Horchata

I recently tried horchata for the very first time. I've seen it on menus but never decided to give it a try. I loved it! I immediately had two thoughts: one, I had to figure out how to make it myself; and, two, it would be great with coffee.

Since I had no idea what it had in it, even after drinking it, I did some research. Wait... all it has in it is rice, water, sugar, milk, cinnamon and vanilla? That didn't seem possible. I did some more research, read some recipe reviews and came up with my own method. It has lots of possibilities and flexibility depending on your taste. I'm sure I'll come up with my own favorite combinations over time.

But for now, here's my base recipe for horchata...

1 1/2 cups rice
2 cups water

Place in a blender and pulse 6-7 times.

Add 3 more cups of water.

Blend until the rice is coarsely ground.

Pour into large bowl with pour spout or pitcher.

Add 2-3 whole cinnamon sticks.

Put a cover on it and place in fridge for 6-8 hours or overnight.

Remove from fridge and pour through a sieve into a clean bowl or pitcher.

Place 1/2 cup sugar (use more or less to taste) and 1/2 Tablespoon of cinnamon into a food processor and pulse until the sugar is finely ground. This helps it dissolve better in the cold liquid.

Whisk well into the rice-y liquid until dissolved.

Then pour in 1 to 1 1/2 cups of milk. I like mine richer so I used some milk with heavy cream added. But I think you could also use half and half or a can of evaporated milk. You could also used any non-dairy milks. (I'm going to try all of those ideas someday)

Then gently whisk in 1/2 Tablespoon of vanilla. I also threw in a bit of almond extract. It's not authentic but I love the flavor it gives. That being said, I will probably try vanilla almond milk next.

Chill and serve. Shake well before serving. It will settle a bit.

By the way, I was right. It is good iced with coffee! Mmmm!

Pressure Cooker Jambalaya

Every year for Fat Tuesday we have jambalaya for dinner. I've made it from scratch but to be honest I really like this stuff in the box...

I only  used half a box since it was just for my hubby and I.

But first I sauteed some ingredients for several minutes on the meat setting with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil:
 1 chicken breast, cut up
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
6 oz andouille sausage
10-12 shrimp, peeled

Turn off pressure cooker. Stir in 1/2 can of diced tomatoes

Stir in 2/3 cup of the rice mixture into the cooker. Add 2/3 cup water and shrimp. Stir lightly.

Put lid on cooker. Cook on rice setting for 6 minutes. Let natural release for 10 minutes.

Stir and let sit for a few minutes.

We had our Mardi Gras dinner with okra and wine.

Pressure Cooker Mexican-Style Stuffed Peppers

Someone in the PC group on Facebook posted about making stuffed peppers. It didn't work out how she'd hoped, but it inspired me to try. Mine turned out much better than hers did, but I learned from her (and my) mistakes.

4 medium to large green peppers, cut off the tops and take out seeds and other stuff

2/3 cup rice
2/3 cup water
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning.

Pour into pressure cooker or into a smaller pot to place inside. If you cook it in a smaller pot, place 1 cup of water in bottom and put pot on top of rack.

Cook on rice setting for 6 minutes, Let natural release while preparing the rest of the filling.

Saute 1/4 cup onion in a bit of oil in a pan on the stove. When it begins to brown, add 1/3 cup frozen corn. Saute until moisture is gone.

Stir in 1 small can of salsa and the onion/corn into the rice.

Drain and rinse 1/3 cup black beans. Add to rice mixture.

If you wanted, you could also add some browned ground meat.

Stuff rice mixture into peppers (I made 2 and froze the remaining filling for another time)

Place rack into pressure cooker and add 1 cup water. Place peppers on top of rack.

Cook on vegetable setting for 5 minutes. Release steam and carefully remove peppers. They were perfectly done. Tender but still firm.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and let melt before serving.

Pressure Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry

This is my recipe adapted for the Ninja Foodi Deluxe...

Cut up 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts into chunks

Brown the chicken on sauté setting with a bit of oil.

