Crock Pot or Instant Pot Challenge WEEK #4 !!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving was the first day of this week. Can you believe it? Wow, almost done with this challenge. We used the instant pot for potatoes on Thanksgiving. And the ham was in the crock pot.
The Ham: This was a carvemaster ham from costco, and I just sliced it thin, and put the whole thing into the crock pot, with the juices in the package. Set it on low early in the morning so it was ready at 2pm. Because of little kids, I put it in a dish for serving so they could reach.

 The Spuds..  were fabulous! All we did was peel some russett potatoes, cut them into chunks and put them in the instant pot with 2 cups of water. Then we set it to steam for 8 minutes. Yes, some stuck to the bottom, but they were cooked and we mashed them, then my kiddo added half and half, garlic and parmesan.. The flavor was great!

This was my 8-qt instant pot. We only cooked up 15 potatoes. Creamy deliciousness

Drew's World Famous Garlic Mash
3 1/2 pounds of russet or Idaho Gold's potatoes, peeled and chunked evenly
Sauce: 2 TBS kosher salt
2 cups half and half
8 - 10 cloves of minced garlic
6 ounces of fresh grated parmesan cheese

Boil spuds in salted water until soft. While those cook, gently bring salt, half and half, garlic to low simmer. When spuds are done cooking and soft. DRAIN. Mash, then add sauce. Stir well. Then stir in parmesan cheese.
Serve with or with out gravy. Serve with a great side like filet mignon, lobster tail, or meat. Best with friends and family.

November 25.. I made a butternut squash soup in my crock pot. I didn't really follow a recipe. I roasted diced butternut squash, and one russett potato, an onion, and some garlic. AFter I roasted it in the oven for some more flavor, I put all that into the crock pot with chicken bone broth, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Set on low for about 6 hours. Then just before serving, I pulled out the bayleaf and used my stick blender to make it smooth. This soup was yummy and comforting. We had this with Thanksgiving leftovers.. I put the turkey in a glass casserole, poured the gravy over than, then the potatoes on top of that. I also rewarmed the leftover ham.   Nothing left, and everyone was full.

November 29th, I made up more hard eggs. Yes, I think I do this atleast weekly. We eat a lot of eggs, they are a complete protein and good for you. Again, did these in the instant pot. That was the end of Week 4.

I hope everyone was able to use their crock pots and instant pots this month. We use them often, but I think once life slows down a little, we will change our menu.. I am getting bored. It's hard when you are gluten free, soy free, corn free, and sugar free. I try but don't always succeed. 

CROCK Pot Or INSTANT Pot Challenge Week #3

Well, hello.. um, I've been using my instant pot this week and .. um.. forgot to post !!  WOOPS!
November 16th I went grocery shopping, and I was able to get more eggs, hurrah, as we are out. 

BUT when I got home I immediately put 18 into my 6qt instant pot in a collander, added 1 cup cold water, and place the lid and steamed them for 3 minutes, then natural release for 10 minutes. Then plunged them into  ice water to stop the cooking, and ate the one that cracked. WHILE the instant pot was working I was able to separate out 6 pounds of ground turkey for future meals.

November 18  Well today we are doing a baked potato bar. BUT I need my oven for the bacon. So I will be using my instant pot to "bake" some russet potatoes. This is so easy, and they taste good.. and the skin stays soft so it is edible.

 Put your open flying saucer into the bottom of inner liner. Add 1 cup of cold water. Place spuds onto the flying saucer. Close lid and steam for 12 to 15 minutes. Let natural release for 10 minutes, sometimes more. Then open and serve.

They were delicious with optional toppings of chili, cheese, chicken, bacon, and ranch. Served with a side salad. DELICIOUS.
Well, in order to have fridge space for Thanksgiving, I think we will be eating leftovers for a few days. But I will be making potatoes in the instant pot for Thanksgiving, rolls, and a ham. We do it potluck style here so the kids each make something to add, and we are having family coming from out of town, and they will be adding to it too.

November  21, Deviled eggs.. One of my favorite things for Thanksgiving sides! Of course I cooked all 39 eggs in my 8-qt Instant Pot Lux. I really do love my instant pots! This is the last day of week 3. What did I do? I steamed up 39 eggs for the deviled eggs.

