The Paleo Recipe Book

 

Health Benefits of Pressure Cooking

Health Benefits of Pressure Cooking

Do you remember the days when your mom used a pressure cooker to prepare yummy, delicious foods and meals? Perhaps you’ve thought those days are gone, or you thought pressure cookers were only for beans. Well, with today’s modern pressure cookers, your family can enjoy succulent, delicious and nutritious meals in a fraction of the time it would take to boil, bake or slow cook your favorite recipes.

Because pressure cooking uses the steam from the liquids used in your favorite recipes, the vitamins and nutrients are preserved in the food instead of being “cooked out” as they are in traditional boiling, baking or microwaving. And because pressure cooking reduces the amount of cooking time by up to 10 times, pressure cooking is a lot healthier than running out to a fast food joint.

Another way using a pressure cooker to cook our meals is healthier is because the ingredients used are fresh, whole, natural foods, not processed or packaged foods. Not only is using natural foods for all your meals, opposed to processed or packaged, healthier it also saves you money on your grocery bills every month. When you get in the habit of eating natural foods you’ll find you often have more energy, less weight gain, lower sodium and lower cholesterol levels as well. And because you can choose what goes in your pressure cooker you have more control over the amount of salt and other ingredients you are digesting.

Using recipes that are low in fat, salt and carbohydrates are easy to do in a pressure cooker, and they come out tasting delicious, even more delicious than if you baked, boiled or microwave them. Not to mention you will tend to make more vegetables when you use a pressure cooker because it is easy, efficient and pressure cooking makes your vegetable, frozen or raw, come out succulent and melt in your mouth. You may find that you prefer your vegetables without butter or salt once you start cooking them in a pressure cooker! Think of all the health benefits in that alone.

An added health benefit to using a pressure cooking is to make some of your favorite desserts in a pressure cooker. That’s right! You can use your pressure cooker to make desserts like homemade applesauce, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, and cinnamon and apple flan w/ maple syrup. You can choose the ingredients that go into your dessert to make them more nutritious for you and your family.

You Can Even Make Dessert with a Pressure Cooker

You Can Even Make Dessert with a Pressure Cooker

Preparing desserts has never been easier or less time consuming than with a pressure cooker! Not only are they easy and take less time than they would if you baked them, pressure cooked desserts also taste better and are healthier. Here are some favorite dessert recipes you and your family will love.

Creamy Cheesecake with Fruit Glaze – Delicious and quick to put together!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. butter

• 4 tbsp. bread crumbs

• 2-8 oz. pkgs. Cream cheese

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 2 tsp. grated lemon zest

• 2 tbsp. flour

• 6 tbsp. sour cream

• 2 eggs

• 2 egg yolks

• 2 cups water

Preparation:

Butter a 7 inch spring form mold or other baking dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and set aside. In a bowl, blend the cream cheese, sugar, cream, vanilla, lemon zest, flour and sour cream. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks and pour mixture into the baking dish.

Center the uncovered pan on a piece of 24” long aluminum foil. Cover the top of the pan with another piece of foil and pinch around the edges to seal. Create a handle by scrunching up the ends of the foil over the top of the pan. Set the trivet in the pressure cooker and pour in the water. Lower the foil covered pan into the pressure cooker and place on the trivet.

Lock the lid into place and bring to pressure. Lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes at 15psi. Remove from heat and release pressure using the natural release method.

Remove the pan from the pressure cooker using the foil handle. Loosen the foil and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Before serving, arrange fruit topping or fruit preserves in thick layer over the cheesecake. If using a spring form pan, release and remove the rim of the spring form pan.

Rice Pudding – A favorite especially on those chilly fall or winter days!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. butter

• 1/4 cup long grain rice

• 2 cups milk

• 1 cup water

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 egg

• 1/4 cup evaporated milk

• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

• Cinnamon to taste

Preparation:

Melt the butter in the pressure cooker and add the rice coating it with butter. Pour in the fresh milk and water and then stir in the sugar and salt.

Lock the lid in place and bring to pressure. Lower heat and cook for 12 minutes at 15 psi. Release pressure using natural release method and remove lid.

