Tag: pressure cooker

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti (DF)

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The boys do not like when Hubby makes pasta dishes because he doesn’t always drain the pasta. He’ll rather use a slotted spoon to get out the pasta. Needless to say, it becomes very mushy.

So whenever we do have any pasta dishes, I’m the only one who cooks or if he cooks the pasta, he needs to be reminded to drain the pasta. I know us bugging him drives him crazy.

Making the spaghetti in the pressure cooker eliminates the need to drain the pasta because all of it is made in one pot.

Youngest is not always the best eater. He doesn’t always eat a lot of food at meals. When he ate 2 servings of the spaghetti, I knew this recipe was a keeper.

Hubby doesn’t always want to eat leftovers even though I plan for them during the week. He actually volunteered to eat the leftovers the next day. This also told me that this recipe was a keeper.

What you need for the recipe
  1. spaghetti noodles
  2. ground beef
  3. jar of spaghetti sauce
  4. water
  5. Italian seasoning
  6. optional: diced onions

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti

  • Servings: 5
  • Difficulty: extremely easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 0.5 pound of spaghetti noodles
  • 0.5 pound of ground beef
  • 1 (26 oz.) jar of spaghetti sauce
  • 1 (26 oz.) jar full of water plus about 2 to 3 Tbsp. more of water
  • 1 small or 1/2 large onion, diced – optional
  • 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil – optional

Directions

  1. Set your electric pressure cooker to saute.
  2. If you are going to add onions to your spaghetti, add the oil and then the onions. Cook the onions for 4 to 5 minutes or until translucent. Remove from the pot.
  3. Add the ground beef to the pot. Cook until no longer pink. Make sure you break up the ground beef so the pieces are equal pieces. (About 5 minutes) Drain the fat from the ground beef.
  4. Add the spaghetti sauce, water, Italian seasoning, and onions, if using them. Stir.
  5. Add the spaghetti noddles. (Break them in half.) Make sure the noodles are covered with sauce and water. Add a little more water, if needed.
  6. Set the pressure cooker to manual 8 minutes. Put the lid on the pressure cooker making sure the valve is set to seal.
  7. When it’s done cooking, quick release the valve.
  8. Stir the spaghetti.
  9. Enjoy with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Notes:

  1. You can use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
  2. If you want to make it vegetarian, you can use the beefless beef from Trader Joe’s. Just start with step 4 unless you are adding the onions.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Mom, What’s For Dinner? – January 8, 2018 & Pressure Cooker Steel Oats

Last week was crazy.  I only worked twice during the week.  We had below freezing temps.  Extremely below freezing temps.  The wind chill on a couple of the days registered -20 or so below.

Continue reading “Mom, What’s For Dinner? – January 8, 2018 & Pressure Cooker Steel Oats”

Pressure Cooker BBQ Chicken Wings

During January, I was sick for half of the month.  During the time I was sick, I was not hungry for any food.  Towards the end of my sickness, I ended up craving BBQ chicken wings.  I sent Hubby out to get me some frozen chicken wings so I could cook them up in the pressure cooker.  They were delicious!  I ended up eating a whole bunch of the chicken.

We still had a few of the frozen chicken wings leftover so I cooked up some more last Saturday when our boys were with their grandma.  Hubby gave me some tips to make them even better.  I’m sharing the improved recipe.

Continue reading “Pressure Cooker BBQ Chicken Wings”

Split Pea Soup (Pressure Cooker or Slow Cooker)

On a cold winter day, soup is the perfect meal.  This split pea soup warms the soul.

My grandpa loved split pea soup.  I’ve never liked it until now.  We’ve had it twice in the last few months.  Yum!

This can be done in either the pressure cooker or slow cooker.

split pea soup

Split Pea Soup

adapted from Skinny Taste

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 lb. split peas, rinsed and picked through
  • 1/2 c. diced onions
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces
  • 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1 & 1/2 c. diced ham
  • 6 c. water
  • 1 chicken bullion cube
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt and pepper to taste

Steps (Electric Pressure cooker):

  1. Rinse the peas.  Pick out any bad pieces.
  2. In the pressure cooker, saute the onion, carrots, and garlic for 5 minutes.
  3. Add the water, ham, bullion cube, bay leaf, salt and pepper, and split peas.
  4. Put the lid on the pressure cooker.  (Make sure the pressure cooker valve is closed).
  5. Set to the pressure cooker to soup.  Pressure cook for 20 minutes.
  6. Allow to naturally release the pressure.
  7. If the split pea soup is not as thick at you would like, allow to sit for a few minutes to allow it to thicken up.

