My Kitchen Clatter

Real Food - Real Life

Barbecue Beef and Pasta in the Instant Pot

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I will admit – this recipe for barbecue beef and pasta did not appeal to me the first time I came across it. However, I have come around to really like it. The recipe is easy, doesn’t require any fussy ingredients and it covers most of the food groups. If you really want to get crazy, you could add some green peas in at the end when you have the option of adding cheese. Personally, I serve the veggies on the side because peas would put it over the top for my kids!

Instant Pot Barbecue Beef & Pasta

Serving Size:
6
Time:
25 minutes
Difficulty:
easy

Ingredients

  • 2 T vegetable oil
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 1 medium bell pepper, stemmed, cored, and chopped
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 2 cups beef or chicken broth
  • 1 1/4 cups barbecue sauce
  • 8 ounces dried rigatoni
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions

  1. With the insert in the electric pressure cooker, turn the pot to saute on medium heat. Add the oil and allow to heat for a minute. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened – about 4-5 minutes. The onion should not brown. Add ground beef and cook, stirring to break up any chunks. The meat should be lightly browned, but doesn’t need to cook through. Drain any fat from the pot, if necessary.
  2. Pour about 1/4 cup of the broth into the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Turn off the saute setting. Pour in the remaining broth, barbecue sauce and pasta. Stir.
  3. Lock the lid on the pot. Cook at high pressure for 7 minutes.
  4. Use the quick-release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal. 
  5. Unlatch the lid and open the pot. If you are adding cheese, stir cheese into the pot and set the lid askew on the pot for 5 minutes to allow the cheese to melt. Stir well before serving. 

Air Fried Potato Wedges

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These air fried potatoes are so simple – they make for an easy beginner recipe using an air fryer. Added bonus – the kids like them. I have taught this recipe several times now as one of my library courses. The recipe lets me focus on the features of the air fryer, and sometimes, I think I forget about how great the actual fries are.

Russet potatoes are great for these fries. The outside gets nice and crisp while the inside gets kind of melty. If you don’t have russets around, try it with whatever potatoes you have. I’d love to hear your findings on different potato types.

If you do not have an air fryer, you can cook the potatoes in a 400 F oven (use the convection setting, if you have it). They don’t get as crispy in the oven, but it will still work.

Air Fried Potato Wedges

Serving Size:
2-3
Time:
20 min
Difficulty:
easy

Ingredients

  • 2 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika 
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

To Serve (optional)

  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried)
  • ketchup or ranch for dipping

Directions

  1. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise. Then put the cut side down and slice in half lengthwise again to make quarters. Place each potato quarter cut side up and create wedges along the long length. 
  2. In a large bowl, combine olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Add the potato wedges and toss to coat the potatoes with oil & seasoning. 
  3. Place wedges in the basket of the air fryer in one layer. and cook for 12-15 minutes at 400F. No need to preheat the air fryer. Shake the basket and check for browning every 5 minutes.  Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to make two batches. 
  4. While potatoes are cooking, combine grated parmesan cheese and parsley. 
  5. When potatoes are golden brown and crispy, remove from air fryer and toss with the parmesan and parsley. 
  6. Serve with ketchup or whatever dipping sauce you prefer.

Instant Pot – Cheesy Chili Mac

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This recipe for cheesy chili mac is another great one for a quick weeknight meal. The pasta cooks perfectly and soaks up all the great flavors of the chili. Plus the cheese on top really adds a nice touch.

This recipe is one that I use to teach the beauty of pressure cooked beans. If you aren’t a bean person, then you can leave them out of the recipe. I give two ways to approach the beans in this recipe. The first is to just use a can of beans, and this is definitely a bit quicker and easier. The second approach gives directions to use dried beans instead of canned beans. For dried beans, you will need to clean and soak 1 cup of beans about 8-12 hours ahead of cooking. Your cooking time will be slightly longer using dried beans.

About cooking pasta in the instant pot – pasta tends to continue absorbing water as long as it is in liquid. If made as written, you may want to eat it pretty quickly after cooking. You can expect that the leftovers may have soggy pasta. I recommend trying the recipe once to see how you like the pasta. If you are averse to pasta cooked in this manner, you can cook the pasta separately from the rest of the meal and stir it into the chili before serving. 

Instant Pot – Cheesy Chili Mac

Serving Size:
6
Time:
7-14 minutes cook time
30 minutes total
Difficulty:
medium

Ingredients

  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 2 – 4 1/2 ounce cans mild or hot chopped green chiles (1 cup)
  • 1 medium garlic clove, peeled and minced (1 teaspoon)
  • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chile powder (adjust to taste – if it is spicy powder, use less)
  • 2 t ground cumin
  • 1/2 t table salt
  • 2 cups beef or chicken broth
  • 28 ounces crushed tomatoes (canned is fine)
  • 15 ounce can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed (1 3/4 cups) or one cup of soaked, dried kidney beans
  • 8 ounce dried ziti
  • 4 ounce shredded cheddar (1 cup)

Directions

  1. With the insert in the electric pressure cooker, turn the cooker to medium heat on Saute setting and allow to warm up 1-2 minutes. Add the olive oil and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion begins to soften, about 3-4 minutes. The onion should not brown. Add the chilis and garlic and continue cooking until the liquid has mostly evaporated, about 2 more minutes. 
  2. Add the ground beef to the the pot. Cook, stirring often to break up the meat. Cook 3-4 minutes until the meat is no longer pink. Add the chili powder, cumin and salt, stir, and allow to toast the spices for about 30 seconds.
  3. Add the broth to the pot and stir to scrape the bottom of the pan and loosed all of the browned bits off of the bottom of the pan. This step is important so that the pot does not default to the burn warning later in the cooking process. Once the pot bottom is cleaned, turn off the pot.
  4. Stir in the tomatoes and beans. If you are using canned kidney beans, add the pasta also at this point. Lock the lid on the pot.
  5. Cook at high pressure for 7 minutes.
  6. Use the quick-release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal.
  7. If you used dried, soaked kidney beans, unlatch the lid, open the pot and stir in the pasta. Replace the lid and cook for another 7 minutes. This approach allows your beans and pasta to cook perfectly.
  8. Unlatch the lid and open the pot, stir in the cheddar cheese. Set the lid back on the pot for 5 minutes to melt the cheese and mellow the flavors. Stir again before serving. 

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

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This is a super quick way to get dinner on the table. Only four ingredients and you basically dump everything into your instant pot.

If you are like me and enjoy rice with your tacos, I’m also sharing a trick of cooking the rice at the same time as the taco meat. You will basically put the rice and its water into a separate bowl and set it on top of the chicken. Then the two will cook at the same time. If you have a rack that sits nicely over top of the chicken without hitting the bottom of the lid, use it. But if your rack doesn’t sit nicely (and it probably won’t), it can seem a little awkward to plop the bowl of uncooked rice on top of the chicken. Never fear. It will work. Just put the bowl of rice on the chicken, however you can make it work. Be forewarned, the rice will likely pick up a little of the color and flavor of the tacos. Not a problem in our house, but if you are looking for perfectly plain, white rice – don’t follow this method.

This cooks so quickly that you may find it takes you longer to prep your toppings. Hey. There are worse things in the world. Just let the pressure cooker go into the the warm setting and open it just before you are ready to eat.

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Serving Size:
4-6
Time:
25 minutes total
Difficulty:
easy

Ingredients

  • 1-2 pounds of chicken breasts
  • 1 cup of chicken broth (or water)
  • 1 cup of your favorite salsa (I like salsa verde)
  • 2-3 T of taco seasoning (adjust to taste)

Ingredients – Rice (Optional)

  • 1 cup of your favorite rice – white, brown, long or short, doesn’t matter
  • 1 1/4 cup of water (add 1/4 cup of water for brown rice)

Directions

  1. Add chicken, broth, salsa, and taco seasoning to the insert pot of your instant pot. Stir.
  2. If you are making rice, rinse the rice. Combine the rinsed rice and water in a 4 or 6-cup oven safe bowl (such as a pyrex dish). If you have a rack, place it on top of the chicken and set the rice dish on the rack. If your rack doesn’t fit, you can wiggle the chicken around to set the rack in the pot or you can set the rack on the chicken, or you can just set the rice bowl directly on top of the chicken.
  3. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Set the cooker to high pressure and cook for 12 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes and then release the remaining pressure manually.
  4. Using oven mitts, remove the bowl of rice. Using tongs, place the chicken onto a cutting board and allow to cool for a couple minutes. You can use two forks to easily shred the chicken for tacos. If you made extra chicken, you can make short work of the shredding by placing the chicken breasts in your mixer bowl and use either the dough hook (Bosch mixer) or the cookie paddle (Kitchen Aid) give a few pulses and let the machine do the work for you.
  5. Serve shredded taco meat with your favorite shells, tortillas, and taco toppings.
  6. A quick note on the extra liquid in the pot. You can (and should) add some of it to the shredded chicken so you have nice moist taco meat. But, you may have some extra left over. Before you toss it, consider saving it for a second meal. If you have leftover chicken, add it back into the cooking liquid the next day for a chicken taco soup. Serve over tortilla chips with a little cheese and sour cream on the top.

Instant Pot Sloppy Joes

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This is such a quick and easy way to make sloppy Joes. The stovetop version of this recipe would require about 30 minutes of simmer time – in the pressure cooker, you set the cook time for 5 minutes on high pressure. Then you can sit back and let the pressure cooker do the rest of the work – no stirring necessary. And since this recipe uses the quick pressure release method, there is little added time at the end of cooking. Start to finish, this recipe will take about 30 minutes total.

After the mixture is cooked and the lid is removed, you may need to simmer it for a few minutes to help it thicken. If you have a little extra time, just put the lid back on and let it rest with no extra heat – it will thicken up on it’s own.

I’ve also given an option to substitute some of the meat with whole grains. I will admit, I love the addition of quinoa to the meat – however, it was not a hit with my kids. Back to the basics for our family.

I like to serve these on homemade burger buns. Brioche buns, pretzel buns, or a lovely whole grain burger buns would all be perfect for these. Stay tuned – I am taking this as a reminder that I need to add a bun recipe to this site.

Instant Pot Sloppy Joes

Serving Size:
6-8
Time:
30 min total
Difficulty:
Easy

Ingredients

  • 2 T Olive oil
  • 1 Medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 1 Large red or orange bell pepper, stemmed, cored, and chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 2 Celery ribs, thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
  • 2 Medium garlic cloves, peeled and minced (2 teaspoons)
  • 1 1/2 lbs Ground beef, lean*
  • 1 T Standard chili powder
  • 1 t  Smoked paprika, optional
  • 1 cup Beef or chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup Catsup
  • 1 T Yellow mustard
  • 1 T Brown sugar or molasses
  • 2 t  Apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 t  Table salt

For Serving

  • 6-8 hamburger buns
  • Pickles or other toppings

* See notes for adding whole grains to the recipe. 

Directions

  1. With the insert in the electric pressure cooker, turn the cooker to medium heat on Saute setting and allow to warm up 1-2 minutes. Add the olive oil and let warm up about a minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery and cook, stirring often, until the onion begins to soften, about 3-4 minutes. The onion should not brown. Add the garlic and continue cooking about 1 more minute. 
  2. Add the ground beef to the the pot. Cook, stirring often to break up the meat. Cook 3-4 minutes until the meat is no longer pink. The meat does not need to be fully cooked, but if it has a higher percentage of fat, it should be cooked enough for most of the fat to cook off. If the meat has fat cooking off, drain the fat off of the meat. Add the chili powder, stir, and allow to toast the spices for about 30 seconds.
  3. Add the broth to the pot and stir to scrape the bottom of the pan and loosen all of the browned bits off of the bottom of the pan. This step is important so that the pot does not default to the burn warning later in the cooking process. Once the pot bottom is cleaned, turn off the pot.
  4. Stir in the catsup, yellow mustard, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and salt. Lock the lid on the pot.
  5. Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes.
  6. Use the quick-release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal. Unlatch the lid and open the pot. Turn the sauté setting on bring the mixture to a low simmer. Cook, stirring often, until it has thickened and is not as soupy – about 7 minutes.


Recipe notes:

  1. If you’d like to add some whole grains to your recipe, you can reduce the meat to 1 pound and add add 1/2 cup of rolled oats, or 3/4 cup of rinsed quinoa (or a combination of the two) when you stir in the catsup. This may also allow you to to skip the simmering step at the end, as the grains will help to absorb the extra liquid at the end. 

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

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I’m excited about this recipe. This is a case where I had a pretty good recipe that I had no plans to improve upon, but a missing ingredient forced a substitution. After crossing my fingers and making a change, I’m pretty sure the change may end up being permenant.

My go-to double chocolate muffins are a take on the Chocolate Ricotta Muffin from Mollie Katzen’s Sunlight Cafe cookbook. Today I had a child requesting his favorite after-school snack of chocolate muffins, but I was out of ricotta but . Soooo… after unsuccessfully searching my freezer for that hidden ball of ricotta (it’s still in there somewhere, I know), I decided I’d better make do with things I have on hand. Two brown bananas were calling me to take them out of their misery. Add some peanut butter and I was ready to give a new recipe a try.

I keep the sugar pretty low on this recipe and I also use freshly ground, soft, white, whole wheat flour. The peanut butter also helps bump up the protein. I used natural peanut butter, but if your peanut butter has added sugar, you can reduce the granulated sugar by a couple teaspoons. And, as always, if you don’t have good whole flour around, just substitute it with white flour. You won’t get the fiber and flavor from the whole wheat flour, but it will taste better than most store bought whole wheat flours.

All in all, I think these are a pretty healthy snack for the kids. The recipe makes about 18 regular sized muffins. If you don’t eat them all right away, you can freeze any extras so the kids can grab them out whenever they want.

Enjoy!

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Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Author: 
Cuisine: snacks
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 18
 
My kids love the chocolatey flavor and I love that these muffins are low in sugar and high in protein and fiber from the peanut butter and whole wheat flour.
Ingredients
  • 2⅓ cups (10.4 oz) freshly ground, soft white wheat flour (or substitute with white flour)
  • ¾ t salt
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 6 T unsweetened cocoa (I use Dutch process cocoa)
  • ½ c granulated sugar
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 soft, brown bananas
  • ½ cup of natural peanut butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1⅓ cups milk
  • 1 T vanilla extract
  • 4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray 18 standard (2½-inch-diameter) muffin cups with non-stick spray.
  2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa, sugar, and chocolate chips in a medium-sized bowl.
  3. Place the bananas in a separate bowl and mash. I use a potato masher to mash them. Add the peanut butter and stir. Then add each egg, one at a time, and combine with a whisk after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla, and whisk until blended. Add the butter, and whisk again.
  4. Pour the banana - peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined and the dry ingredients are moistened. Don't overtax - a few lumps are okay.
  5. Use a large spoon or a scoop and scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. I usually like smaller muffins, so I fill them up about ¾ full. You can fill to the top for larger muffins.
  6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until they are pulling away from the edge of the tin and the tops don't collapse if you lightly press the top with a finger. You can also use the toothpick test to check doneness, but this is sometimes a tough check because of the chocolate chips. (A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean).
  7. When the muffins are done, remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool 3-5 minutes. Use a knife of spatula to remove the muffins from the pan and place on a rack to cool.

Pumpkin Butter Recipe

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Pumpkin butter is one of my favorite things to do with pumpkin during “the pumpkin season”. I love it on my waffles in the morning with pecans and maple syrup. I was searching for my recipe this year and realized that I haven’t shared it with the world. So here we are.

If you’d like to make this a little more challenging, you can make this with homemade puree. Here’s how to make your own, but really you can do this with canned pumpkin and it will turn out lovely. No one will know the difference and they will still be amazed that you pulled off making your own pumpkin butter. You don’t have to tell them how easy it was to make.

One more note, this recipe should not be canned. The butter gets too thick for water bath canning to heat it through safely. I just jar mine up and freeze the jars with lids on them. The toughest part is remembering to pull it out of the fridge to thaw before you want to use it – but a couple seconds in the microwave does the trick also.

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Pumpkin Butter Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: preserving
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
This is a classic fall preserve. It is great on oatmeal or on waffles.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
  • ¼ cup of brown sugar
  • ¼ cup of maple syrup
  • 1 t molasses
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • ½ t ginger
  • ¼ t cloves
  • ¼ t nutmeg, ground
  • ¾ cup of apple cider
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
  2. Bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer.
  3. Stir often and let simmer for about 20 minutes until the butter is thick and shiny. It should mound up on a spoon.
  4. Transfer into clean jars.
  5. The jars can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or frozen for a few months. If freezing, leave a little extra space at the top for expansion

 

Flatbread Crackers

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Crackers for Lent and Other Times

We are heading into lent while under coronavirus lockdown. My church (yes, Raechel – you represent the ENTIRE church) has asked me to teach the congregation how to make their own bread for our virtual Maundy Thursday service. Somewhere there is a very strange video of me making these crackers – I hope everyone who sees it gets a good laugh. It seemed like crackers would be a natural fit – they are quick, relatively easy, and taste great.

Homemade crackers are a special sort of thing in our house – they honestly don’t happen very often. Under normal circumstances, we totally support whoever makes Triskets and Wheat Things.  But we aren’t under normal circumstances, and these crackers are kind of nice to make when you have a little extra time and want something special. If you are making them for this Thursday’s service, I hope you find some extra love in your heart knowing that a few other people may be doing the same thing.

Some Cracker Tips

  • Make them your own – these crackers are not meant to be perfect. If you don’t have an ingredient – substitute and use whatever you have around the kitchen. No olive oil? Melted butter or canola oil will be fine. No rolling pin? Use a wine bottle, you get the idea.
  • You can use any kind of flour you have around. Whole wheat flour works great. Throw a couple tablespoons of rye in there if you have it.
    • I’ll even attempt to give a gluten free alternative: substitute the white flour with a gluten free flour mix – if you have xanthin gum around, add 1/2 t if it isn’t already in your flour mix. Instead of kneading the dough, you’ll add just enough water to pat the dough into a ball with your hands. You probably won’t be able to knead your dough. And you may need to roll your dough between parchment paper.
  • Don’t be intimidated by kneading the bread dough. If you have never kneaded dough before, all you have to do is gather the dough into a ball, take the end of the ball that is farther from you, pull it over the dough, and gently push with the heel of your hand, then give the ball a quarter of a turn and repeat. In this recipe, the point of the kneading is simply to give the dough a better elasticity and cohesiveness.  If you are still nervous about kneading, check out this video.
  • I wrote this recipe based on doing the mixing and kneading by hand. This works well for this dough, but if you have a mixer or food processor, you can adapt the recipe to your tools.
  • You may find that your dough shrinks back when you roll it out. In this case, the gluten needs to relax a bit – so let the dough rest a few minutes longer.
  • If you wonder if your dough is rolled thin enough, then it probably isn’t thin enough. If you have a few holes from being rolled too thin, that’s okay. Think of these crackers as rustic.
  • I like to cut the dough into long strips before I bake it. The strips can be as thin or thick as you like. The strips allow the centers to get crispy without the edges getting too brown. I also like how the crackers break from the strips, they have a little consistency of width, but still have some rough edges. However, if you don’t want to cut the dough, you can cook the rolled dough in one big piece and see what you think. On the other end of the spectrum, if you want more consistently shaped and browned crackers, you can cut them all into even squares – just be aware that moving the crackers from the cutting board to the baking sheet can be time consuming. The easiest way to do this is by rolling and cutting the crackers on parchment and then moving the parchment and crackers to the baking tray in one big motion.
  • Finally, for the sourdough lovers out there, use 200 grams of sourdough starter (unfed is fine), and reduce your flour down to about 1 cup plus 2 T (132 grams). I’m assuming your starter is at 100% hydration, meaning for every gram of flour you feed it one gram of water. I suppose that making these with sourdough starter technically no longer makes these flatbread crackers. You can keep this in mind, if you are really looking for unleavened bread for lent.