Mary's Deviled Eggs
24 hard boiled eggs, completely cold
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp ground black pepper
sweet or dill relish or pickle juice, cold
12 TBS (3/4 cup) mayo, cold
paprika

Cut eggs in half lenghtwise, and place yolks into bowl, and whites on plates. Mash up yolks, then add other ingredients. Pickle amounts and type depend on your taste. Whip until smooth or blended. Put into whites of eggs; sprinkle or garnish with paprika. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Makes 48 halves

Crock pot OR Instant Pot Challenge Week #1

Today is the first of the month, and this week's challenge runs from November 1 - 7. Let the sharing begin, and the eating, and getting those dusty recipes out you wanted to try but haven't. You don't have to do it everyday, but try to get one done at least once a week. I will post my pictures and recipes for this week here, after I make them. I kind of have a menu plan, but it doesn't mean I stick to it.

November 1st: Spaghetti Sauce

2 TBS of olive oil, bacon grease or butter
2 bay leaves
1medium onion, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. can tomato paste
2 - 16 oz. cans tomato sauce
28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 to 2 palmfuls of sugar

Caramelize onions in fat over med-low heat. Then stir in garlic to cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. . Add everything to crock pot, stir and cook on high 3 hours or low 6 hours. Or simmer on low for 1.5 hours in stock pot on stove.

I will brown up some hamburger or other ground meat and add a palmful of italian seasoning to it while it browns in a little water. When meat is cooked through I add a few ladles of finished sauce to desired consistency for spaghetti and sauce, or lasagna in a bun or pizza.

***I usually double the recipe and use a #10 can of tomato sauce instead of the other tomato products. Regular recipe uses 66 oz of tomato product, a #10 can is 105 to 110 oz. of tomato sauce. Still comes out good.

November 3rd: APPLESAUCE

The one on the right has cinnamon on it, the other one is plain, for now. I did applesauce back in 2012 too. Hubby bought a bushel of apples last week, and they were not crisp or juicy. So I decided to make applesauce with them. I peeled, quartered, cored, and then put the apples through the vidalia chop wizard, the BIG dice. And filled two 5-qt crock pots. Added a few splashes of lemon juice, then added cinnamon. I love the flavor of cinnamon in my applesauce. These will cook on low all night, and I will Water Bath Can (WBC) them in the morning, most likely in pints.
If you click on the title for this date, it will take you to my post about applesauce.

November 4th: EGGS, Carne Asada and "Mud" ! !

I LOVE how hard boiled eggs come out in the instant pot. They peel easily, and so simple. I prefer using large eggs, and I just put 1 cup of cold water into the inner pot, put in a flying saucer.

This is a flying saucer, aka steamer.

So put this shiny flying saucer into the inner liner of the instant pot.Add at least 1 cup of water.

Now it is ready for your eggs. I put in 18 large eggs today. These are not farm fresh eggs, although we all prefer those. Put the lid on, seal, and set to STEAM for 3 minutes. Then let natural pressure release for 10 minutes. I then take off the lid and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking.

My little guy likes to help in the kitchen, he was making sure all the eggs were under the ice.

They were, and once they were cold, we dried them, placed them in a plastic bag and put into the fridge.. I did snitch a hot egg, so yummy with a touch of salt.
If you do FRESH farm eggs from heavy breeds, then steam for 4 minutes. If they are bantam eggs, then steam for 2 or 3 minutes. I am not really sure, as I didn't have any bantam eggs when I had the instant pot. Duck eggs are a minimum of 4 minutes, possible 5 it really depends on how large they are. 

Next I had put some Carne Asada into my other instant pot. I am not sure which recipe I used, I found it in a google search, but it used juice from one orange, one lime and one lemon, and some chili powders, onion, garlic... It was not well received. We so wanted it to be yummy, but instead it just tasted like beef that was acid cooked, and the texture was just off. We still ate it as beef is $$$, but not a recipe we will be keeping.This is what was left.

After the eggs were done, I quickly used that instant pot again to make a "mud" cake. Again, not impressed, so not sharing the recipe. It was tough, too sweet yet bland, and blah. Nobody really liked it, and we all love a true mud cake.

Here it is, the "mud" in the instant pot before I put the lid on.  Next I put the lid on and cooked it for the 25 minutes on manual.

When it was fresh out it was softer, but looked rubbery. We let it sit a few minutes as it was so very hot.

We served the "mud" with some ice cream, as it needed it, but what I think it really needed was just some half and half. Again, NOT IMPRESSED. We will stick with the crock pot mud, that we love.
All in all this Sunday dinner was... not to be repeated. EVER.

November 6th: Loaded Southwestern Roasted Cauliflower Bisque

Honestly, when this was done I did not like the smell. But I took that first bite, and WOW, YUMMY.
If you click on the name, it is a link to the recipe. I am so glad I found this, it was good.
My changes. I used my Saratoga Jack Thermal Cooker, and made this at lunch time. Then at dinner time, heated up a little more, and pureed, then stirred in sour cream as I did not have half and half or heavy cream.

