Category: Healthy Living

Last evening, my daughter was craving chicken noodle soup.

Oh we can easily make that I said as I reached for my 8qt. Presto Pressure Cooker.

I added one boneless chicken breast to the pressure cooker with three garlic cloves and about one inch of ginger. My daughter prepared her ramen noodles. After the noodles were done I showed her how to rinse them off thoroughly and I told her to toss the included flavoring packet.

Daughter: “Really mom, why?”

Me: “Oh we can make much better seasonings then the pre-packaged junk that accompanies those noodles. Let me show you…”

Into my 3 cup granite mortar and pestle, I added a few grains of sea salt, whole cumin, peppercorns, and cardamom I proceeded to grind them all together. I must admit, I really love the simple pleasure of manually grinding things together.

The mortar and pestle have been around for thousands of years.  My daughter got caught up with my obvious enjoyment of the process and asked if she could try grinding manually. I her try it out, she’s hooked too. In no time, everything was ground to a fine powder. Which worked our nicely since the ramen noodles and chicken breast were finished cooking.

The boneless chicken breast was extremely tender and took about ten minutes to prepare in the pressure cooker.

 

Since my daughter just wanted chicken, noodles and spice blend I didn’t add any vegetables. She eats plenty of vegetables and fruit throughout the day, so one meal without isn’t an issue. My daughter added the chicken breast with the noodles and spices, mixed and promptly ate everything. It was a one bowl meal, made specifically for her and there were no leftovers. She did tell me that our season blend tasted much better than the packet that was included with the noodles.

I really enjoy preparing meals for those I love. I’m sure my daughter will have many fond memories of her mom taking time to make meals extra special.

To satisfy my daughter’s bruschetta cravings I made her mushroom brushetta…

 

It was a evening snack. I made two of them. Yes the bread was homemade also. She ate one this evening and is saving the remaining one for tomorrow.  She seemed to really enjoy it a lot. I told her, it would taste even better the next day since the freshly made pesto would have a chance to marinate.  But she wasn’t hearing that and promptly ate one. The good news is she loves it and wants to make more this weekend.

Today, my three cup mortar and pestle arrived by postal mail. And while I really liked the picture I saw on Amazon, I must say it’s more lovely in person. It weighs at least fifteen pounds.

I was eager to try it out, but before I tossed garlic, herbs or any spices into the mortar I thought it would be a smart idea to season my mortar and pestle before using it for the first time.

 

 

 

I added uncooked rice to the mortar and ground it into a fine powder. From my readings this helps remove the extra stone dust that might be lurking on your mortar and pestle.

 

After grinding the rice, I added another step to the cleaning process by tossing one cut lemon into the mortar. Lemon is a disinfectant, and I noticed after using it seemed to add a bit of shine to my new tools.

Perfect! With the initial prepwork complete I was ready to start using my new mortar and pestle. But what should I add to it?

Well, I added a lot of spices and herbs to my newest kitchen gadget, so yes the mortar and pestle got a great workout today. Tea leaves were the last thing I ground in it today.

 

 

I figured that grinding gunpowder green tea leaves to make my own matcha was the proper way to wrap up my manual grinding adventure for the day. I promptly made a cup and drank it. The tea was fragrant and since the tea leaves were finely ground… I was receiving added benefits by consuming the tea leaves!

Part of the enjoyment I receive from preparing meals is the tools I use. Some are a bit elaborate like my Vitamix blender or my Green Star juicer. I’m guessing some might think my recent purchase of my Presto Pressure Cooker, is an elaborate kitchen appliance also.

But… I do enjoy simple appliances too! One of my favorite kitchen appliances is my manual stainless steel garlic press. It’s sturdy and has been in my possession for over fifteen years. That gets used daily! I love garlic and consume it (nightly) raw since it’s so good for your body. Another simple appliance is my stainless steel hand hammered wok. I’ve had that since I was in college. That was over twenty years ago.

For quite some time, I’ve been wanting to invest in a really nice mortar and pestle, but I kept holding off since I couldn’t find one that I really liked. When choosing a kitchen appliance here are a few things that I find appealing.

• Durability
• Ease of use
• Appearance

 

Simple enough, but at times it can be challenging to find what I want. However with the mortar and pestle my search is finally over… yesterday I found the perfect one for me.

Regarding the mortar and pestle…

I chose granite, since it’s extremely sturdy and is fairly resistant to stain. I also picked a large three cup mortar and pestle. The one I’ll be receiving weighs fifteen pounds. That’s a sturdy bowl! I really won’t have to worry about that breaking from any aggressive grinding I might do, but I will make sure that I don’t drop it on my feet!

Since the mortar is much larger than many of the tabletop varieties that I’ve seen, it broadens my options since it means I can grind a small or much larger amount of ingredients.

I have a variety of herbs, spices, sea salt, peppercorn, etc., that are simply waiting to be tested in the mortar and pestle. Even though the simple mortar and pestle will take much longer than my electric grinder, I must say there’s something therapeutic about grinding my food items manually. Even with all my electrical gadgets, I much prefer doing certain kitchen activities at a slower pace. Grinding, would definitely fall under that category.

