2016 Lunches 228-236

#TakeitTuesday!
Here are some lunches from last week, I packed lunches everyday so far. So by count, I'm already behind. BUT here we are!!

Curry Chickpeas (Pressure Cooker)

Hello everyone! I know I've been posting a lot of Instant Pot/ Pressure cooker recipes lately but bear with me. Not only is this little pot quick and easy to use, there are some jobs it just shines at. Braising, stews, soups, pot roast, anything that cooks with a wet environment. "Boiled" eggs come out perfectly tender and not dry. They also slip right out of their shells. There are so many recipes I want to try and convert to Pressure cooking. Not all can be done, but it's always fun to to develop new recipes and tweak old favorites like this one to see if it can be done better. I put this in the better column for sure!

Pumpkin Butter and Pumpkin Butta (Instant Pot)

Pumpkin Muffins slathered with Pumpkin Butta? Yes, please.

PUMPKIN SEASON IS UPON US! I love pumpkin. Love seeing those cute little sugar pumpkins pop up in stores and at the Farmer's Market. Not that I go to the Farmer's Market a ton. I love sweet pumpkin treats and like to have them year round. These two recipes can be made during peak pumpkin season and kept in the freezer to be enjoyed later.

Instant Pot Cheesecake

 Topped with Lemon Curd, this Cheesecake is AMAZING.

Cheesecake? In a pressure cooker? No way! I thought the same thing, but it really does make sense. Wet environment so it doesn't crack or get dried out. I recently joined the Instant Pot Community page on Facebook, it's the official Instant Pot page. There are some amazingly talented and helpful people on there. All the pictures of food are very inspiring. However, like I said, I wasn't sure about cheesecake. I like mine dense. With a little browned/dry heat crust on the top. I still wanted to try this method though. For one it takes about 40 minutes to cook instead of an hour+ in the oven. So I gave it a go. If you have ever made a cheesecake off of this blog before, you'll recognize this recipe. With a few changes, but go with what you know right? The biggest change is of course the cooking method. Also how cute a little 7 inch cheesecake looks. I mean really. It's just cute. 

You need to do some planning ahead to make this cheesecake. It doesn't take long to put it together or cook it, but the cooling time is essential to help it set and for the flavors to develop. I won't judge you if you decide to just scoop it out with a spoon but it may be jiggly and runny. But it's cheesecake, all cheesecakes need to cool completely. 

Blind bake for a nice crust that isn't soggy.

2016 Lunches 210-227

How is it that Tuesdays just creep up on me so fast!? I am unsure. But each Tuesday seems to come faster than Monday's do when it comes getting up lunch posts. I have decided to just upload pictures from my phone. You would think that would be easier, and it is. It's just getting on here to upload them. I feel as if I haven't found my grove this school year yet. As far as new schedules, practices, studies, scouts and so on. What about you all? How long does it take you to get back into the swing of things after school starts? Half of last weeks lunches where packed in haste. Even if I have a monthly menu filled out! I'm trying folks. I hope you all are having a great end of summer. Fall is coming and I am so so grateful for cooler weather. I just wish Fall was as long as Winter and Summer seem to be.

Pot Pie's of Epic Evilness

 Just a couple of Pot Pies I've made. Pretty simple, the recipe hasn't really changed. Except maybe that I haven't looked at recipe in years and years. You can find the recipe here though.

French Dip, Baby Dip. Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker

We've had these French Dip sandwiches several times over the course of about two months. They are so easy to make and we all, aside from Pixie, really enjoy them. Pixie prefers to eat every component but the onions separate. I am not even sure if I can call that a win or not. These sandwiches are not medium rare/rare beef sliced and served with Au Jus. That's a whole other post that you can use this here beef for. Making the Au Jus from any pan drippings, but like I said, that's a whole other post. This sandwich has a slow cooked, all day tender, juicy beef. I top the beef with caramelized onions, and gooey cheese after I slather butter and horseradish mayonnaise sauce on the crusty rolls.
DROOOLLL...

The beef for these sandwiches can be made in a pressure cooker, I use an Instant Pot so the directions are for that brand electric pressure cooker. You can also make them in a slow cooker, I have done both. You know, for educational purposes.

Use your favorite beef stock or bone broth for this, I make my own with beef bones, vegetables, 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar, peppercorns, bay leaf. I cook it on MANUAL, HIGH, 240 minutes. I freeze it in ice cube trays and in 2 cup portions.

Quick Vanilla Lemon Curd with Vanilla Bean Yogurt

Let me start off by saying that I will never never make Lemon Curd any other way as long as I have an Instant Pot. It's so ridiculously easy. There's no standing over the stove making sure this doesn't scorch on the bottom. It only takes like nine minutes of cooking time. I keep using my Instant Pot more and more. The yogurt was also made in the Instant Pot. Both were pretty hands off, other than the straining bit for the yogurt.
If you like a certain yogurt that's sold in what looks like deli containers, that's starts with the letter "N". I'm telling you this is better. Granted it's not as sweet, but I prefer not as sweet.
The Lemon Curd is perfect for scones, on top of ice cream, yogurt, in between layers of sponge cakes, on top of cheesecakes. I've eaten it off of a spoon. It also freezes well if you ever need to use up a bunch of lemons.

The yogurt. I've only made yogurt twice in the Instant Pot, I've been making it for years though (links to Yogurt posts). I like thick yogurt so I add heavy cream. I haven't added powdered milk yet, I haven't needed to, after straining I can get the consistency I like. I don't sweetened our yogurt I just add vanilla bean to it.  I've done both a whole gallon and half gallon of milk. I use whole milk, I haven't tried anything lower in fat. Milk was on sale for $1.49 a gallon this past week. You read that right. I haven't seen milk that low in... YEARS. It wasn't organic, but oh well. I just made a ton of yogurt for $1.49.