In a small bowl, combine egg, evaporated milk and vanilla. Stir in a little of the hot liquid from the pressure cooker then add the mixture to the pressure cooker. Cook uncovered over medium heat with a wooden spoon, stirring constantly until the rice pudding begins to barely bubble. Immediately remove from heat and allow to cool 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Transfer to individual dessert bowls, and refrigerate to continue cooling. Sprinkle with cinnamon when serving.

Makes 4 servings

Cooking Beans and Lentils in Your Pressure Cooker

Cooking Beans and Lentils in Your Pressure Cooker

Pressure cooked dry beans and lentils are so much better than canned beans. Here’s why: dry beans cost much less than canned beans; dry beans taste better than canned beans and contain no preservatives; dry beans are healthier than canned beans and more environmentally safe because they don’t require any metal packaging or salt water and preservatives that canned beans are soaked in; and using a new generation pressure cooker is the fastest way to cook beans and rice.

Here are a couple of recipes for you to enjoy using your pressure cooker

Hummus – Healthy, environmentally safe and delicious!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup dried chickpeas

• 1/3 cup Canola oil

• 1/3 cup EVOO

• 1/3 cup tahini

• 1/3 cup water

• 4 tbsp. lemon juice

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/2 tsp. cumin

• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Soak chickpeas for at least 4 hours. You can put them in water before you head for work to prepare in the evening. Dispose soaking water and rinse. Place chickpeas in pressure cooker with 3-1/2 cups water. Lock the lid and bring to pressure, then lower heat and cook for 9 to 14 minutes on high (15psi). Use natural release method to allow pressure to drop. Blend cooked chickpeas and all other ingredients until creamy.

Makes 4 servings

Old Fashioned Baked Beans – Perfect for a family barbeque or Thanksgiving Dinner!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry navy beans (aka white beans)

• 3 tbsp. Canola oil

• 1 large onion diced

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1-3/4 cups water

• 1 can (2 fl. Oz) tomato paste

• 3 tbsp. brown sugar

• 2 tbsp. molasses

• 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard

• 1/4 tsp. cumin

• 1/8 tsp. chili powder

Preparation:

Rinse and soak navy beans for at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Add all ingredients except the beans to the pressure cooker and stir thoroughly. Then add the beans. Bring to a boil, then stir and lock the lid in place and bring to pressure. Lower heat and cook for 40 minutes at 15 psi. Release pressure using the quick release method or auto release and remove lid.

Makes 4 servings.

As you can see, making your family favorites is quick and easy using a new generation pressure cooker! Now you can have low-cost, healthy meals in the fraction of the time it would take you to bake, boil or use a slow cooker!

3 Pressure Cooker Beef Recipes

3 Pressure Cooker Beef Recipes

Pressure Cookers aren’t just for beans! Using a pressure cooker saves time and money over baking in the oven or using a crock pot. In addition to that the meat is juicier and much tenderer. Below are some quick and easy recipes you can use with beef. The recipes times are based using a 15psi pressure cooker. For a lower psi pressure cooker, add 12% to 15% more time.

Old Fashioned Meat Loaf – Prepare the meat in the morning and chill to firm for a nice evening supper.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 lb. chopped or ground beef

• 1 tsp. salt

• Ground black pepper

• 2 slices bread, soaked in water and squeezed dry

• 2 tbsp. parsley

• 1 med. Onion, minced

• 1 Garlic Clove

• 1 Egg

• 2 tbsp. Chicken Stock

• 2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

• 2 tbsp. Olive Oil

• 1 cup Tomato Sauce

• 1 cup Water

Preparation:

In a bowl, combine the meat, salt, pepper, bread, parsley, onion, garlic, egg, chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce. Shape into two small loaves. Wrap each in wax paper and chill several hours to firm.

When ready to commence cooking, heat the oil in the pressure cooker and brown the loaves well on all sides. Transfer to the cooker basket. Discard the oil and combine the tomato sauce and water and season with salt and pepper and spread over the loaves. Lower the basket into the pressure cooker, lock lid and bring to pressure. Lower heat and cook for 15 minutes on high pressure (15psi). Allow pressure to drop by quick release method or automatic release method, slice and serve.

