Do-It-Yourself Grain Bowls

I was strolling through the Walmarts recently when I came upon some pre-fab frozen grain bowls that looked pretty good. But then I thought, I have grains and a magic pot...and leftover Chinese food containers. I can make my own d*mn grain bowls that are tastier and cheaper! TA-DAH! The ones I saw in the store were barley, kale, and turkey sausage. I used what I had on hand and made farro, Prince Edward Island blend veggies, and smoked turkey sausage. YUM! No fast food drive-throughs for me during finals week!

Methodology:

I put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in the IP and sauteed half of a large onion (chopped) with four cloves of minced garlic (you can just use two if you're wimpy like that). When tender, I added a cup of pearled farro and two cups of vegetable stock. I cooked it on manual for ten minutes, and let it release naturally.

Meanwhile, I browned a pound of smoked sausage in a large skillet on the stove over medium heat, and then removed it from the pan and sliced it up. To the same skillet, I added another couple of tablespoons of olive oil, the rest of the onion, a couple/few more cloves of minced garlic, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. When tender, I deglazed the pan with half a cup of white wine, then I threw in a bag of PEI blend veggies, poured in two cups of vegetable stock, covered the pan, lowered the heat to a simmer, and let it cook until the carrots were tender. I added black pepper and seasoned salt to taste.

To build the bowls, I used three leftover Chinese food containers, and put the cooked farro in the bottom, topped that with the veggies, and then the sausage. And I poured the remaining liquid equally over the three finished bowls. Easy-peasy!

The Thickest, Silkiest Greek Yogurt in the Instant Pot!

Somebody in the Instant Pot Community shared a tip about using Fairlife Ultra-Filtered Milk to make yogurt in the magic pot. I used 2%, and you can see below how thick it was before I even put it in my new "Euro-strainer."

Of course, I had a near-catastrophe with what was apparently an old, weak starter. At five and a half hours, it was still just thick, warm milk, so I checked the temp (110F), added a 1/4 teaspoon of a different strain of dried cultures, stirred, and let it go another three and a half hours, and it set up perfectly! Yogurt crisis averted, leading to a second crisis: Too much yogurt! (Why didn't I make just half a gallon?)


 



To make yogurt in the Instant Pot, pour a gallon of milk into the liner, hit "yogurt" then right away, hit "adjust" until it says "boil." Cover with a glass lid. It will take maybe an hour to come up to about 185F. Then I like to turn it off and leave it sit (covered) for about 30 minutes.

Next, put the liner into a sink of cold water for a few minutes until it comes down to 110F. Scoop out a little of the warm milk into your starter (1/4 cup of prepared yogurt, or I use 1/4 teaspoon of dried starter cultures), then pour this mixture back into the pot along with sweetener of your choice (sugar, honey, maple syrup, stevia, etc--to taste, one half to one cup), and I use about a tablespoon of vanilla bean paste.

Stir well, cover with the lid, and press "yogurt." It will stay warm and do its thing for eight hours, then...it's yogurt! For Greek yogurt, strain through cheesecloth or a flour sack towel, or a special yogurt strainer until it reaches the desired consistency. You might want to whisk it until smooth at this point, and then put it in containers and into the fridge.



To strain, I have always strained my yogurt and skyr and ricotta and such in a damp flour sack towel tied to a kitchen cabinet knob over a bowl to catch the whey. It worked perfectly fine, but I splurged and bought an inexpensive ($16) yogurt strainer on Amazon and tried it out today after making a batch of yogurt in my magic pot. While not an absolutely essential cooking tool, it's so handy, and after about 7-8 hours in the fridge and then whisking to remove lumps, I ended up with the thickest, silkiest, Greek vanilla bean yogurt that I've ever made! Euro strainer FTW!







































There are few things in this life as sublime as my Greek Vanilla Bean Yogurt with homemade Nutty Maple and Brown Sugar Granola. Mmmmmm!

