorite family stuffing/dressing recipe. We used sausage, but you could also use giblets (or both), and you could substitute corn bread for the crumbled bread if you prefer.

Here's our basic homemade stuffing recipe:

1 lb sausage and/or giblets, casing removed and meat diced
3 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
5 - 6 cups crumbled bread
Seasoning: 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp sage
1.5 - 2 cups broth (vegetable, chicken, or even turkey, is fine)

First step, if you don't buy the pre-made crumbled bread, is to make your own. Take some stale bread and slice it thinly. Place on a baking sheet, and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees, flipping at least once. The bread should come out crispy like croutons. Then you can break them apart, or chop them to the consistency you'd like in your stuffing.

Then comes the stuffing itself:
Saute the meat in the melted butter. Make sure its thoroughly browned.

Then add in the chopped onion and celery until they become translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add in the crumbled bread and spices - toss well to mix.

Finally, add the broth. You'll want the finished product to be wet enough to stick together if you squeeze it, but not so wet as to be mushy. Keep in mind that very little moisture will be lost by pressure cooking.

Place the whole mixture into a metal bowl, and top with a tight fitting lid or foil cover.

Add 1 cup water to the bottom of the pressure cooker, and place the bowl inside on the rack or stand so that the bottom of the bowl is not in the water.

Bring to pressure (15 psi) and cook for 15 minutes, then use the natural release method.

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Turkey Stock – Making Turkey Stock in a Pressure Cooker

Leslie — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:49:58 +0000

Making homemade turkey stock with in a pressure cooker couldn't get much simpler. If you are unfamiliar with making stocks or broths just think of extracting the flavors and nutrients from meats vegetables and spices, then draining away the solids for a perfect base for homemade soups or risotto. The ingredients are removed at the end because the flavor of the ingredients is the only thing that matters, stock is often made with left over-ingredients and by-products such as bones, that couldn't be used elsewhere.

Take a look at our turkey stock video recipe (view all video recipes)

How to Make Homemade Turkey Stock

Step 1: Break up turkey bones, add veggies

Start by breaking up your cooked turkey carcass and adding it to the pressure cooker. Add 1 or 2 chopped carrots and onions into the mix.

Step 2: Add water and seasonings

Add enough water to cover all the bones by about 2 inches (maybe around 6 quarts). Add 1 Tbs pepper (we used whole peppercorns), parsley, bay leaves, and about 1 tsp salt.

Step 3: Pressure cooker for 45 minutes

Stir, then lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. It seems like a long time but we need to really release all the flavors and nutrients from the bones and remaining meat. After the time is up follow the instructions for the natural release method.

Step 4: Strain

Using another large pot and a straining or a cheesecloth, strain the broth to remove the bones and whole vegetable pieces.

Step 5: Use or separate and freeze

We separated the stock into 2 serving portions and put a few in the fridge (to be used within a few days) and froze the rest.

One sign of a great stock is if it gels once it's cooled. I know it sounds (and looks) a little icky but if all the wonderful and super healthy nutrients is pulled out of the bone marrow you can get a nice thickening result. (a quick heating returns it to its liquidy brothy goodness)

Making your own stock after cooking a chicken or a turkey is so simple that it's become just the next step in the recipe for us. We love having all the ingredients for great homemade soups right there at the ready.

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving and wish everyone the best this holiday.

Similar Posts:

How to Cook a Turkey in a Pressure Cooker – Our Adventure Cooking a Turkey in 1 Hour

Leslie — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:35:27 +0000

As part of our Thanksgiving Challenge, we decided to try and figure out how to cook a turkey in our pressure cooker. It couldn't be that hard... I mean a chicken is easy and a turkey is just an over-sized chicken, right?

It turns out this recipe was one of the hardest we've done so far. The result was juicy, flavorful, and very moist, but it was also tricky to execute. We ended up making two turkeys to get the recipe right.

Here's what happened:

How to Cook a Turkey (Pressure cooker try #1)

Step 1: Buy a turkey.
We knew that our 8 quart pressure cooker would need the smallest turkey we could find. We set out to our local grocery store late one night, and happened to get lucky - there was a whole case of "L'il Butterballs" all between 9 - 11 pounds. We picked the smallest one and went home to see if it would fit.

The 9.8 pound bird did fit, barely. We put it in the refrigerator to defrost. So far so good.