Serves 4

Beef Stroganoff – A family favorite, serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 lb beef stew meat or round steak cut into 1” cubes

• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil

• 2 tbsp. flour

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 tsp. garlic

• 1 cup beef broth

• 1/4 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

• 2 tbsp. tomato paste

• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

• 1 cup sour cream

• Salt and Pepper to taste

• 1 pkg. egg noodles cooked

Preparation:

Brown meat in pressure cooker. Add flour and mix well. Stir in onion, garlic, beef broth, mushrooms, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce, blend thoroughly.

Lock the lid and bring to pressure. Lower heat and cook for 25 minutes on high pressure (15psi). Allow pressure to drop by the natural release method and remove lid. Stir in sour cream and blend well. Serve over hot egg noodles, or you can stir the cooked noodles into the meat mixture.

Pot Roast – A quick and easy recipe family favorite that serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. Canola oil

• 1.5 lb. pot roast

• Salt and pepper

• 1 chopped onion

• 1 bay leaf

• 1-1/2 cups water or beef stock

Preparation:

Place canola oil and roast in pressure cooker and brown on all sides. Place roast on trivet in cooker. Season roast with salt and pepper, then add chopped onion, bay leaf and water or broth.

Lock the lid in place and bring cooker to pressure. Lower heat and cook for 35 minutes at 15psi.

What Do I Do With All This Harvest?

What Do I Do With All This Harvest?

Gathering the last of the harvest in the fall months leaves windowsills, tables and baskets full of tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, peppers, beets, apples and sweet potatoes. These yummy foods sit waiting to be used up. You’re left with so much fresh, precious food and so little time. The neighbors get to share in the excess and you send it home with anyone who darkens your door. All your labor of the spring and long hot summer has finally paid off, in rich dividends. Now, what do you do with everything you have left?

Now is the time to save some money. So many dishes can be made from these wonderful veggies and fruits. Here are some ideas for your next meal or two, or three or more.

Fresh Salsa

Fresh salsa is a big hit for fall. You can use the yellow, red or green peppers finely sliced along with some fresh onion and garlic to create your own salsa. Depending on the peppers you have planted you can make a Mexican salsa as well as a simple tomato salsa. If you have harvested peaches or apple, you can even make a salsa with these items. If you choose to can salsa make sure you follow a recipe that is tried and sure to keep the acid out of your salsa.

Sweet Potato Dishes Galore

Sweet potatoes have huge nutritional benefits. A sweet potato pie is just one of the many yummy things you can make. This root makes wonderful custards, casseroles and stews. It keeps fairly well if kept in dark places. Once is has become woody, it is no longer good for use.

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini makes the best bread and is a treat in the fall. You can freeze this vegetable and use it all winter long in breads and potato pancakes (try adding zucchini to this.)

Decorate Your Home with Squash & Gourds

Squash and gourds can be used as decoration in your home or yard. If you’ve harvested them you will know that they are everywhere in the fall. Take some fall flowers (mums are particularly hardy), squash and gourds and make table decorations from them. Of course you can prepare and freeze squash for winter use.

Hash It Out Over Hash of All Kinds

Beets diced up finely with some fresh potatoes and a little pot roast or corned beef finely diced will make a tasty hash. Don’t count this out in the fall. You can make a hash with apples, sweet potatoes, butternut squash or really anything you desire. The word hash encompasses a lot of different foods of your choice. If you wanted to omit the meat you could make a simple veggie and fruit hash. Search the net for some recipes.

Apples, Apples, Apples

Apples not only taste good but they make the house smell delicious as well. Applesauce is a great way to use up the apple leftovers and you can also freeze this for later use. Apple pies, apple cobblers (and peach too), apple crisp and apple butter are just a few of the ways you can use up your harvest.

With winter fast approaching, you will want to get as many of your goodies up in cans tucked away or frozen. There’s nothing like going to the pantry or freezer and seeing your hard labor waiting for you. Happy Harvest!

Fend Off Tooth Decay and Treat a Soldier This Halloween

Fend Off Tooth Decay and Treat a Soldier This Halloween

While our U.S. soldiers are overseas serving our country, dentists all over America are participating in a buyback program that treats our soldiers while trying to prevent cavities in our little ones.

Children trample all over the neighborhoods, visit their friends and family on Halloween all in hopes of coming hope with the lots of yum-yum gooey sugar. They dump the candy out on the floor or table and begin to go through the candy piece by piece. They pick out what they really like and for the most part, the rest goes into a bowl and sits there for several months until mom finally dumps it into the garbage.