 

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Flatbread Crackers
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1½ cup flour (use your favorite - I like 1 cup of white, ½ cup of whole wheat, but add in 2 T of rye for fun)
  • 2 t fresh herbs or ½ t dried herbs (rosemary, thyme, herbs de Provence)
  • ½ - 1 t coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1-3 t seeds (optional - sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds)
  • ½ c, finely shredded Parmesan (optional)
  • ¾ t fine salt
  • 1 t sugar
  • 2 T olive oil
  • ½ c cold water
  • Optional Toppings
  • sesame seeds
  • poppy seeds
  • garlic flakes
  • course sea salt
  • seed mix (such as Everything Bagel seasoning)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
  2. Combine the flour, herbs, black pepper, seeds, cheese (if using) salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir with a spoon to combine.
  3. Add oil to bowl and stir.
  4. Add all but 2 T of water to bowl to combine. Add remaining water 1 T at a time until the dough just forms a shaggy ball.
  5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 2-4 minutes until it is smooth. Add flour just so the dough doesn't stick to your hands.
  6. Let the dough rest, covered with a towel, on the counter or in the bowl for 10 minutes.
  7. Divide the dough into 4 smaller balls.
  8. One at a time, roll each ball as thin as possible. If the dough shrinks back as you roll it, then allow to rest a few more minutes before continuing to roll it out.
  9. If you are adding a topping, sprinkle the topping on the dough and use the rolling pin to lightly roll the topping in place.
  10. Using a fork, poke the dough all over to prevent large air bubbles from forming.
  11. Cut the dough into 3-4 strips, place strips onto a baking sheet, and bake for 4 minutes. At four minutes, check the crackers, you can turn the strips over at this point to help them crisp or just leave them to cook on the first side. Either way, check every 2 minutes until they are crispy and lightly browned.
  12. When the cracker strips are crisp and slightly golden on the edges, remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack.
  13. Repeat rolling and baking process with remaining dough.
  14. Snap into smaller pieces.

 

Easy Homemade Fruit Leather

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Fruit leathers are homemade fruit rolls and they are very popular in our house. I love them because they are a great way to use up leftover fruit, don’t contain any added sugar, and the kids gobble them up.

You’ll need a couple special kitchen tools for this recipe. The first is a blender. I use my immersion blender to keep the clean up simple, but any good blender will do.

This batch of fruit includes blueberries and mangos.

The second tool is a dehydrator. A decent dehydrator runs about $100 and can be used for other preservation projects. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can try to do these on a very low oven – they will take about 18 hours in an oven. You can also dry them in the hot sun – it will take about 1 to 2 days to dry in the sun.

Fruit leathers ready to go in the dehydrator.

For the diabetics out there, make these without added sugar and they should contain the amount of fruit allowed for a fruit exchange.

This recipe is written for 2 cups of fruit, but it can be multiplied to accommodate as much fruit and drying space as you have.

Enjoy!

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Easy Homemade Fruit Leathers
Author: 
Recipe type: snack
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 13" x 15" leather
 
