Chicken Mushroom Soup

Today I had to cook a soup because some members of my family weren't feeling well. This is my own recipe and it's good for you when you have the flu (it rhymes!) and your tummy is not feeling well - like indigestion, nausea, stomachache, etc. The soup will be very rich in flavor.

You will need
6 qt pot
16 cups or 4 qt of water
1 package of baby bella mushrooms
1 sweet onion
2 Tbsp of butter
1 chicken breast
2 big carrots
4-5 potatoes
spices (I used seasoning salt, regular salt and pepper)

First you need to wash and slice the mushrooms and chop the onion. On the frying pan heat 2 Tbsp of butter and saute the mushrooms and onion until the onion is slightly gold. Set aside.
In the big pot add 4 qt of water and the chicken, bring to a boil, and cook for about 20 minutes. While you are waiting for the pot with chicken (sliced or cubed as you like) to cook you can cut the carrots and potatoes and add them after 30 minutes is up. Let the veggies cook for 15-20 minutes, check if they are done. Now you can add the mushroom/onion mixture along with your spices. Let soup stand for 10-15 minutes.
It makes a lot. Even for a family of 4. Enjoy!

Strawberry Jam in Instapot

Today I went ahead and prepared myself for a big kitchen fail. Canning is something I've never worked with. It just seemed so complex, like it requires a lot of tools and knowledge. But I decided to give it a try because the recipe I found somewhere online that was in the "I want to try one day" pile looked so easy. And it's an Instapot recipe! I was curious but didn't have any expectations.
First you will need to sterilize your mason jars.

Method:
Put them in a large pot. Completely cover them with water. Bring to boil over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. If you are not quite ready  to fill the sterilized jars and proceed with canning your recipe, you can leave them in the pot for up to an hour. If you will wait longer - you will have to sterilize them again.

Recipe
1 pound of fresh strawberries (sliced)
2 1/3 cups of sugar
4 TBsp of lemon juice

Directions
Turn on the Instapot on saute, add sliced strawberries, sugar and lemon juice.

Cook until all sugar is melted. Turn off the saute option. Put it on manual and let it cook for 5 minutes, natural release. If you have any chunks left - you can use masher to help with that.
Next turn on the saute option and cook your mixture for about 8 minutes. Turn off the saute.

Here is a little trick how you can know that the jam is ready. Before you start this recipe, put a little bowl in the freezer. Now put some of the jam into the bowl and put it back to the freezer for just a minute. Take it back out. Check it with your finger - if it's still runny, cook a few minutes longer.
I was worried that the jam would be like compote, but after a few hours it got thicker.
I'm trying to be honest in all of my posts so I don't know if this product is stable enough to keep it on the shelf in your pantry. I guess you can try with one jar in the fridge and one in the pantry.
Taste - what I love about this jam is that it's not sickly sweet, even though I added 2 1/3 cups of sugar. I'll definitely be doing this again.

Easy Pasta Dinner in Instapot

Tired of pasta dishes that you've been cooking over and over again? Hey, maybe I have something new for you! And it's an Instapot recipe! Kids approved, picky eaters approved. You will love it. I was concerned at first about cooking pasta in the pressure cooker but it turned out just fine.

You will need:
1 tbsp oil
1 1/2 cup water
1 Pound ground beef
1 medium onion (diced)
1 bell pepper (cubed)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of salt
8 oz of pasta (I used penne)
 1/2 cup of heavy cream
some Parmesan cheese

Directions
Put the oil in the Instapot, turn it on Saute, and add ground beef and onions. When it's half way cooked add salt, pepper and bell pepper.

Turn the Saute off.  Add tomatoes and water.  Add pasta.  Close Instapot (make sure the release valve is closed) and cook on manual for five minutes, then quick release.  Turn on Saute option and add your heavy cream and cheese.  I added 1/2 cup of cheese, but it depends on how much you like Parmesan.

Cook approximately 1-2 minutes.  Your meal is ready!

Healthy dinner in 10 minutes

Today I'm sharing a cool and super helpful Instapot hack that I absolutely love! It's cheap and saves time. With this idea you can cook 3 different things in your pressure cooker at the same time. Basically your meal can be ready in 5 minutes. In my example I had dinner to cook and it needed to be done very fast. So I figured out 2-4 potatoes (fresh, depends on size). Frozen or fresh veggies. I used frozen veggie mix and meatballs.Here is the trick:You will need 2 Ikea Stabil steamers. 

They won't fit into your Instapot from the shelf right away so you will need to make an adjustment. A little hook that you'd use to attach it to the pot needs to be removed. You can remove it with pliers or just simply moving it back and forth until it's bent enough to remove it. 

You need to do this with both of them. Now you can easily fit and use them in the Inspapot.
Back to my dinner. As you can see on the picture I put my veggies and meatballs in my steamers. The steamers are standing on the rack that is included with your Instapot. I simply placed the potatoes on the rack.

I added 1 cup of water. 5 minutes of steam. Then do a quick release and it's ready. Everything was equally cooked. The potatoes were my favorite.