We have a lot more story to tell but I am too excited to hold back our final recipe video. The story continues below.

How to cook a turkey in a pressure cooker video recipe (View all pressure cooker recipes)

Step 2: Cook the turkey.
Here is where things got tough. How long should we cook a whole turkey? The few recipes I found said 40 minutes for a 10 - 12 pound bird. Since we cooked our chicken for just over 20 minutes, and this was near triple the size of our usual chickens, it seemed right. To be honest, I was initially afraid it wouldn't be long enough.

I followed the general chicken recipe and browned all four sides of the bird in the pressure cooker. This was not as easy as it sounded. The turkey was such a tight fit that getting a grip with cooking tongs was actually quite tricky. Eventually, with some help from Ryan, we were able to get it all done.

By the time it was browned sufficiently the oil on the bottom of the pan was too hot and had to be cooled before we could fully de-glaze the pan. And speaking of de-glazing the pan - how much water would we need? Again following the sources I found for cooking times, I added 2 cups of water. (You can actually see the 2 cup measure in the video if you look for it.)

Browning all sides was tough to do, a separate pan may have been easier

Now it was time to cook at pressure. Putting the turkey in, making sure it was off the bottom and not blocking the pressure release valve, we brought it to high pressure, set the timer for 40 minutes, and waited.

Step 3: Open and serve.

When I opened the lid I was surprised at how much fluid there was. Well over half the turkey was in water. I read the label on the turkey and found the reason: 6% flavor and moisture injection. I guess when you roast a turkey in a dry oven you need all the additional moisture you can get. However, the released juices (it didn't help that it was overcooked), coupled with the two cups I added, were more than enough. I ended up just using the juices in my stock.

After the initial shock of how much liquid there was, came the really hard part - getting the turkey out. I had a pair of tongs that I was planning on using to get under the backbones and lift the turkey out, but that didn't exactly work. The turkey was overcooked. In fact, every time I tried to grab the bones, they fell out!

We carefully plopped the turkey on a platter and tried to salvage what we could. The meat was extremely flavorful, but a little tough and stringy - it was definitely over cooked! We couldn't post this recipe for you guys without at least another attempt to get it right, so we wen't back to step 1, buy another turkey.

A little overcooked, back to step 1

How to Cook a Turkey (Pressure cooker try #2)

Step 1 (again): Buy a turkey
This wasn't as easy the second time. It was closer to Thanksgiving and while the store had lots of turkeys not one of them was under 15 pounds! Ryan even found the dedicated turkey employee who said they ran out of the small ones and weren't planning on ordering more. Luckily another grocery store is only a few miles away, so we went there to see if they had any small turkey's. No dice.

We thought for a while about what to do, and remembered yet another grocery store just a few miles away and decided to try one last time. We got there late at night again, and found the turkey section. Success! They had two turkeys under 10 pounds. We picked the smallest one (9.6 lbs) and checked out. This grocery store was having a crazy sale so the turkey was less than a turkey sandwich at their sub shop would have been... insane.

We got home, and decided to let the turkey defrost naturally again.

Step 2 (repeat): Cook the Turkey.
After two days we went to cook the turkey, but it wasn't fully defrosted in the middle and we had to finish defrosting it by submerging in cold water for about an hour. That worked and we were ready for take two of the Turkey Challenge.

This time we decided to brown the turkey in a separate pan, to make turning it easier. It was much easier, and if you do decide to do this recipe I would recommend using that method.

The second time around we browned the turkey in a separate pan

We knew we had to cut back the cook time substantially - but how much? We thought about it, and about how overcooked the first one was, and decided to go for 3 minutes a pound, or about 30 minutes. We also cut the water back to 1 cup because I knew the turkey would be adding its own as it cooked.

This turkey was smaller than the last one, so we thought it would be easy to fit inside the pressure cooker when we went to cook it. We thought wrong... it was smaller in weight, but longer in body. This one we really had to jam in there to fully fit. In fact, it was such a tight fit that we almost brought out our much larger pressure canner to use instead. Luckily we got it to fit with just a little bit of effort, and brought the pressure to high (15 psi) for 30 minutes plus natural release.

This time when I opened the lid there was a lot of liquid, but not as much. Also, the meat was pulled back from the edges of the bones, but not as badly. And the biggest improvement - when I grabbed the turkey with the tongs, it held! Unfortunately the joints holding the legs and wings to the body were weakened, and they had to be taken out separately, but the main body wasn't falling apart like the first one. We called it a success and plated the meal.