This magnificent mound of candy is not seen as glorious by any dentist. Dentists see tooth decay and unnecessary trips to their office for children instead. Of course brushing and flossing is the biggest prevention of tooth decay but the less sweets you eat the less chance you have of developing tooth decay. This nightmarish vision sparked within dentists everywhere to come up with the candy buyback program.

I became aware of this program last October when I got a notice from our dentist’s office. They would buy back any candy that we didn’t want from our Halloween take-home at a dollar a pound. The intent was not to rob the children of their childhood Halloween memory but to let them have a choice of what they wanted to sell back. What a deal! They explained that they would then send the goodies we sold them overseas to our soldiers.

Trying to convince young ones of how great it is to send their candy to someone else is no easy task. However, if you let them know the dentist is offering to pay them for their goods, they may be more compromising. Personally, I thought of giving the money back to the dentist in order to help with the shipping cost. My seven year old was not so agreeable.

After my son went through his candy for a couple of days, on November 2nd we went down to our dentist’s office for our first buy back. It felt good knowing that the troops were being treated; my son was making a little cash and we were doing more to help prevent cavities as well.

Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization out of California, distributes the candy to soldiers and I attempted to talk my son into splitting the amount of money he received for his candy. After a bit of coercing and explaining to him why this was such as good idea, he finally agreed.

If you’re interested in participating in the candy buy back for soldiers, ask your dentist or look for a dentist in your area that takes part in this program. Eat up soldiers and thank you!

Make Your House Smell Delightful with this Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Make Your House Smell Delightful with this Pumpkin Roll Recipe

This is my favorite Halloween treat and one of the reasons is because it makes the house smell yummy. This pinwheel design comes from spreading cream cheese filling onto a flat pumpkin square and rolling it up. I double the recipe and freeze a loaf for later when I need something absolutely delicious to serve up. It takes a little work if you’re not used to handling your cakes, but once you’ve figured out the little tricks and how to mend your mistakes (if you make them) you’ll become an expert.

Some recipes you find call for making pumpkin puree. I have done this, but found that buying pure pumpkin is by far, easier, less messy and just as tasty. You’re going to add your own spices, so don’t buy the kind with them already added.

Let’s start! You will need to preheat your oven to 375 degrees and get your pan ready. Using a 15 x 10 inch pan (Texas sheet pan is what I call it) spray it with butter spray. You can use regular but I prefer the butter spray. I lightly flour this as well.

Now for the Pumpkin Roll:

3/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

3/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. allspice

1/4 t. salt

3 large eggs

1 c. sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

2/3 c. pumpkin puree

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Beat your eggs and sugar together on high until fluffy (about 5 minutes). You will know when it is enough; the mixture is thick and forms a ribbon pattern off your beaters when turned off and lifted slowly out of the bowl. Next, beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin. Slowly add in sifted flour mixture you set aside earlier. Gently mix thoroughly. Pour batter into pan, evenly spreading the batter.

Bake for 13 – 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don’t overcook. You want the cake to “spring back” when lightly touched with your finger.

While pumpkin is baking, take a piece of wax paper and lay it on a flat work area. Sprinkle this with powdered sugar and finely chopped walnuts.

Immediately, after cake is done, turn this carefully onto the dish towel that you have prepared. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and roll up the pumpkin roll, with the towel. You want to do this while the cake is hot. Set aside and wait to cool.

Filling:

8 oz. Softened cream cheese

2 T. softened butter

1 c. powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Once the pumpkin roll has cooled, you can carefully unroll it. If you have breakage, you can use your filling to fix the cracks. You will have fewer cracks if you roll the cake immediately out of the oven and wait until it is totally cool before filling. Now spread your filling over the roll. Keep in mind that you may have some squeeze out so you will probably want to put less filling on the outside 1/2 inch of your roll. Once filled, re-roll your pumpkin roll. Lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar. Wrap in foil and freeze. When ready to serve, slice thin and enjoy.

If you’re like me, all that yummy smelling earlier from baking will make you want to eat these tasty treats right away.

Tips for Planning a Trick-or-Treat Party that Doesn’t Cost a Fortune

Tips for Planning a Trick-or-Treat Party that Doesn’t Cost a Fortune

Halloween is a fun time of year! It’s a time to think about costumes, carving pumpkins and just plain fun. A Halloween party is an alternative to the normal trick or treat. You can plan an inexpensive party for your child. From the invitation to saying your goodbyes at the end of a fun filled night, this article will give you affordable ideas for the perfect party.