Pilaf in Instapot

From Wikipedia:

Pilaf is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth. In some cases, the rice may attain its brown or golden color by first being sautéed lightly in oil before the addition of broth. Cooked onion, other vegetables as well as a mix of spices may be added. Depending on the local cuisine, it may also contain meat, fish, vegetables, pasta, and dried fruits.

Pilaf and similar dishes are common to Balkan, Middle Eastern, Caucasian, Central and South Asian, East African, Latin American and Caribbean cuisines. It is a staple food and a national dish in Afghan, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bangladeshi, Balochi, Bukharan Jewish, Cretan, Indian, Iranian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Kurdish, Pakistani, Swahili (Kenyan, and Tanzanian-Zanzibari), Uyghur, Uzbek, Tajik and Turkish cuisines.

You can use chicken, beef or lamb (prefer) for this dish. I used meat for stewing this time. It's very easy to cook and fast as well.

You will need

1 pound of meat of your choice (cut to bite size pieces)

1 middium to big size onion (dices)

1 big carrot (shreded)

3-4 sweet baby peppers (optional) - cut to rings

1 cup of jasmine rice

1.5 cup water

Spices

1.5 Tbsp of Vegeta (sometimes it's hard to find at stores)

1 Tbsp of seasoning salt

1 clove of garlic

Salt and pepper

Sometimes I use a specific spice for this dish when I have it. I can't buy it at the regular grocery store. You either need to go to the European market or you can get it off here.... but it's worth it!

Directions

Put your meat (cut to bite size pieces), shredded carrots (use the large holes on the cheese grater), diced onion, cut peppers to your pressure cooker.

Add all spices except salt, pepper and garlic. Add 1 Tbsp of oil. Turn pressure cooker on and press sautée. Cook on high temperature for about 15 minutes mixing from time to time. Turn the sautée option off. Add water and rice and the rest of the spices.

Don't dice, cut or don't do anything else to the garlic - just put the whole thing in - don't worry, you breath won't smell bad. ;)

Cook on manual (high pressure) for 17 minutes, natural release.

Enjoy your dinner or lunch!

Homemade Yogurt in Instapot

When I got my Instapot, I didn't know anything about it, and particularly the yogurt option (I'm still learning, btw) - just that you have to make yogurt for 8 hours. I said I'm not crazy!!! I thought maybe it uses pressure - super low- but pressure for 8 hours! The idea of leave it running unattended didn't make me very comfortable. Later I learned how it all works. And that yogurt option keeps your ingredients on a certain temperature.
So I've decided to make yogurt today.

You will need

• 1 Gallon 2% Milk
• ¼ Cup yogurt with active cultures (I used Mountain High low fat Plain)
• ¼ - ½ cup sweetener (optional)
• Cheese cloth or milk bag

Directions

Pour your gallon of milk to the Instapot. Close the lid. It doesn't matter if you put the pressure vent into a venting position or not at this point. (Or at any point in the process, for that matter.)

Press the YOGURT button and press ADJUST right away. Screen will display BOIL. 

Leave it alone for about an hour. Then you will hear it beep. Don't miss it! Screen will display yogurt. Now you need to turn off your Instapot and cool off the milk to room temperature. Remove the pot from the Instapot. If you are in a hurry - you can fill your kitchen sink with some water and put the pot with the milk in it for some time to let it cool off faster.

Then once it's the right temperature, add 1/4 cup of yogurt. Mix with the wisk. Put it back to the Instapot. Push the yogurt button. The incubation process will start. Your Instapot will beep and it will take 8 hours. It will count up. So you should have 0:00 on your screen.

In 8 hours all you need to do is drain it using cheese cloth or milk bag, just like I showed you with the cottage cheese recipe.  I would recommend the milk bag, because it was kind of inconvenient and messy with the cheese cloth.

Let it hang in it for an hour.

The yogurt I made wasn't sweet. I like to add berries, jam or granola. 

If you want - you can add sweetener -1/4 to 1/2 cup.

Note: You need to add the yogurt to start the incubation process.  If you prefer, you can use a powdered yogurt starter as well.  You can find a starter on Amazon here.

STORAGE

I use an Ikea KORKEN glass jar. 1.9 qt. If you don't have an Ikea close by, you can order the jar from Amazon here, sold by Ikea. These jars are smaller than what I used, but you don't have to store this whole amount in one glass jar. You can see on the picture how much I made off this recipe.

If you are going to try it please leave feedback how you liked it. I also have a Pinterest board for this blog. Follow me and you will never miss a recipe!.

Oladi

So for those of you who read my post about homemade cottage cheese, you know that you will have about a gallon or more of liquid leftover from that. And I said I'd share a recipe you can use that liquid in. So here we go! We call them Russian pancakes but they don't taste like pancakes at all. Their real name is Oladi (Оладьи). The recipe I got was in Russian so I had to convert everything into cups. From this recipe you will get A LOT of oladi. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot!! I didn't need that much but my pile was growing and growing! :) So if you have a small family, cut the recipe in half.

You will need.
4 1/2 cup of your liquid from cottage cheese (I guess you can substitute with buttermilk, but I can't guarantee anything here)
Approximately 4 cups of flour (the dough needs to be thick- not too liquidy, but also not too thick).
3 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt
1.5 tsp of baking soda.

