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.