Attempt two was a success

Again, it tasted fantastic, full of moisture and flavor. And every part was cooked all the way through.

Delicious moist turkey

Moral of this story? We tried something crazy, as part of a challenge, and I'm willing to call it a success. But because of the difficulty in execution, I don't think I'd try it again next year. I definitely would try a turkey breast, though. And because we cooked two turkeys, we got tons of homemade stock. One thing is certain - the homemade stock is awesome and the pressure cooker does a great job blasting the flavors, gelatin, and nutrients from the bones. I think it was some of the best stock I've made so far, even beating our usual chicken stock. That recipe is a keeper.

If you have a pressure canner, or a small turkey/turkey breast, and try pressure cooking it, please let us know how it comes out. There aren't a lot of resources out there for pressure cooking turkeys, and we'd love to add your personal experiences to the mix for others to learn from.

Here's what worked for us in the end. (a quick summary of our findings)

Pressure Cooker Turkey Recipe

1. Look for a small turkey and make sure it fits on top of the rack all the way inside the pressure cooker without touching the lid. (A 9.5lb bird was about the max our 8-quart pressure cooker could handle)

2. Make sure the turkey is fully defrosted. (You'll need about 24 hours in the fridge for every four pounds)

3. Heat 2 Tbs oil in the pressure cooker or in a bigger pan and brown and season all sides of the turkey. We used kosher salt, pepper, oregano and parsley.

4. Cook for 28 minutes our ~3 minutes per pound at high (15 psi) pressure. When the time is up use the natural release method.

5. Open the lid and carefully plate the turkey. You can also broil in the over for a few minutes for a crispy browned skin.

I hope this recipe was helpful and if you have any tips or questions please let us know.

Have a great Thanksgiving!Similar Posts:

How to Make Mashed Potatoes – 6 Minute Pressure Cooker Recipe for Mashed Potatoes

Leslie — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:41:16 +0000

Mashed potatoes are easy to make, but they can be tricky to get right.

If you are boiling potatoes and leave them in large pieces they take a long time to cook. If you cut them small, they cook faster but can get a little water logged.

Pressure cooking potatoes has several advantages: First, you don't have to do much cutting, quarters is all that's required. Second, since there isn't any soaking at all you don't risk a watery spud as cooking with steam actually keeps the potatoes drier, not to mention and the added time savings.

We had some fun with this super fast pressure cooker recipe. Here's what we did:

View our How to Make Mashed Potatoes video Recipe (View all Pressure Cooker Video Recipes)

Use the pressure cooker steamer basket

Like most vegetables cooked in a pressure cooker, you'll want to use the steamer rack or basket. This allows the steam to reach the potatoes, but keeps the them out of the water in the bottom. We used the basket that came with our pressure cooker, but you could use any metal steamer you have around, as long as it elevates the vegetables above the water line.

This basic mashed potato recipe is super easy and you will have no problem adapting it in your own favorite way. Just like normal water-in-pot mashed potatoes, you first cook, then mash, and finally add the "extras" like cream, buttermilk, butter, sage, garlic, cheddar cheese etc. We like our mashed potatoes with the skin (extra nutrition/flavor), and cooked with garlic, but you really could make them any way you want.

How to Make Mashed Potatoes

Step 1. Wash (we like to leave the skins on)

Step 2. Cut into quarters and place the potatoes in the steamer basket

Step 3: Add 1 cup water to the pressure cooker

Step 4: Pressure cook for 6 minutes at high pressure, then follow the instructions for natural release

Step 5: Mash, then add your favorite toppings, then maybe mash again

What's your favorite mashed potatoes topping?

Charlie through the masher

Looking for a standard recipe for mashed potatoes?
Here's our favorite at The Pioneer Woman CooksSimilar Posts:

The Great Thanksgiving Challenge – Free Pressure Cooker Giveaway

Leslie — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:37:34 +0000

In the spirit of all things new and fun we are inviting you to the Great Thanksgiving Challenge.

That's right. Come on over and join us at the kid's table for an elbows out non-boring small talk free haven of good food made fast. Ok, it's not always about making things quick, but it is about learning something new.

We challenged ourselves to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner in our pressure cooker, and the weird thing is I think it worked.

