Cranberry Mango Green Tea

I am starting 2022 with recipe that combines my longtime love of cranberries with my new found love of tea in all it’s forms for a delicious hot drink. If I am honest, I have been drinking this tea since I found the recipe in late August and will continue drinking it until I run out of cranberries to make it with. Which, honestly, will probably never happen because I always make sure to stock up on cranberries for the off season.

I have used plain Jasmine green tea for this recipe as well a blend called Full Body Reset from a company called Plum Deluxe. You can use loose leaf green tea or green tea bags for this recipe. Serve this recipe hot or cold.

• Difficulty: Easy
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4 cups water

1 cup chopped mango, fresh or frozen

1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen

1 (1 inch piece) fresh ginger, sliced

4 tsp loose leaf green tea or 4 green tea bags

sweetener, to taste

in a medium saucepan, combine water, mango, cranberries and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Simmer, covered for 5minutes. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Cover and steep for 5minutes.

Remove and discard tea bags. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Discard solids. You can sweeten the tea at this point and float a lemon slice in each cup.

IP Cabbage Roll Soup (Whole 30)

Yesterday started out with a bang. Okay, it was more like a loud pop, a boatload of sparks and some flame. I was sauting some onions for my breakfast. My birds started squabbling so I went to see what was going on. I heard a loud pop, turned around and saw sparks flying across my kitchen from my stove. There were flames under my saute pan. Fortunately, my guardian Angel was awake and hard at work. The sparks and flames were out before I really even realized what happened. It was way too much excitement for 5:15 am on a weekday. The only causality was my saute pan. The element the saute pan was on got so hot it melted a hole in the bottom of a stainless steel pan. Oh, and my stove. I am not turning on that thing ever again.

I am so thankful for my birds. If they hadn’t started squabbling I would have been standing right over the pan when the sparks started flying. I am so thankful nothing caught fire. Those sparks reached all over my kitchen. I shudder to think what an epic disaster this could have been. I am also thankful I still have my pressure cookers or else all I would be eating is sandwiches until my landlord gets back from his vacation.

Cabbage Roll Soup

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted From The Big Book Of Paleo Pressure Cooking

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 a large onion, diced

1 TBS finely chopped dates

1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1/2 tsp minced garlic

2 TBS white wine vinegar

1 TBS tomato paste

2 cups finely chopped green cabbage

2 cups compliant broth, beef, if you can find it

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat your pressure cooker on the high saute mode. Add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the ground beef and cook, stirring often to break up the meat, until it starts to get crispy and the meat is starting to stick to the bottom of the liner.

Add the onion, continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes.

Stir in the finely chopped dates, tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste, cabbage and 2 cups of broth. Beef broth is recommended but I used turkey broth and it worked fine.

Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 15 minutes them quick release the remaining pressure. Taste and add more salt and vinegar, if necessary.

Instant Pot Mini Monday — Mac and Cheese

Guys,  I am so excited!  I get to share the recipe I tested for Christina Lane with you today.  It’s Mac and Cheese in the Instant Pot.  I have to be completely honest, when I first saw this recipe I didn’t have any idea how the heck it was going to turn into mac and cheese with no milk and pasta made in the pressure cooker.  I thought this may be the second thing I found not worth making in the pressure cooker.  However, I trust Christina so I made the recipe just like we talked about.  I am so glad I did because this is awesome.   I have made this mac and cheese twice in the last week and I can’t remember the last time I made a recipe twice in one week.  The quality of the cheese you use is what makes this dish use the best you can afford.  I used my favorite Cabot extra sharp cheddar and Frigro block Parmesan cheese.