Cut up 3 peeled potatoes into small bite-sized pieces

Cut up 3-4 peeled carrots into 1/4” slices

Chop up 1/2 of an onion

Add potatoes, carrots and onion to chicken in pot with 1 cup water. 

Mix in 1/4 cup (more or less to taste) of curry paste and mix well. It's pretty spicy stuff!

Put the tall rack in the pot. Just move stuff around to make it sit on the bottom. 

Put equal parts of white rice and water in a small pot that fit on top of the rack with the lid on. (this picture is from my old IP)

Pressure cook on HI for 2 minutes. 

Let it natural release for 10 minutes. Release any remaining steam.

Pour one can of coconut milk and mix well.

Serve the curry over white rice.

Cheese-Stuffed Christmas Tree

This is absolutely AMAZING! But you have to eat it hot right out of the oven.

First make a batch of Easy Peasy Bread dough.

After the dough rises, split the dough into pieces to make rolls.

Roll the dough around 1/8 of a piece of string cheese.

Place stuffed rolls on a greased baking sheet in a Christmas tree shape.

Brush with an egg beaten with a little water. (it's not absolutely necessary) 

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until golden.

Remove from oven and brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese or topping of your choice.

Place back in oven for 2 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve immediately with pasta sauce for dipping.

Easy Camping Food

We just got back from a month-long road trip to Alaska. Because we were using our mini-van as our very own RV, I was determined to keep costs and supplies low.  My hubby built a raised bed for the back of the van and we stored everything we needed in bins underneath or in storage bins on a hitch rack. It was awesome!

Because we were on vacation, I also wanted to keep cooking/clean-up to a minimum. The only cooking supplies we brought was our backpacking stove, backpacking mess kit and a coffee pot for boiling water. That was it.

Did I also mention that I HATE doing dishes? So, not washing out nasty pots and pans was not an option.

I adore my boil in bag cooking method for camping but we didn't have cooler space for that much food. (It works better for shorter trips)

What to do???

Backpacking food...

Thankfully, Pinterest had lots of ideas for homemade backpacking meals that were easy to make and only needed boiling water.

I tried 9 different recipes (from various blogs or made up myself). It took a while to put them all together but it was totally worth it!

All we needed to do was boil some water, pour it in the bag, seal it up and wait 10 minutes. That was it!

Most of them were rice and chicken variations. It did get a little old after a while. We also found that the recipes were way too much for just one person. So we added some side dishes (like fruit cups and/or bread and dessert) and just shared.

I'm posting links to the recipes we liked at the bottom of this post.

The ones that used pasta just didn't work. I used some rice noodles and some more expensive fancy pasta that cooked quickly, but neither really worked. The pasta never got done. In order to make them work, I had to add water and then boil the bag in water. It took a lot more time (and water) and never was really that great. The Korean beef noodles using ramen, were our exception. They were pretty tasty and worth the extra effort on the road.

For breakfast, I made up individual servings of my homemade instant oatmeal in pint-sized freezer zipper bags. Just pour in boiling water, stir and eat. So easy and so much better than the store bought stuff!

I had also brought some canned veggies, instant potatoes and heat and serve meats. All I did was use freezer zipper bags to heat things in a pot of boiling water. Worked GREAT! No clean up!

I know I said I hate doing dishes but we didn't want to use disposable tableware that took up space and makes for tons of garbage. So, I did have to wash our plates, bowls and silverware after every meal. But that was it.

Easy peasy!

Recipe Links:

Fried Rice

Fiesta Rice

Curry Rice

Apricot Cous Cous

Cranberry Chicken Stuffing

Korean Beef & Noodles

GF Peanut Butter Cookies

Need a fast and easy GF treat to make? Here's one...

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350

Mix peanut butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined and smooth.

Roll into small balls and place on baking sheet. Dip a fork in water and make criss cross pattern on top of each cookie. Be careful not to make it too flat!

Bake 8-10 minutes, or until set.

Let cool a few minutes before removing to cooling rack.

Eat with a glass of cold milk.