My girls and my little man did not love this. But they ate it. Everyone older than 18 had more than one bowl. It was yummy. And I am having the leftovers for lunches..

November 7th: More hard boiled eggs in the instant pot.
Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week!!

Amazing little GF muffins

I accidently found this recipe this morning. I now have so many food restrictions that it is getting more difficult to find fun things to eat. this little gem is flour free! Can be made sugar free! The texture is like a light fluffy muffin! Love it. Unfortunately this is not a nut free recipe. But there are so many options out there for nut and seed butters. No, you may not use cow butter or ghee. Sorry.

I found this amazing recipe over at Whole Lifestyle Nutrition. A great site for those looking for better options. I will post the recipe as is posted on the site, then put in my changes at the end. I highly recommend you visit the site, lots of great stuff over there.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 12 muffins or 24 mini muffins

Serving Size: 1 regular muffin or 2 mini muffins

Recipe adapted from The Sweet Spot

Ingredients

• 1 cup nut butter - you can buy nut butters here
• 2 medium sized bananas (The more ripe, the sweeter!)
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (try making your own!)
• 2 tablespoons of raw honey(or other sweeteners such as maple syrup, stevia, etc.)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• Toppings: dehydrated unsweetened coconut flakes, raisins, flaxseed, dark chocolate chips, cinnamon, and/or anything else you can think of. I added even more tupelo honey ;) Feel free to lather on apple butter, strawberry preserves, or even more peanut butter. Ever heard of carrot jam? It's very tasty with this snack, too!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor. You can also use a stick blender if you have one.
3. Blend until well mixed.
4. Pour batter into a greased muffin tin. You can also use a mini muffin tin to make 24 mini muffins.
5. Add additional toppings of your choice to each muffin and lightly stir into each cup
6. Cook time: 15 minutes for full size muffins and 10 minutes for mini muffins.
7. Reheat in a toaster oven for about 4 minutes at 350 degrees F, or eat at room temperature.

Notes: I first made this in a half batch. I used half almond and have peanut butter. I used 1 1/2 TBS RAW honey, and I added 1/4 cup mini gf chocolate chips. I also used my stick blender to blend them.

What I would do next time: use a riper banana (mostly brown almost black), only use peanut butter. Taste the batter and check for sweetness.. maybe use a little more honey, but using a riper banana will help with sweetness as well.

The texture was NOT rubbery, was NOT dense, WAS light and fluffy, like a normal muffin.

This one is being printed and being put into my GF recipe file.

Definetly also check out Averie Cooks  These little GF puffs look very promising, although not dairy free, I am wondering if they can be made with a dairy free alternative. Like dairy free sour cream (for those who are DF). 

 

Chocolate Pots De Creme

Yes it is a dessert. But do you know how hard it is to find a dessert that is CF, GF, DF,  & SF that isn't just cut up fruit????? Super difficult! You can use any milk, any sweetener, and any extract you desire. Sorry, no picture, I have made this twice this week, and it just disappears too quickly!

Chocolate Pots De Creme
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips*
1 cup half and half **
2 eggs***
3 tablespoons sugar ****
2 tablespoons rum*****
dash of salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat chocolate chips and half and half, stir until melted and combined. Take off heat. Cool slightly. Beat remaining ingredients. Gradually stir into chocolate mixture. Pour through a fine strainer into four 6-ounce custard cups or a corning ware dish.
Place cups or corning ware dish in pan on oven rack. Pour boiling water into pan to with in 1/2-inch of tops of cups. Bake 20 minutes for cups and 25 to 30 minutes for corning ware dish. Cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serves 4

*we used GF, CF, SF, DF semisweet chocolate, or dark baking chocolate (we prefer dark chocolate, for flavor and health benefits)
**I have used half and half, whole cow milk, coconut milk, almond coconut milk..
***we used organic farm fresh eggs (our own)
****I have used sugar, honey, and agave nectar.  I prefer honey. If using honey or agave nectar only use half as much as called for in recipe
*****NO rum here. But I have used a tablespoon of GF, CF REAL vanilla extract, GF/CF almond extract (1/2 tsp and then the rest vanilla)

This recipes is super easy to make, super easy to make dietary restrictions work in. ALL my kids love it. NO I do not refrigerate it for 4 hours. I let it cool 20 minutes, then stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes, and whalaa, yumminess.. if I can keep the kids out of it that long.  Yes I do strain it so there are no chewy egg chunks, which happens when the eggs curdle.. yuck.. But it still tastes good.