About Food, Family, Love, and Healing
A word about leftovers- I am not talking about reheating something in the microwave. I usually reheat leftovers in the oven. Most leftovers perk up if you moisten them with a bit of chicken broth and reheat them covered in a 350 degree oven about 30 minutes. When we were first married my husband did not like leftovers. When he realized his choices were leftovers, cook for himself or starve, he came around nicely!
When preparing vegetarian meals that call for vegetable stock, home made stock is best. That is not a commodity I often have on hand. However, I find vegetable base to be far superior to canned or boxed vegetable stocks. I have used Penzey’s vegetable base and Better than bouillon with good results. These products can be pricey up front but they will make about 38 cups of stock.
I have not tried the recipe yet but here is a link to a recipe for home made vegetable base. I found it in Cooks Illustrated magazine, my all time favorite foodie magazine. If you sign up for their free trial you can check out this recipe.
Day 8- I took a package of bone-in chicken breast halves out of the freezer. I made them in the pressure cooker with a recipe that is actually written for a whole chicken. The recipe is from the cookbook Pressure Cooker Perfection by America’s Test Kitchen. The recipe is Whole Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon sauce. The chicken comes out of the pot incredibly moist, with a gravy already made in the pot. Yeah, because I never feel like making gravy after cooking a chicken! This is Jim’s favorite chicken recipe.
Also did mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker-so much easier and quicker than boiling them. Then I finished them with gorgonzola cheese and some half and half.
Day 9- took out a package of ground beef and made unstuffed cabbage, as we got a head of cabbage from the CSA this week. Since I did not have meatloaf mix I added a panade (slice of bread soaked in milk) to the meat to make sure the meatballs came tender. Necessity is the mother of invention. I have been improvising since I challenged myself to use up all the meats in the freezer.
Day 10- leftovers. I am trying to cook 2-3 main meals a week, and then use leftovers for a few other meals to avoid wasting food. It is very hard to cook just enough for 2 people. Especially when you are Italian! So we had the Cassoulet from earlier in the week.
A word about leftovers- I am not talking about reheating something in the microwave. I usually reheat leftovers in the oven. Most leftovers perk up if you moisten them with a bit of chicken broth and reheat them covered in a 350 degree oven about 30 minutes. When we were first married my husband did not like leftovers. When he realized his choices were leftovers, cook for himself or starve, he came around nicely!
I have been trying to make brown rice instead of white as it is the more nutritious option. However, when I would cook it on the stovetop there was always a little hard core in the center, no matter what I did. Pressure cooker to the rescue! The first time I made brown rice in the pressure cooker, my husband thought it was risotto it was so tender. Here is the basic recipe and you can doctor it up with whatever spices and add-ins you like.
For a more savory version you can use chicken broth instead of water. You will not need as much salt if any in the finished product.
| Prep Time | 2 minutes |
| Servings |
cups cooked rice
|
Ingredients
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Attributed to The Easy Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Diane Phillips. Page 308.
If I am slicing the veggies into rounds for something like a gratin or eggplant parm, I lay the slices on a double layer of paper towels, sprinkle with Kosher salt and let them sit for 30 minutes to draw some of the water out. Then I pat them dry and proceed with the recipe. This works for tomato slices going into a recipe as well.
If I am cubing the veggies for something like ratatouille, I quarter the zucchini or yellow squash, cut out the center seeds and place the quarters on a double layer of paper towels, salt them and let sit for 30 minutes. I pat the quarters dry and then cut into cubes and proceed with the recipe. With eggplant I quarter the veggie, cut out most of the seeds and cut it into 1 inch cubes. I toss the cubes with 3/4 tsp salt and then put them on a plate lined with coffee filters. I place the eggplant in the microwave uncovered and microwave for 8 minutes until they are a little shriveled. Then I proceed with the recipe. I found this trick in a Cook’s Illustrated recipe for Caponata.
You may want to cut back on salt called for in the recipe you are using as the veggies have already been salted.