I’ll be sure to post a few of the things I create…

First on the list is my spice rubs, herbal tea blends, freshly made salad dressings, guacamole and perhaps my homemade mayonnaise. Of course, I’ll review the actual product (eventually) but judging by the countless positive reviews, I highly doubt I’ll be disappointed.

Not too long ago, I stumbled upon this amazing site called Hip Pressure Cooking. Interesting name, right?

Of course I was curious, I know a lot about canning with my large 23 qt. pressure cooker.

I also know that many myths about pressure cooking, such as most of the nutrients are lost, are simply not true! But I don’t know a lot about preparing meals with a small pressure cooker! Browsing through the site I can see it’ll come in handy since I recently purchased my Presto 8 qt. pressure cooker.

I was thrilled to see an extensive list of food that could be cooked within the pressure cooker complete with the cooking times.

Wow, I was blown away by the cooking times for some of the foods. Some of those items used to take me hours to complete, not so with a pressure cooker. For example basmati rice takes one minute to make. Boneless chicken breasts take four to five minutes! Four to five minutes, oh my that’s fast!

 

So if you want to check out pressure cooking times, definitely look at this site.

While browsing through this informative site, I thought about Suituapui. He left the below comment on my post about Siga Wot, Ethiopian Beef Stew. It made me smile…

15 minutes!!! That would take hours over the gas stove…and the meat would still be as tough as leather…and many many hours if using the slow cooker. Hmmm…I must look for a small one, if not here…maybe when I hop over to Kuala Lumpur again.

Based on his comment above, he might be blown away by the limited cook time on some of these dishes, and purchase his own. Even a multi-tasker like me, would appreciate not having to constantly watch something since that time can be spent doing other things.

I instantly thought of this scripture passages that  he’d linked too in one of his blog posts…

Luke 10:38-42

38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

New American Standard Bible

I’ve always loved this passage, I’m definitely more of a “Mary” than a “Martha”. At times we need to relax and spend time more time with those we love, the other stuff can wait.

Admittedly, my reasons for wanting Suituapui to get a pressure cooker are a bit selfish. You see, I truly enjoy Arthur’s site since it opens a window to some amazing foods I’ve never heard about.

He’s a great virtual host and is an incredible source of inspiration, not only with the food he prepares, but also his amazing relationship with his daughter.

As suspected, my Presto 8 qt. Pressure Cooker makes meat extremely tender. I didn’t taste it, but my  daughter and father told me it was tender.

 

A few hours ago, I made Siga Wot for both of them. My mother is working so I made enough for my father. I cut the beef into cubes and trimmed off the fat; there wasn’t much to trim. I also added tomatoes, garlic, basil, herbal tea and a variety of spices and herbs.

Before I added all the ingredients, I seared the beef in a bit of olive oil (to lock in the juices.) I wanted the beef cubes to be moist and tender. I used my brand-new 8 qt. pressure cooker!  Once I’d finished searing the beef, I added the remaining ingredients, and closed the lid so the pressure cooking could begin. I’m still new to making anything besides dried beans in a pressure cooker, so there’s a lot to learn. I referred to the included booklet to see how long I needed to pressure cook the beef.

 

Total cook time was fifteen minutes. I took off the pressure cooker lid, after the pressure had been released and saw this… as you can see there is a lot of liquid! I imagine this would make a nice  beef stock, if you didn’t want to use the liquid with your stew.

 

My daughter and father said this turned out very well. I must say it did smell delicious! It was simple to make, delicious, according to them, and definitely nutritious! Sure I’m vegan, but I do take the time to prepare non-vegan/vegetarian meals for my loved ones. Why? I want to make sure they are eating healthy foods also.

Besides this dish, there was also Tikil Gomen (Ethiopian Cabbage dish) which was made yesterday. Guess what? That dish tasted even better today! You know how that is, some dishes taste even better once it has marinated. Additionally, there were garbanzo beans. I’d made those in the Pressure Cooker yesterday.

I’ll definitely write a post about my Presto 8 qt. Pressure Cooker after I have had the chance to use it for a while. Thus far, I’m extremely impressed since it greatly reduces the cook time of the variety of foods I’ve prepared. Although I’ve only had it one day, I’ve already made a lot of foods with my pressure cooker.

Recently I’ve been craving African food! African cuisine is something I prepare several times monthly. When I had the site Vegan Momma, one of the posts that received the most hits was an African peanut soup that I’d made. My goodness, was that good.

There are different African cuisines that I want to prepare; Egyptian, Kenyan etc.,  but top on the list is Ethiopian cuisine.

An explosion of flavors just waiting to be devoured! But I must admit, the idea of eating food with your hands is a bit interesting… of course, my inner germaphobe, is trying not to think about the other people sharing the meal with me, since they meal is typically scooped with injera bread. But… If I keep those who partake of it simple such as just sharing with my daughter… then I won’t be repulsed by the thought.

The great thing about having such a diverse group of friends who also love to cook, means I get to taste meals like they were prepared in the originating country and since I’m open-minded to trying different  cuisines, I don’t miss out on some truly delicious cuisine.

I just checked Amazon, and it shows my Presto 8 qt. Pressure Cooker has been delivered, so when I arrive home, I do believe I’ll make some Ethiopian dish later today.