Christina Lane’s Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Whole30 Day 2 — Pressure Cooker Hard Boiled Eggs

One of the things that drew me to the Whole30 is they want the Whole30 journey to be about more than a number on the scale. They don’t want you to weigh yourself for the entire month. No problem here, I don’t own a scale. How do you stay motivated if you can’t see the number on the scale consistently go down? The Whole30 helps you stay motivated by concentrating on non scale victories (nsv). Non scale victories are the little success’ we have everyday on our journey. Maybe we bypassed the free donuts in the break room at work. Maybe we bypass a serious sugar craving by taking a walk. Maybe we, firmly but politely, told our less than supportive friend, we would love to spend time with them, just not at a restraunt.

Today I had a NSV that I am pretty proud of.  I decided to go to a movie this afternoon. I am on vacation and I made it through  my first day of my Whole30, I wanted to have a little celebration.   I didn’t think bypassing the concession stand would be that big of a deal.  I usually go to the movies with my friend, Steph, who has sensitivities to certain sounds, like me munching on popcorn.   I usually don’t get anything as I refuse to pay $4 for candy I can get at work for .98 cents.  I seriously under estimated the pull of movie theater popcorn on my psyche.  As I walked towards the theater I actually thought I am only on day 2.  I could have the popcorn and start over tomorrow. Nobody would have to know.  The problem is I would know so I went in bought my ticket and took my seat without a stop at the concession stand.  Popcorn just wasn’t worth screwing up my Whole30.

There are as many ways to hard boil eggs as there are people who boil them so why am I posting this one?  On the Whole30 eggs are your friend.  Hard boiled eggs are a quick source of grab and go protien.  Hard boiled eggs in the pressure cooker  is a very quick way to make them.  I absolutely love the texture of the eggs made in the pressure cooker and even eggs fresh out of the chicken peel like a dream.

Pressure Cooked Hard Boiled Eggs

• Difficulty: Easy
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However many eggs you want to cook

enough water to bring the pressure cooker to pressure

Place the eggs in the pressure cooker liner and add enough water to bring the it to pressure.  Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.  Release the pressure with a 10 minute natural release.  Rinse under cold water until the eggs are cool.  Store in the refrigerator.

Pressure Cooker Corned Beef And Cabbage

My counter top oven is dying.  I know they don’t last forever (this is my second one) .  I bought it for about $55 dollars about 3 or 4 years ago and I use it atleast once daily, so I know I have gotten my money’s worth from this particular kitchen item.  It’s just that they no longer make this particular brand of counter top oven any more.  I am going to have to make a a decision on a new one soon.  I know it isn’t the worst thing I could have to happen to me.  I just suck at making decisions and I hate change, especially in my kitchen.

My dying counter top oven may not be the worst thing that has ever happened to me but it is currently the most annoying thing.  I wanted to make a baked corned beef brisket today.  With my unreliable oven, I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining it. I was so bummed because today was the only day I had time to do the long, slow cook that a corned beef brisket needs to become tender.  After a good pout,  it occured to me I could make a corned beef brisket in my pressure cooker.  A quick internet search for a recipe, I found one by Gutsy By Nature.  I absolutely loved how the cook tossed out the spice packet that came with the brisket and made her own.  I also loved how the pressure cooker cut the the cooking time from over 3 hours in the oven to just over 90 minutes in the pressure cooker. The corned beef brisket was very lightly flavored (I would probably double the spices next time) and not overly salty like corned beef brisket sometimes gets.  I will always bake my corned beef brisket whenever possible but when I can’t I will use this recipe and my pressure cooker.

• Difficulty: Easy
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3-4 lb corned beef brisket

4 cups water

1 small onion

3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 bay leaves

3 whole black peppercorns

1/2 tsp whole allspice berries

1 tsp dried thyme

1  1/2  lbs small potatoes

5 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 small cabbage, quartered

In a 6 quart pressure cooker, add the water, onion, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice berries and thyme.  Lock the lid and set the timer for 90 minutes at high pressure.  Release the pressure with a 10 minute natural release.  Remove the meat and keep warm.  Add the vegetables.  Lock the lid.  Set the time for 10 minutes at high pressure.  Release the pressure with a quick release.  Server the corned beef with the vegetables and a side of soda bread.