Yes we overcooked our first turkey and had to make another one (it was still pretty good just basically falling off the bones), and we had to make the cornbread twice because we ate the first batch before the video compilation day, but it was worth it. We learned how to make new recipes and more about the advantages and disadvantages to pressure cooking.

Here's what we made (remaining posts over the next few days):
How to cook a turkey
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Cornbread
Green Beans & Toasted Almonds
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing
Turkey Stock
Pumpkin Cheesecake

The Great Thanksgiving Challenge

Here's what we are challenging you to do:

1. Try to make something new this holiday.

Cooking Newbies: If you are new to cooking we challenge you to take that first step and try something simple, it doesn't need to be a pressure cooker recipe or an all day thing, just find something that you know everybody really loves, find some cool videos showing how to make it, and take a stab at it.
Cooking regulars:If you are a regular cooker maybe take a step back and try something completely from scratch, or really dig down into a recipe and understand what makes it work. For example we've "made" green bean casserole before, but what we really did was maybe more assembling than making. Take some extra time this holiday and really get dirty. An awesome example is Alton Brown's Green Bean Casserole. (he's the master)

2. Share what you know

Maybe you just learned it, maybe you've known it since you were 8. Share a recipe, show someone how to make something, tell them the carrots are purple because they came from the farmer's market. Cooking is about sharing and that's what we challenge you to do.

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser

In honor of the Great Thanksgiving Challenge:

We are giving away a Free Pressure Cooker

Free Fagor Splendid 6 qt Pressure Cooker

We are excited to give away to one lucky winner a 6 qt Fagor Splendid stainless steel pressure cooker! All we ask is that you try the challenge above (honor system, but we would love to hear about what you did) and help us spread the word below. The contest goes until November 30th, 2011. (If you don't want or need a cooker maybe it's a good way to cross someone off your list. :~D )

There are a few ways to enter and you can do one or all of the following methods once for extra chances. You can use just your first name and e-mail in the options below if you want. Here's how to enter:

Good luck in the contest.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We can't thank everyone enough for your questions, comments and feedback. We love hearing from you.

P.S. If you haven't done so already, shake off those pre-Thanksgiving advertising messages and take the pledge to respect the bird.
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Homemade Cranberry Sauce – Fresh Cranberry Sauce Recipe in 5 Minutes

Leslie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:17:33 +0000

In 1787, James Madison wrote Thomas Jefferson in France for background information on constitutional government. Jefferson replied by sending a number of books on the subject and in return asked for a gift of apples, pecans and cranberries.

He must have wanted to make homemade cranberry sauce.

Homemade cranberry sauce video recipe. (View all pressure cooker recipe videos)

It makes sense but I was shocked to learn that only 5% of today's cranberries are dry picked and sold fresh. The vast majority produced in the United States are quickly frozen, dried, or processed into juices and shape holding mounds of that most delicious jellied sauce.

Now we absolutely love the canned stuff. It has been the tradition at both our family's dinners since as far back as we can remember. We still love the canned stuff (even with the corn syrup) but this recipe is nothing like it; it's sweet, tart, tangy, and bursting with flavor. Comparing the two would be like comparing broccoli and cauliflower, they both look similar but the flavor is totally different. Now that I've tried homemade cranberry sauce, and have seen how easy and fast it is to make, I don't think I could go back to eating the jelly again.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe:

This recipe is currently set up to make just about 12 ounces of cranberry sauce or the same amount you'd find in that can (serves around 4-6). You can easily just double everything (keep the cook time the same) for larger gatherings.

Ingredients
4 cups rinsed berries
1 1/2 inches ginger (cut into 1/4 inch slices)
1/2 cup squeezed tangerine juice
1 cup sugar

It really couldn't get much easier.

Step 1: Rinse the cranberries

Step 2: Add the ginger, juice, and sugar

Step 3: Pressure cook for 15 minutes

Step 4: Follow the quick release method

Since it's so acidic it should last for 3-4 weeks in the fridge no problem.

We love this recipe but there are tons of great variations out there. Do you make your own cranberry sauce? What's your favorite recipe?

Oh, I almost forgot. If you are looking for a recipe that jells here are a few to consider:
Jellied Cranberry Sauce @ Vegan Yum Yum
Jellied sauce @ Pick Your OwnSimilar Posts: