Pressure Cooker Scalloped Potatoes

Last night I decided to make my Superior Meat Loaf that Logan has been craving.  I prepped it early in the day and had it in the fridge with instructions left for when to put it in the oven.  I had a meeting with a teacher and knew I'd be late getting home.  I also wanted some potatoes to go with this meal, so I searched up another recipe and then edited it for what I had and my tastes.  Here's the link to the recipe and below you will find what I did.

I got home and put one child to work shredding cheese, another ran downstairs to get potatoes and then mixed up my broth, another scrubbed the potatoes and I sliced them using the food processor.  Things go together so much quicker when we are all working together.  :)  I timed it rather perfectly.  As soon as the meat loaf came out of the oven, I was able to switch to broil and crisp up the potatoes while we set the table.  Also, my review is that I might decrease the garlic next time.  Paige and Bryce loved the amount of garlic, though, so they probably won't enjoy it as much if I do decrease the garlic.  Logan said it was yummy.

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/4" slices
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt (I actually didn't use the salt)
2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine the broth, salt, and potatoes in the inner pot of the pressure cooker.  Close and lock the lid.  Select high pressure and set the timer for 2 minutes. I allowed the pressure cooker to natural release for 5 minutes before quick-releasing the rest of the pressure.  Unlock and remove the lid.

Transfer the potatoes carefully to an oven safe dish.  (I used my two quart oval casserole dish.)  Combine 1 1/2 cups cheese, milk, garlic powder, and pepper in the pressure cooker with the remaining liquid.  Select Saute function and cook until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes.  Pour sauce evenly over potatoes and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

Broil in the preheated oven until golden, about 5 minutes.

Pressure Cooking Tips

I took a Pressure Cooking class from the Extension office here in town.  I was hoping to gain confidence in using the pressure cooker I got for Christmas.  Here are a few tips I learned that I didn't remember reading in the manual that came with my cooker:

1. Wash the condensation catcher every time, even if it looks like it doesn't need it.
2. High altitude changes:  many recipes and the cookers are programmed for sea level.  So to adjust for higher altitudes we need to add 5% additional time for every 1000 feet above 2000 feet.  So I live at approximately 4500 feet above sea level.  I will add 10% of the cooking time to get my total cooking time.
3. You can purchase colorful seals.  Some people like to use one color for one type of food.  For example:  blue for desserts, red for meats, etc.  The seal can absorb smells and some people don't want to take the chance that their dessert may smell like the chicken they last cooked.  Just remember to purchase the seal specific to your pressure cooker.
4. You can take the little shield part that covers the vent from inside the lid off to make sure it is clean inside there.
5. A clean sponge paint brush can be a great tool for cleaning the outer part of the pressure cooker.  You know, the top part where you have to try to get under the edges that latch into the lid.

As a class, we made 4 recipes.  We had 4 pressure cookers going and had a fun meal.  We joked about starting a pressure cooking club so we could have meals like this without having to purchase 4 cookers.  Over the next few days I'm planning on trying the recipes at home and if I can get them to turn out, I'll post them.  They were tasty.

Greek Lemon Chicken (Pressure Pot method)

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, frozen
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Lemon rind, grated from 1 lemon
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Season both sides of the chicken breasts with the seasonings and place them in the bottom of the pressure pot.  Add lemon rind, chicken broth, lemon juice and minced garlic to the pot.

Put the lid on the pot and move the valve to sealing.  Press "Manual Pressure" and set the timer to 12 minutes.  The pot will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure and then will start counting down from 12.  When the cook time is up, let the pressure release naturally for 5-10 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure.  Check to ensure that the internal temperature of the chicken is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Shred the chicken.

Now this is the fun part!  You can serve the chicken in a variety of ways.

Pita Sandwiches -- fill a pita bread with lemon chicken, fresh spinach or romaine lettuce, feta cheese, halved cherry tomatoes, yogurt cucumber sauce (also known as tzatziki sauce), hummus, chopped red onions, diced cucumbers and sliced olives.

Greek Salad -- Layer fresh spinach or romaine lettuce, broken pita chips, lemon chicken and whatever other toppings you'd like (see sandwich topping ideas above) to create a delicious Greek salad.

Seasoned Black Beans

This is the black bean recipe I used for Roundtable's Blue & Gold last night.  Bryce says he really loves this recipe.  The first time I tried it I felt it had way to much liquid and not enough beans, so I adjusted it for Roundtable and it turned out great.  I'm posting my adjusted recipe.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 2 teaspoons garlic paste, which is an amazing discovery I've really enjoyed using)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 can (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 cups tomato juice (I just blended up a jar of home canned tomatoes and measured the amount I needed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it.  Add beans, tomato juice, and salt.  Continually stir until heated through.  Just before serving stir in the cilantro.  (To cook in the slow cooker:  I omit the olive oil and just mix everything together, except the cilantro.  Heat on warm for a few hours.  Just before serving, stir in the cilantro.)

Cheesy Potatoes in the Pressure Cooker

Mom & Dad were sweet enough to give me a pressure cooker/crock pot for Christmas this year.  I've been debating over buying one and they beat me to the punch.  It's been interesting and frustrating all at the same time to try new things.  I just wish I knew things would turn out and exactly how much time to put things in, because releasing pressure to find it not done, is just plain depressing.  'Cuz then you have to go through the whole process again.  Anyway, Logan wanted to have cheesy potatoes and we decided to try it in the pressure cooker last night.  We found this recipe from sweetphi.com and then changed it to hopefully have a success.  Logan & Bryce really liked it.  I got a taste of it after stake choir practice and liked it, too.  I didn't get reviews from the rest of the crew.  Here is what we did:

4 russett potatoes, peeled and cubed (3 were good sized and 1 was quite large.  I told Logan to imagine a big bag of hashbrowns in his head and that's how many potatoes we'd do.)
1 cup sour cream (we just used what we had in the fridge which probably wasn't a full cup)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded colby jack cheese
1 cup milk

Logan washed and peeled the potatoes.  I cubed them into big chunks because Logan wanted them bigger than the cubed hashbrown size.  Logan put the potatoes in a large mixing bowl and dumped on the sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and garlic salt and stirred well.  Then he added the colby jack cheese and mixed well.  We were worried we didn't have enough liquid for pressure cooking so he stirred in 1 cup milk.  We then sprayed the inner pressure cooker pot and dumped the potato mixture in, leveling it a bit.  We used the manual pressure setting and set it at high for 15 minutes.  We let it sit for 10 minutes before releasing the pressure valve.