Instant Pot Hodgepodge Soup to Share with Work Colleagues

I wanted to make a big batch of soup to take to a lunch meeting at work yesterday, but I wanted it to be easy and to make use of whatever odds and ends I had in the vegetable bin and pantry. I came up with the following, and my co-workers raved. I didn't have the heart to tell them it was just a crazy hodge-podge that I made up as I went along. (But a tasty hodgepodge nevertheless!)

Instant Pot Italian Chicken, Veggie and Wild Rice Soup

1 1/2 cups wild rice, barley, and dried veggie* mix
8-12 cups homemade chicken broth, divided
2 large stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large frozen boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (with garlic and onions)
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable soup base (Better Than Bouillon), or more to taste
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
four handfuls of fresh spinach (or chopped kale)

*The soup mix I used had carrots in it, otherwise, I would have diced some fresh carrots to add in at the same time as the celery and onion and all.

Pressure cook the wild rice mix in four cups of chicken broth on Manual/high for 20 minutes. Add all of the other ingredients including another four cups of chicken broth, but not the spinach. Cook on Manual/high for another five minutes. Thin with more broth, remove the rosemary stems and bay leaves, correct seasonings, and stir in the spinach just before serving.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Lee Ann! (2016 Instant Pot Edition)

My dear friend and office mate Lee Ann's birthday was this past Sunday, so I decided to host a little celebratory luncheon at work yesterday. I made a delicious beef, barley and mushroom soup in the Instant Pot, and a Waldorf chicken salad, with chicken also prepared in the magic pot. Then our mutual friend, Vicky, brought the fixin's for an ice cream sundae bar (as Lee Ann is not a big fan of cake).  Everything was very well-received, especially by the birthday gal. YAY!

For the soup, I loosely followed a recipe from the IP web site that calls for sour cream at the end. It makes it taste like stroganoff soup (second pic), and that's yummy, but next time, I think I'd just use the sour cream as an optional garnish. I kinda like the deeper, beefier/mushroomy flavor without it (first pic).

Beef, Barley and Mushroom Soup

(Source: Adapted from Sharon W. on the IP web site)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 lbs. beef chuck, cut into small cubes

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

8 cups beef broth, divided

1 package Campbell's Slow Cooker Sauce, Tavern Pot Roast flavor

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon double-concentrated tomato paste

2 bay leaves

small bundle of fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine

pinch of cayenne
8 oz. Baby Bella mushrooms, washed and sliced

1 cup (uncooked) pearled barley

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Toss the beef cubes with Cajun seasoning and pepper. In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and brown the meat. Strain the meat out and add to the IP. In the leftover oil, saute the onions for a few minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute or so. Deglaze the pan with two cups of beef broth, scraping up all the brown bits. Pour into the IP. Add everything else, except the sour cream and parsley, and cook for 25 minutes on the Meat setting. Let release naturally. Stir in the sour cream and parsley, then taste to correct seasoning before serving. 

For the Waldorf Chicken Salad:

I cooked the boneless, skinless breasts in the IP on the trivet over a cup and a half of chicken broth for 20 minutes on high, because they were really big. So, after you cook the chicken (4 boneless/skinless breasts sprinkled with seasoned salt), cool and cut into chunks. Add half of a finely minced onion (or a few scallions, if you prefer). Make a dressing of about a cup of mayo, the juice of a lemon, a teaspoon each of ground celery, celery seeds, and sugar (or honey), and a 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Combine with the chicken mixture, then chill the salad for a few hours or overnight. Before serving, add two seeded and diced Granny Smith apples. In a dry skillet, toast a cup of chopped walnuts. Cool, then add those to the salad as well. Season with salt to taste.

P.S. I don't care for celery, but if you like it, chop up a couple of stalks and throw that in, too.

