My life and tool - The pressure cooker

When I went to the International Housewares Show I saw a lot of pressure cookers and was inspired to try it.  It cooks food in 1/4 the time it would usually take - perfect for my life.

Also - the way things are going in my life right now....the term "pressure cooker" is very fitting.  Everything is going a million miles a minute and it feels like if I miss one thing, just one piece, it will all either explode.....or implode.  Making dinner is turning into a "pressure cooker" for me....between trying to work out everyday and getting the kids where they need to be, making dinner is getting tougher and tougher.  That's part of why my writing here has slipped....not much cooking going on.  I am hoping to get into a groove more now that the kids are falling into their new schedule and being able to make supper more often. Pressure cooker here we come.....

I bought the Cuisinart 8 qt Electric Pressure Cooker.  I got it for $99 - which was the sale price from William-Sonoma.  It was that same price all over, but I felt more confident buying from them in case something is wrong with it when it gets here.

I wanted to start simple....so I made chicken stock using the recipe in the recipe book that comes with the cooker.  Here's the thing....making the stock costed about $15.....buying it ready made might be cheaper....I think.  Tomorrow when I cools off I will measure off how much I made.  And I will be using the vegis and meat I cooked so that is a bonus.....I'll keep you posted.

Here is the recipe -
4 lbs chicken cut up
2 medium onions
2 ribs of celery
2 carrots
2 leeks
2 parsnips
2 bay leaves
12 black peppercorns
3 sprigs parsley and 3 of thyme
10 cups of water

Cut the vegis into about 2 inch chunks.  I used 2 handfuls of each herb....instead of 3 sprigs of each.  And one more fun fact....the thyme was from my garden!

Put it all in the pressure cooker and set it to high pressure for 45 minutes and let it naturally pressure release.

I strained it all through cheesecloth and put it all covered into the garage to cool off overnight.  I kept all the strained stuff as well in another bowl.

 Here is everything in the pressure cooker ready to go.  I think there is too much in the pot, but it worked alright.

 All done and pressure has all released.  It was only about 1.5 hours start to finish.  About 10 minutes to get to high pressure, 45 minutes pressure time, and about 30 minutes for the pressure to release.  Compare it to the hours it takes to make the stock the "regular" way.  WOW!!!

 This is all the strained components.  Not sure what I am going to do with it....but it smells and looks SO delicious.

Liquid gold - now I will let it sit overnight so that I am get the fat off of it.  I think I will buy more chicken tomorrow since I have extra of most the vegis and make it again tomorrow.

Restaurant review - 3rd Coast Chicago, IL

Boy was this great.  It was a gazpacho soup.....but look chunky this is.  It was almost like a soupy salsa.  It was amazingly flavorful and full of different mouth textures.  I have never had a gazpacho that has been chunky.  The soup I make I blend it until it is smooth - and that is the way all the other gazpachos I've had before are made.  This was wonderful.  I need to try to do this with my recipe. Yum!!

My dinner - BBQ Shredded chicken and coleslaw

Our time has been more limited for supper lately, so I have been try to find meals that are easy and quick - and healthy.  I'm not sure how healthy this was, but it was tasty.

I bought this from Sam's Club.  It was great!  I enjoyed it and so did the kids - win, win.  All I had to do was reheat it.  They just shredded their own rotiserie chicken and added bbq sauce to it.  I can do that myself next time.  And that means I can make my own bbq sauce, controlling it to make it healthier than anything I would buy.

I made this coleslaw.  I enjoy making coleslaw.  Shredded cabbage (I don't really care if I buy it with or without red cabbage or carrots), light mayo, white balsamic vinegar, celery seeds, honey, and cayenne pepper (a great mix of crunchy, sweet, creamy, tangy and spicy).  I'm not putting amounts because this is totally a "make by taste" recipe.

My life - My sad garden

Oh how I love my garden....more liked loved my garden.  Some critter has eaten just about everything. But I finally caught the critter in the act.  In the light of the afternoon sun, I saw movement in my garden.  I thought it was a cat until I saw it sit up and gnaw away on a stem.  I ran and got my phone and took this pic as it was running away.  Can anyone identify what animal this is???

 Here's the hole it made under our fence to get to my garden, aka the local vegi buffet.

 Look how sad my brussel sprout plants look with no leaves.

Look at the pitiful cauliflower.

Next year.....fencing.

My life - My Smelly Dog

My dog, Jake, got skunked last night.  It was horrible.  He got it right in the face and was drooling, shaking his head and rubbing himself all over the ground.  Poor thing.  I called my friend, Chris, who came right over with her "Skunk Kit".

Here is her recipe for washing your dog who has been skunked....1 gallon vinegar to one box of baking soda.  Rub it in all over your dog, focusing on the sprayed area.  Leave it on for about 10 minutes - that's a hard thing.  He desperately wanted to shake and rub himself all over the ground.  After that wash him off with Dawn dishsoap.