The Internet has some inexpensive invitations that you can download for the price of the ink and paper. Choose a color that would fit the season or theme of your party. I would deliver or mail these invitations to arrive three weeks prior to the date of the party.

Costumes are a huge part of a successful party. If you choose a theme, such as Star Wars or Character theme, you want to put that on the invitation so people can dress accordingly. Choosing a comfortable costume is in your best interest. You can often find what you’re looking for at thrift stores. Throughout the year I look for white sheets, full skirts, old vests, boots, scarves and other things that I can put together to make easy outfits. Colored hair sprays, wigs and gloves are some things you will want to look for. With some planning you can easily make a costume that will be comfortable and cute.

Next comes feeding your guests. Whatever you choose, use key words in your recipes like Zombie Punch and Graveyard Chips with Blood Salsa. I make iced pumpkin bars and design black spiders on them. I call these Spider Bars. For Zombie Punch, I take one each of 12 oz frozen orange juice and limeade. Mix with half the water as the recipe calls for. Refreeze these into tubs. At party time put them frozen into a punch bowl and add key lime sherbet and 7-Up to taste. For Graveyard chips and Blood salsa, I buy blue corn chips and find a very chunky salsa.

For games, the web is full of ideas. Mummy Bingo is fun for young children. I bought orange poster board; cut it to the size I wanted and with a black marker made the Bingo pattern. Candy Corn made great “bingo chips and was fun for munching. You can laminate these and re-use. A white sheet simply placed over a child creates another game; Guess the Ghost!

Let’s get our decorations up and we will be ready to party. Carve 5 to 6 pumpkins prior to the party. I found a cool carving set at Wal-Mart’s and I use it each year. There are a lot of ideas in the package that you simply follow. Put one pumpkin in the window closest to your entryway. You can line your porch or steps with a few as well. No matter where you place your pumpkins, remember safety in keeping them lit. You might choose a battery operated LED light. They flicker like a candle and are safe. Hanging creepy spiders and cobwebs are an inexpensive way to decorate and can be bought in discount stores. Keep spooky music playing in the background.

These are just some ideas for an inexpensive party. Whatever you choose to do, be safe, have fun and Happy Halloween!

Halloween Pumpkin Picking

Halloween Pumpkin Picking

If you have the opportunity to choose your Halloween pumpkins from a farm this fall, I would encourage you to do so.

The last ten years I have taken my children and grandchildren out to a local farm to pick out our pumpkins. They have a hay wagon loaded with hay bales that we sit on. As the farmer pulls out very slowly, we know that our fall journey has begun. We are on our way to one of the finest times we spend together every year.

We travel over often slightly bumpy areas of ground, past recently harvested cornfields to our patch. This is a time where we are all together with no other sounds but that of the tractor and anxious children. The country farm smells are delightful and the kids laugh gleefully as we near the fields of pumpkins lying ahead.

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we can walk all over, through the pumpkin fields or if it’s the camaraderie of just being together and having fun, but we always pick out far more pumpkins than we need.

The kids and I pick up gourds and squash that we find to be “totally cool” and everyone gets their fill. Some of these special finds are used for home decoration, end up at school in show and tell time and some go home with daycare children that we have. I pick up a few squash to cook, which at first was not real popular at our house with the kids, but now they find that the squash they pick is not really so bad (brown sugar and butter help a lot!)

At the farm we visit, they also have pumpkins that are grown specifically for making pumpkin pies. I can tell you that at first I was not excited to make my very own pumpkin pie from scratch but making it a family project, we now find it is as fun as wrapping Christmas presents. The calendar alone told me that it was fall in September, but my sense of smell and the pumpkin pie baking in the oven is always my way of welcoming fall again every year.

Often times we set the pumpkins out as a display for harvest or Halloween decorations because we don’t like to carve them too early. We find that in the last week before Halloween we carve the pumpkins and the children take them home.

We are so glad that we discovered this way to spend a great time together with the family. Choosing pumpkins from a pumpkin patch is much better than picking them from your local store market. Check around and see if you can’t find a patch and start your own family tradition.

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