Sunday, May 3, 2020

Cinnamon swirl bread

Check out that cinnamon swirl on this mornings baking adventure! Ignore my poor bread cutting skills. This is a winner and was really easy to create.

Slight adaptions to the recipe: 1/3 cup of milk and reduced water by 1/3, I used vegetable oil for the vegetable shortening, and I omitted the raisins.

Recipe: https://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/cinnamon-raisin-bread/


Thursday, March 26, 2020

Instant Pot: Chicken Gnocchi Soup & Chicken

Tasty instant pot gnocchi soup!
I made 4 frozen chicken breast per the directions (yes 0 minutes!) and I’ll make chicken salad with the rest. I did add onion and garlic powders because I like it. I didn’t use rosemary. Sometimes I use poultry seasoning. Then I used the cooking liquid/broth in the soup!
The directions don’t include this but... Do not dump the flour into the soup at the end or you’ll end up with big clumps. Mix it separately with the hot broth until it’s thin enough to pour and stir back into the soup.
I used whole milk instead of half and half. I doubled the gnocchi to use the entire pack. I used garlic and onion powders instead of fresh.
I found out the purpose of the “Soup” button!
It got creamier and thicker by my second bowl but I didn’t take a new picture.

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Instant Pot: Jook

Instant Pot Jook, Rice Porridge, Congee
1 cup rice, 6-7 cups chicken broth. 20 minutes on high pressure (you can use the porridge button) and then let it natural release, took about 30 minutes.
Added 3/4 tsp powder ginger, handful of scallions, a shake of white pepper, drizzle of sesame oil, and 2 cups of poached chopped chicken.
Chicken breast was poached with Magic Seasoning by Tastefully Simple, chopped, and frozen. Stirred everything in after the rice was done and let it sit for a few minutes to thaw.

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Instant Pot: Chicken and Dumplings

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-chicken-and-dumplings

Instant Pot: Beef Plov

https://natashaskitchen.com/instant-pot-rice-recipe-beef-plov

Instant Pot: Beef and Broccoli

https://www.paintthekitchenred.com/instant-pot-lo-mein-with-beef-and-broccoli

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Instant Pot: Steel Cut Oatmeal

This was steel cut oats made in my instant pot!
1 cup of steel cut oats
1.5 cups of water
1.5 cups of milk (or water, use milk of your choice, I used whole milk, but almond and others work from what I’ve read)
Optional: 1 diced apple
Stir. High pressure 15 minutes and then natural pressure release.
And now you can go crazy with the fixings!
Suggestions for yummy things to stir in: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1-2 tsp vanilla, 1 tbsp brown sugar, healthy drizzle of honey/maple syrup, handful of raisins or walnuts, add berries or sliced banana.

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Friday, April 26, 2019

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef
Adapted from https://therecipecritic.com/slow-cooker-barbacoa-beef/
serves our family of 4

Served with rice and guac on a tortilla... taco style!

Ingredients
4 lbs chuck roast
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups beef broth
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, cut in half
2 bay leaves
3 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp salt, then more to taste
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cloves
¼ cup fresh lime juice (I used lemon since that is what I had on hand)

Instructions
1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, set to high for 6-8 hours.
2. Shred the meat with two forks and turn on warm.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Slow Cooker Korean Beef

Slow Cooker Korean Beef
Adapted from: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/237005/simple-slow-cooked-korean-beef-soft-tacos/
Serves 4-6

We loved the tastefully simple seasoning sauce but it was discontinued. My family was so upset as it is one of their favorites! This was very good and all the kids were excited to eat it!

Ingredients
1 (3 pound) beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2 inch chunks
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
10 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)
1 star anise
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Put chuck roast into the crock of a slow cooker; add onion, brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, jalapeno pepper, ginger root, rice vinegar, sesame oil, salt, and pepper.
Cook on High for 8 hours (or on Low for 10 hours). Remove star anise. Shred meat with a pair of forks and stir into the liquid in the slow cooker.
Serve over rice or noodles.

Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot
Browned chuck roast, removed, added spices/ liquid/scraped the bottom, put meat back in, 45 minutes pressure, 10 min NPR. Served with rice, topped with scallions!

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Flourless fudge cookies

Tricky recipe, read the King Arthur Flour site for additional tips and troubleshooting. Mine came out more like meringues and the site cookies were round and flat. 

Flourless Fudge Cookies
Adapted from: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/flourless-fudge-cookies-recipe
Makes 18 tbsp cookies

2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cocoa powder
3 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions
Lightly grease two baking sheets. Or line with parchment, and grease the parchment. Yes, grease the parchment; these cookies are sticky, and need to be baked on a greased surface.
Whisk together the egg whites and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, except for the chips/nuts/fruit. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and stir again until smooth. The sticky batter will be the consistency of a thick syrup. Add the chips and/or nuts, if you're using them.
Drop the syrupy batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3" circles (for large cookies), or 1 3/4" to 2" circles (for smaller cookies); a tablespoon cookie scoop or teaspoon cookie scoop, respectively, work well here. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bake the cookies for 7 minutes (for smaller cookies), 8 to 9 minutes for the larger cookies; they should spread slightly, become somewhat shiny, and develop faintly crackly tops. Note: large cookies with added chips/nuts will need to bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool right on the pan. When they're nearly cool, carefully loosen them from the pan with a spatula.