Steps (Slow Cooker):

  1. Rinse the peas.  Pick out any bad pieces.
  2. Saute the onion, carrots, and garlic in a small pan on the stove.
  3. Add the water, ham, bullion cube, bay leaf, salt and pepper, split peas, onion, carrots, and garlic.
  4. Cook on  low for 8 to 10 hours.

Happy Eating,
Traci

Pressure Cooker Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

The other day I went an event.  They served frozen lasagna.  It made me crave homemade lasagna so I decided make some.    I asked Hubby to get me the ingredients for my lasagna.  Rather then using store bought sauce, I decided to use my spaghetti sauce recipe.  I adapted the recipe for the pressure cooker.

The kitchen smelled amazing as it cooked!  This is an easy recipe to put together.  If you don’t want to use the pressure cooker, click on the link to the original recipe.

I use an Electric Pressure Cooker.Pressure Cooker Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Pressure Cooker
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 (28 oz.) or 2 (14.5 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes
  • 1/4 c. water
  • 1 to 2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
  • 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp. beef granules
  • 1 to 2 Tbsp. white sugar or shredded carrots (reduces acidity and adds sweetness to the sauce)

Steps:

  1. Combine all the ingredients in the pressure cooker.
  2. Place the lid on the pressure cooker.
  3. Set the setting to pressure cook and the time to 10 minutes.
  4. After the sauce is done cooking, allow the pressure cooker to release the steam naturally for 10 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
  5. Carefully remove the lid to the pressure cooker.
  6. Enjoy over your favorite pasta!

Sausage, Peppers, and Onions – Pressure Cooking Or Slow Cooker

I found this recipe and decided to make this for our dinner.  We loved that it was made in the pressure cooker.  Hubby got a lesson on how the pressure cooker works.  He saw how long the recipe was suppose to take so that he could gauge what time dinner was going to be on the table.  The problem is that it he didn’t factor in the fact that the pressure cooker has to reach pressure before it starts cooking the food.

Hubby and I loved this dinner.  It was simple and delicious!

We ate it over rice that I had cooked earlier in the pressure cooker.  I reheated it with butter, salt, and a Tablespoon or two of water.  Then I warmed it up in the microwave for about 3 minutes.  Afterwards I fluffed up the rice.

This would also be delicious over pasta.  We are going to save the rest of the sauce and use it over pasta for a quick dinner.  Yum!

I used basil garlic pork sausage from Fresh Thyme.  It’s bulk sausage so you can chose how many sausage links you want to buy.  I only bought two sausage links since they are huge.  Then I cut each one into 4 pieces for a total of 8 pieces.sausage

Sausage, Onions, and Peppers

adapted from Pressure Cooking Today

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 lb. of sausage links (I cut up my sausage links.  You can keep them whole.)
  • 2 c. red, yellow, orange, or green peppers sliced
  • 1 onion cut into rings (Or you could use a bag of (16 oz.) frozen pepper and onion stir fry instead of cutting up the peppers and onions.)
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 1 can of crushed tomatoes (28 ounces or 2-14 ounce cans)
  • 1 can of tomato sauce (14 ounce can)
  • 1 Tbsp. Italian season
  • salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

  1. In the pressure cooker, place the water, crushed tomatoes, and tomato sauce.
  2. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper over the tomato sauce mixture.
  3. Place the sausage links over the tomato sauce mixture.
  4. Place the onions and peppers over the sausage.
  5. Put the lid back on the pressure cooker.
  6. Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.  Use the quick release to release the extra steam.
  7. Serve over rice, pasta, or if you left them whole on a sub bun with cheese.

If you would like to do this in a slow cooker, follow steps 1 -4 and then cook it for 6 hours on low or until the sausage if fully cooked.

Happy eating,
Traci

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