 

A Luscious Vegan Meal...With a Side of Meat

I have a friend from college and a former roommate when I was in grad school in Seattle who is a vegetarian, and she introduced me to a great vegan web site with many terrific recipes that would tempt (or fool) the most hardcore carnivore. I usually let my pal Vicki test drive the recipes, and then she recommends which ones I should try. That's how I discovered Oh She Glows' Layered Raw Taco Salad that's just out of this world, and I SWEAR you'd never miss the meat or the dairy!

The next recipe I tried was perfect for winter--hearty and rib-sticking, savory and meaty, without the meat. It's called Cozy Millet Bowl with Mushroom Gravy and Kale. Not only is it delicious, but it has an amazing amount of protein (16g) from the grain, mushrooms, and nutritional yeast. Now millet was a new grain to me (except when it's baked into bread), and nutritional yeast sounds like something a bodybuilder throws into his smoothie to bulk up. But apparently, it's used for its flavor as well as its nutritional value, especially for vegan recipes calling for a cheese substitute, as it has a nutty, almost parmesan-like flavor. You can find it at your local co-op (along with the millet), and the vegetarians have a cute nickname for it: "nooch!" LOL! I will definitely make this dish again, but next time, I might try swapping out different grains, like quinoa or farro. The possibilities are endless.

So I made this lovely vegan meal tonight, then decided it needed a side of meat. HA! At my friend Joanna's party over Thanksgiving weekend, the best appetizer that she served was also the simplest. She roasted cubes of butternut squash and some slices of smoked sausage, and put one piece of each on a toothpick to be served with a garlicky dip. It was SO GOOD! I didn't have butternut squash on hand, but I used about four peeled and cubed sweet potatoes and half of a smoked sausage, sliced up, and then everything tossed with a couple of tablespoons of grainy mustard and a little brown sugar before roasting at 400 degrees until tender and browned. I can't even begin to fathom the nutrient density and superfood power of this delicious meal! So make the millet dish as a bowl unto itself or as a side dish, but make it! 

Cozy Millet Bowl with Mushroom Gravy and Kale
(Source: adapted from Oh She Glows)

1/2 cup uncooked millet (makes 2 cups cooked)
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped sweet onion (1 medium onion)
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups sliced crimini mushrooms (300 grams)
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium tamari (soy sauce)
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1  1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup fresh chopped kale, stems removed
freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt, to taste

1. Toast millet: In a pot or skillet with a lid, toast the millet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it starts popping. Be careful you don’t burn it. The goal here is a light toast. Remove from heat. Cook millet: Bring a medium-sized pot of 1 cup water, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup uncooked millet to a low boil. Reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Simmer for 15 minutes or so. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes covered. Remove lid and fluff with fork. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, grab a large skillet and heat oil over medium heat. Add in chopped onions and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for about 12 minutes longer, stirring as necessary. Now stir in the rosemary, nutritional yeast, and tamari. Cook for a few minutes.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the broth and cornstarch until clumps are gone, and then stir into the mushroom mixture. Stir in kale. Cook for another 5-6 minutes or so, until slightly thickened. Portion millet into two bowls and serve the mushroom gravy on top.

Maybe I don't hate oatmeal.

 

 

I have always hated oatmeal, but I made the Padula-meets-Gaiman version this morning, and I must say, it was YUM! I toasted whole oats in a dab of butter, then added fresh milk (from Woven Meadows Farm) a half cup at a time until they absorbed as much as they could--risotto-style--then finished it with a little brown sugar and vanilla (to taste). To serve, you add a blob of your favorite jam and a good splodge of fresh cream. What's that? You say you don't have farm-fresh cream? Well, it sucks to be you, and you should probably reevaluate your priorities and start living right!

Update: Ok, now I've done it. Instead of plain oats, I took a five-grain blend from Bob's Red Mill and prepared it Padula/risotto-style with farm-fresh milk, cooking until tender. When the porridge was almost done, I threw in some chopped Honey Crisp apple. Before serving, I swirled in a spoonful of Biscoff (speculoos) spread and garnished it with some toasted almond slices and the requisite splodge of cream. My roommate Cyd declared it "the best thing she's ever eaten."