I wasn’t going to make corned beef this year – I’m a so-so fan of it. I really have to be in the mood. But I found a great deal on a premium corned beef, so I impulsively purchased it.
I decided to up my game a bit and use my mom’s version, where she used to finish it in the oven with a nice glaze. It was definitely worth the effort.
I decided I would also make it an instant pot version – which is very similar to my stovetop pressure cooker recipe. Continue reading
A perfect one-pot meal that cooks up in 35 minutes.
I wanted to make sure I could prepare it with just the accessories that came with my Multi-Pot. Continue reading
We ended up with about 24 inches of snow, not counting the impressive drifts. Everything was closed again today while we clean up. As it’s Colorado, it’s already melting and the sidewalks, driveways and patio are already dry. The four-foot drifts/snow piles from shoveling will take a bit more time. But it will be in the sixties by the end of the week.
In less than good news, two of my plum trees lost huge branches, and my 10-15 foot bushes’ health is still to be determined. Most will probably survive.
The big ducks demanded access to the yard, so I shoveled a path and they hung out on the patio, quickly understanding that those snow walls were unscalable. Although Maddie gave it a good try.
Anyway, the weather just cried out for comfort food. So tonight it’s chicken and biscuits. Continue reading
Cranberries are on sale now, so it seemed a good time to re-up this recipe. You can use sirloin steak, or ribeye or NY strip. Works well on chicken breasts, too.
My love of cranberries has been well documented here. So no wonder this is one of my favorite dinners. The potatoes are very creamy – you can make them more calorie friendly by reducing the amount of butter, you probably won’t miss it with the creamy dressing.
Cranberry Pepper Steak
saucepan, broiler pan
In saucepan, combine cranberries, pepper flakes, & vinegar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, cook until thickened and reduced by half. Rub sirloin on both sides with garlic, chili, salt & pepper (use more of each if desired). Cut into 4 pieces, broil (or grill) 5 minutes on each side for rare. Spoon sauce over cooked steaks & serve.
Bleu Cheese Mashed Potatoes
saucepan
Wash and cube potatoes (peeling optional – I never peel mine, just scrub really, really well), add to saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender (about 20 minutes). Drain well. Add butter, salt, pepper and dressing. Mash potatoes until fluffy (I find a hand mixer works best)
*I keep fresh cranberries in the freezer. If you want to use fresh, add 1/4 cup of sugar and dash of orange juice as a substitute for canned.
The chicken marinade was black bean/garlic sauce, Thai sweet chili sauce, Chinese cooking wine, mushroom soy, and sweet soy sauce plus a lot of minced ginger and fresh garlic.
The veggies steamed concurrently with the chicken cooking in the wok and everything was timed to be ready when the rice was done. And it happened just that way! I dumped the veggies into the chicken to coat with the sauce. Yay!
We’re trying to do a vegetarian night a few times a week. This was one of my favorite creations.
Creole Vegetables with Black Beans and Rice
Used the multi-pot to cook up a big batch of Bourbon Beef Stew (recipe here) for dinner guests. I sauteed the beef in the multi-pot, along with the onions and then Continue reading
This was a cross between biscuits and gravy and chicken pot pie. I went with this recipe for the biscuits. I’ve made it before but this time I used an 8×8 inch glass pan. I should have stayed with my larger hotel pan because the biscuits took way longer to bake than the recipe indicated. After I took the pic I tried to plate some biscuits for the dinner but they were not yet done, I had to give them 10 more minutes past the 25 I had set the timer for and they were still not quite right.
The chicken was leftover from the “Winner, Winner..” post the other day, and the gravy was just a simple white sauce with powdered mustard, a few ounces of Parmesan, plus the remaining chicken gravy. I steamed some more veggies to add to it. I was hungry when I put the biscuits into the oven and ravenous by the time they were finally done.
What's 4 Dinner Solutions 