These homemade fruit roll-ups are a great way to use up extra fruit that isn't getting eaten quick enough. They are also an awesome low-sugar snack.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of any combination of ripe or slightly overripe fruit - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, banana, kiwi, mango
  • ¼ cup of applesauce (optional, to help thicken the fruit)
  • 2 t of lemon juice or ⅛ t ascorbic acid for light colored fruit to prevent darkening (optional)
  • 1-2 T of honey, to taste (optional)
Instructions
  1. Prepare dehydrator trays by lining them with parchment paper over the surface of the tray. I cut out the center hole on my paper to help it fit better. Edges of the parchment paper can be folded up at the edge of the tray. Depending on the size of your dehydrator trays, you will need one or two trays for 2 cups of fruit.
  2. Wash fruit or berries in cool water. Remove peel, seeds, and stems.
  3. Using a blender or immersion blender, puree the fruit.
  4. The pureed fruit should be slightly thick so that it doesn't run apart when poured onto the dehydrator trays. If it seems too runny, add a little applesauce to thicken it up. The applesauce will also help decrease tartness and make the leather smoother and more pliable. If the fruit seems to thick, add liquid, such as orange or apple juice, to thicken.
  5. Taste and add honey, if needed. I rarely add any honey at all.
  6. Pour the pureed fruit mixture onto the prepared tray. Avoid the edges of the tray. Spread it out to about ⅛ inch thick. Thicker spreads will take longer to dehydrate. Spread into any shape you like. I usually do about 2" x 8" rectangles. Larger shapes can be cut smaller later, but will take longer to dry.
  7. Dry the leather at 140 degrees F. The leather will dry from the edges to the center.
  8. After about 4 hours, test for dryness by touching the center of the leather - your finger should not leave an indent.
  9. While warm, you can peel from the parchment and roll. Allow to cool and rewrap in plastic. I usually let mine cool flat and then bag it and freeze.
  10. The leather usually will get eaten pretty quickly. But it will last about a month at room temp or it can be frozen up to a year.
Notes
This recipe can be multiplied based on how much fruit and dehydrating space you have.

 

 

Cauliflower & Quinoa Pilaf for the Instant Pot

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For starters, today I want to give a shout out to all those bloggers who are able to take Instagram worthy food photos. It is all I can do to grab the cell phone and snap a photo of my creations while my kids are screaming for dinner in the background. I’m trying to keep it real here – with quinoa on the lip of the pressure cooker, no fancy backdrops, and whatever.

Anyway… on to the recipe. I started with a pilaf recipe from The Instant Pot Bible by Bruce Weinstein, and then adapted it to what I had on hand in the house. The final recipe is much simpler than the original. And isn’t that what cooking is all about?

The original recipe caught my eye because it contained quinoa, which is super healthy and super quick to cook, especially under pressure. One of the things my family does during dinner is talk about the nutritional benefits of the foods we are eating. I find quinoa especially interesting since it is one of the few plant based proteins that contains all nine of the essential amino acids that are commonly found in meats. It is also a great source of manganese, phosphorus and fiber.

A couple quick recipe notes:

  • Be sure to rinse your quinoa before cooking it. You may be able to save yourself this step if your quinoa is pre-rinsed – check the bag to find out.
  • I used homemade vegetable broth. It is so much tastier than the stuff I find at the store and worth the extra trouble, in my opinion. One of these days, I will try to post a recipe for vegetable broth on this site, but in the meantime, a good pressure cooker book should get you started. Or try this recipe over at Hip Pressure Cooking for Vegetable Broth.
  • To make this recipe super easy and quick, I used frozen, riced cauliflower. If you have fresh cauliflower, break it into small pieces, and increase the cooking time to 6 minutes.

 

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Cauliflower & Quinoa Pilaf
Author: 
Recipe type: side dish, pressure cooker, vegetable
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 T butter
  • 1 cup of chopped onion (can substitute with shallots or leeks)
  • 1 t chopped garlic
  • 1 t cumin seeds
  • ½ t dried ginger powder
  • 1 cup of rinsed quinoa
  • 1, 16 oz package of fresh or frozen cauliflower rice
  • 2 cups of vegetable stock
Instructions
  1. Preheat the base of your pressure cooker using the sauté setting.
  2. Sauté the onion in the butter for 2-3 minutes until it is soft, but not browned.
  3. Add the garlic, cumin seeds and ginger powder and sauté briefly (about 10-30 seconds) until you can smell the spices.
  4. Turn off the heat on the pressure cooker.
  5. Add the quinoa, cauliflower and stock. Stir to combine.
  6. Lock on the lid of the pressure cooker and set the cook time for 1 minute on high pressure. Double check that the pressure valve is closed. Turn off the "keep warm" setting, if your machine has one.
  7. Once the cooking has completed, release the pressure using a quick release method.
  8. Fluff the pilaf and serve.

 

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