He still smells. just not as pungently. It is an awful thing.  Our old dog, Lucy, had gotten sprayed when the kids were all little.  I didn't realize it and let her into the house.  She was literally in the house 4 seconds and when I brought the kids to daycare the next day, everyone commented on how they smelled skunk from the kids.  The smell gets into your nose and no matter where you are, you smell it.

Just wondering......I know there are various recipes as to how to wash your dog after they have been skunked....what is yours??  Please share your skunked stories....this is not fun.

Restaurant Review- Cafe Ba Ba Reba and Annette's Italian Ice - Chicago, IL

We had a great Saturday night out at Cafe Ba Ba Reba in Chicago.  I haven't been there since I was in my 20's and it is now owned by Lettuce Entertain You, which made me a bit skeptical of the quality food and service we were going to have.  But we had a wonderful meal. I had made a reservation through Open Table. In fact, I have booked so many reservations through Open Table that I earned a $20 check to spend at any Open Table restaurant.  We were pleasantly surprised at our final bill as well.  It was about $35 per person - including the drinks. Not bad at all for the fun food and night we had.

We got very lucky when we got there because a parking spot opened up right in front of the restaurant.   If we didn't get that, we may have had to valet for $11.

When we went in, I asked if we could get seated in the porch area, which luckily there was a table. We just ordered a bunch of dishes - about 2-3 each plus a paella that we all shared.

This is their raspberry sangria.  It was great!  Scott and I split a half pitcher, which was the perfect amount for 2 people to share.

This dish was on their specials list.  It was green olives stuffed with goat cheese with a garlic aoili.  It was not so good.  The strong flavor of the green olives overtook all other flavors.

This was one of the table's favorite dished.  This was shrimp with garlic and olive oil.  It had a lot of slivers of garlic and was so tasty.  Anything with garlic is good if you ask me.

This was another table favorite.  This is a beef empanada.  Crispy, flaky with very well seasoned beef inside.  We ordered a chicken one too, but everyone liked the beef one better.

This is the seafood paella we ordered.  We ordered it only for 2 people and look how huge it was.  It came to the table like this.

Once he portioned out the shrimp, he scraped the rice off the pan and served it.

This was my plate.  It was amazing.  It had a wonderful crunch to the rice and SO much flavor.  I must try to make paella myself.

These scallops were perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth fresh.  And there were bits of bacon along with herbs.  Great dish.

This picture was horrible, but this was also one of the favorite dishes of the table.  It was short ribs with this amazing spice and sweet sauce. We also ordered the salmon, but I was told that it had no flavor.  I didn't even bother to try it.

After our dinner at Cafe Ba Ba Reba, we walked around the corner to Annette's Italian Ice.  It was amazing!  I found it on Yelp when looking for a place near us that served only dessert.  What a great find!  There is only a window, no inside location.  There were seats outside that we hung at while we enjoyed our ices.

Restaurant review - Barrington Country Bistro, Barrington, IL

We were looking for a new place to try - and we struck gold.  I used Yelp and Open Table combined to find this gem.  Barrington Country Bistro was fantastic - great service and great food.  The menu changes everyday (which means we have more incentive to come back). We sat outside, which was a wonderful option.  We felt that this restaurant was very reasonable for the high level of food and service.  It was about $35 dollars for each of us, with no alcohol, no coffee and sharing one dessert.

This was our appetizer.  It is ahi tuna tartare. It was one of the best variations of tuna tartare I had ever  had.  It was served in a crispy shell.  It had bits of pear in a light lime-mirin sauce.  Incredible.

These were raviolis made with handmade pasta they make there.  It has prosciutto, roasted squash and ricotta in a sage beurre blanc.  This plate was the smaller option. You can also order a full order of this dish, which is a nice option they had with quite of few of their menu choices.

Look inside this pocket of yummy.

This was the roasted chicken my husband ordered.  It was the best tasting chicken I have ever tasted.  So full of flavor and moist.  And it was served so beautifully - feast for the eyes. Amish chicken, olives, tomatoes, cipollini onions, fingerling potatoes, haricort verts in a dill rosemary sauce. Simply the best chicken I have ever had.  The herbs were under the skin as well as all around it.

Look at this happy tomato, covered in juices and herbs.

This was my lyonniase salad.  On top of greens that were bathed in a warm shallot - bacon vinargartte was a perfectly cooked poached egg.  When I broke it open, the warm yolk flowed over the salad gives it a perfect warm coating.

Here you can see the  lardon (french bacon), fingerling potatoes and shallots in this wonderful, rich  salad.

Here is our dessert - Chocolate Pave.  It was luscious. It was chocolate cake with a cashew praline layer. Sweet and crunchy. The squiggle was somewhat sour, which I liked, but my husband didn't.  It came with strawberry ice cream, but I asked for vanilla ice cream instead.  It was a totally and decadently perfect way to end this wonderful meal.

Our check came with these coconut maccaroons.  I love maccaroons. Crunchy outside, sweet throughout, sticky inside, with nice shreds of coconut.  Happy mouth treats!