Directions
If you are using liquid that's left over after the cottage cheese - warm it up, but do not boil. Add sugar and salt. Mix it. Add to flour. Then add baking soda. Mix well.

Preheat your frying pan with some oil. Fry until bubbly on each side.

I spent around 30 minutes total on this recipe.

Russian Potato Chicken Bake

This is a recipe I remember from my childhood. My mom was making it with different combinations of meat (lamb, fish, beef). Today I'm going to be using chicken breast. The smell of this dish when it's baking will make your neighbors' mouths water. It smells so good, and it tastes so good too!

You will need

5 medium size potatoes

1 chicken breast

1 onion

1 cup shredded cheese (you can use any but cheddar is better)

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Peel, wash, and cut the potatoes (wedges or cubes as you prefer).

Cut the chicken into small bite size pieces.

Use a 13x9 oven safe dish (do not grease). Put your cut potatoes first, then the chicken - shake some salt and pepper.

Now that you've got some space on your counter, cut the onion into rings and add to the potatoes and chicken. Spread the cheese all over the dish to cover it.

Lastly, add mayonnaise. I use a silicone spatula to spread it (just like frosting for the cake). It doesn't have to cover all the ingredients completely. 

Bake uncovered at 375°F for 50 minutes.

 

Homemade Cottage Cheese in Pressure Cooker

Today I managed to make cottage cheese, but some people may call it farmer's cheese. I'm still not sure what the difference is. (If you know the difference, please leave a comment below!)

Growing up I saw my mom making it all the time, and it tasted so good, but I also remember the process of making it was so complicated that I even didn't want to try to participate or ask her to teach me how. But these days we have better technology, so we have so many kitchen gadgets.  Again I used my pressure cooker and just 2 ingredients to make my home made cottage cheese. The recipe I have is from one of my favorite groups on Facebook about Instapot and recipes you can make in it. Most of them are Russian recipes, and they're fast and simple to cook.

So here we go!

You will need

1 gallon of whole milk

Approx. 1 1/2 qt of buttermilk

Yes, that's it!

Directions

The original recipe says put it on warm for 2 hours - that didn't do much for me.

Maybe it depends of what kind of milk and buttermilk you have, I don't know. Anyways, after 2 hours I turned it on yogurt (which keeps it between 96.8° and 109.4° F) for 7 hours, and then it's done. Drain it through the cheesecloth (I got mine at WinCo for $2.50, or you can always find it on Amazon).

Hang it on the faucet to drain for 1-2 hours.

After that you can enjoy your home made cottage cheese.

P.S. Keep the liquid that's left from draining the cottage cheese. I have a great recipe of something you can make with it that I will be posting in a few days. You can store it in the fridge. Also you can substitute it for milk in any recipe.

Correction 3/5/2017: I said that the "yogurt" setting was the same as the "keep it warm" setting.  Not quite.  The two settings use different temperatures.  I've corrected that mistake above.

Baby Omelettes

First pressure cooker recipe today! And it's my favorite meal of the day- breakfast! It's fast to make and you can add your favorite options: spinach, feta cheese, bacon, tomatoes, peppers, etc. It only takes a few minutes to prepare and 7 minutes in the pressure cooker. I enjoyed this recipe, and so did my daughter! Believe me, I will be making this recipe again, and now you can too!

Here is the recipe:

3 eggs
1/3 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Add whatever you want to this.  I added turkey bacon, baby peppers, and Monterrey Jack Cheese.

Mix the eggs and milk together until well blended. Add your spices. Pour the mixture in silicone egg poachers (you can get them here off of Amazon).

Add 1 cup of water to your pressure cooker. Place the poachers on a rack in the pressure cooker (I have an Instapot and used the included rack).

Close the lid. Cook on manual, high pressure for 7 minutes. Quick release.

I ate two of them to satisfy my morning hunger. You can eat them with strawberries, as I did, or you can substitute your own choice of sides.

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Today I want to share my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. I found it about 4 years ago and have been using it since. Homemade chocolate chip cookies are a favorite in our family, so it's always good to have a recipe in the back pocket to pull out. Here we can whip up the dough in our KitchenAid, put the dough in the oven, and voila, cookies! My husband says they're the best cookies he's ever had!

You can't fail with this recipe unless your child will add a "secret" ingredient to it while you're not watching, or if you mess up the temperature. I like it because it's simple, fast, and has a minimum of dirty dishes.  And of course, it's cookies!  Yummy cookies!  I managed to make them while having a newborn and a preschooler so ...you can do it ;)

  

I also tried it with white chocolate and cranberries, and they also turned out just fine.

Here's the recipe:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup backed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups chocolate chips or white chocolate chips
Optional: 1/2 cup craisins

Preheat oven to 375° F

Combine all sugars and butter in a stand-up mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. In the measuring cup with flour, pour the salt and baking soda, mix together, and add to the mixer.  Add flour with the baking soda and salt to the KitchenAid.  After you mix the mixture in the mixer, stir in chocolate chips using a wooden spoon (I do this so I don't burn my mixer). Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9 minutes (this time may depend on your oven) or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.