Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Faster than fast food

For Christmas 2012, I got this pressure cooker from Danny.  It has revolutionized lazy day meals.  I don't have any idea the cost, but it is worth every penny to me.

Take tonight for instance.  Tonight I wasn't feeling so well.  I even skipped our evening Relief Society meeting.  Danny came home early (around 6 pm) in case I felt well enough to go to my meeting.  

I decided I needed chicken soup for dinner.  I made this recipe with a few variations.  I used precooked chicken this time, added lots of extra frozen veggies, and used all noodles instead of half rice. 
I had a 10 lb. bag of carrots in my fridge, plenty of celery, and a few limes.  Everything else could be found in my freezer or pantry.  

A well-stocked pantry is a major timesaver for me.  Prep time was probably 10 minutes to chop carrots and celery, pull frozen veggies, chopped onions and pre-cooked and diced chicken out of the freezer, grab half a dozen cans of chicken broth and a couple handfuls of egg noodles and toss in the pressure cooker.

It only took 8 minutes at pressure to cook.

I can't even get all my kids buckled in as quickly as that!

If you use a pressure cooker for your family, I'd LOVE for you to share your favorite recipes.  Pressure cooking works for me!

3 comments:

Sara said...

I've done Alton Brown's recipe for chicken and dropped dumplings, not as fast as this, but delicious! Pressure cooker risotto is also yummy. :)

Laurie HF said...

Yes, but Sara, you're starting with an uncooked chicken and making your own broth. Nikki, is it an electric pressure cooker? I LOVE mine! Sara and Lisa got them for Christmas from us. :)

Nikki said...

Sara- When I was growing up I always asked for chicken and dumplings for my birthday dinner. And you know what? I've never made it! I guess I always thought it was complicated. I think I'll add it to the menu for the coming week. Do you have the link for his recipe and also your risotto?

Laurie- I don't have the electric pressure cooker. Danny figured we wouldn't know where we will be moving next and if there will be compatible outlets. So I just use it on the stove.

Typically I follow this recipe pretty closely, but last night I didn't want to thaw chicken and partially cook it before making the recipe. So I grabbed the precooked and chopped chicken.