Thirty years ago, we started to host Thanksgiving for my wife’s family, who all live out of state. They would stay at our house starting Wednesday and leave on Saturday or Sunday. One of the meals we fed them was a cream of turkey soup I made from the Thanksgiving turkey carcass. I created the recipe on the spot, but it was such a favorite that I have been making it every year since. It is a straightforward recipe that stretches a Thanksgiving turkey just a little bit further. Here is my easy cream of turkey soup recipe.
In a large pot break up the turkey carcass and add a bunch of cut up carrots, one onion, and a few stalks of cut up celery.
Add some spices. I’m adding around 1 tsp of poultry seasoning, 1 tsp of salt (I’ll adjust more at the end), 1/2 tsp of pepper, 1 heaping spoon of chopped garlic, 1 tsp of oregano, and a couple of bay leaves. The spices are very flexible. You can just use salt and pepper, but I think that the poultry seasoning adds a lot.
Add anywhere from 4-8 cups of chicken or turkey broth. You could also use water or water + bouillon. Base the water on the size of your pot and the turkey carcass. I added seven cups, but six would have worked for this batch, too.
Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Minimum time is around 30 minutes, but I usually simmer the soup for a couple of hours.
I make the initial part of the soup on Thanksgiving evening while we are watching a movie. I then cover it and place it in the garage (I’m in the upper Midwest, so the garage is like a fridge in November). The next day, I separate the vegetables/broth from the bones, and I separate the bones from the meat. Look how much meat was left on the turkey!
I place the broth/vegetables back on the stove, and I add around 1 cup of sour cream, stirring constantly. The amount of sour cream is absolutely an estimate.
I’ll also add some half-and-half, 1/2 cup to 1 cup. Again, an estimate.
I add a couple of shots of hot sauce. The amount I add doesn’t make the soup “hot,” it just adds something.
This is optional: Take a heaping tablespoon or more of flour and mix it into around 1/2 cup of cold water. Drizzle this into the boiling broth while stirring to thicken the soup.
Return the meat to the pot.
I adjusted the spices to my taste. I added more salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.
Here is my secret ingredient, around 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar!
You can use any starch you have on hand. I had about 1/2 of a bag of noodles, so I cooked them and added them to the soup.
Here it is with some oyster crackers and some of my homemade cheddar cheese bread. The kids loved it, and I utilized every part of our turkey. There is plenty for leftovers, and I’ll likely freeze some too.
Many throw out the turkey carcass, but it is not only full of flavor, but it is also full of meat. This day after Thanksgiving, turkey soup is a great way to stretch your dollar!
When I watch one video on YouTube, I’m instantly presented with similar videos on my “For You” page. Facebook shows 6-7 posts from random sources it thinks I would be interested in before presenting any content from my actual Facebook friends. When I turn on the radio, it is easy to find stations that have one-sided political beliefs. If I were dating, I could load up apps to cherry-pick potential dating partners. Social media is full of unqualified, self-promoting influencers who gladly tell me what to eat, what to believe, and what to wear. My content is being curated, and information is presented to me on a silver platter. That’s good, right? I would say no. In fact, I believe this is one of the most destructive trends to have ever impacted individuals and society as a whole.
I clicked on a “short” video on YouTube titled “All men should know this about women.” This led me down a rabbit hole of more and more videos from the manosphere. A segment of content that typically shows videos of disrespectful women stating things like, “If a man won’t send me an Uber, pay for my babysitter, my hair and nails, and take me out to an expensive restaurant, he is not worth a first date!” The male commentators typically highlight these ridiculous expectations, noting how women see men as a meal ticket and nothing more.
There are an equal number of channels for women who examine how men treat them as sex objects or just want a mama to take care of them. These channels present men in a similarly disgusting and predatory way.
I have always been a fan of radio. In fact, radio changed my life when, as a kid. I fixed an old shortwave radio that I found in our basement. This allowed me to listen to English-language broadcasts from countries with vastly different views from the United States. It was incredibly educational for me to hear their logical opinions, which were sometimes the opposite of what I was hearing statewide; it started me on a path to become a critical thinker.
Occasionally, I will do an AM radio band scan, starting at 520 kHz and working my way down to 1710 kHz, while listening to content. AM radio has gone from a medium encompassing a wide range of interests to a narrow zone of mediocrity. Sports, some news, religious, and foreign-language stations are available, but the predominant focus seems to be political. This has been especially true when I have traveled to more rural areas of the US, locations that may be served by only one or two radio stations. Here, the majority of stations are very politically right, and they often carry the same syndicated programming. These stations are hateful with a common theme: the right is always right, and the left is always evil, corrupt, communist, or whatever.
What about cable news channels? If you want to hear that the left is always right, watch CNN or MSNBC. If you want to hear that the right is always right, click on Fox News. It is possible to find similar biases across just about any social media platform, including YouTube and Facebook. Both of these venues have figured out that I lean left, and they are happy to serve up tons of that type of content, with zero right-leaning information. I never see an opposing viewpoint.
I’m not in the dating pool, but my kids have told me that most dating is now done on apps, where you can swipe left to reject someone or swipe right if you are interested. This creates so many problems for both sexes, as women are presented with hundreds of choices, and naturally, they are going to cherry-pick the most exciting ones. Why is that a problem? Because many are choosing the same 10% of top-tier men, and rejecting the rest. Competing with such a large pool reduces an individual’s chances of success. Additionally, this selection process is done based on a few characteristics, like looks, and ignores other qualities that are more likely to indicate a quality relationship.
I remember treating a very nice patient who was suffering from rare panic attacks. This person was genuinely a good guy. He was a newly minted lawyer working in the legal field, but he was having trouble finding a decent firm that would take him on. He was good-looking, polite, stable, loyal, and had good values. He wanted a serious girlfriend and eventually wanted to be married with kids, but no one would click on him because he was on the shorter side, and (per him) women want 666 men: 6 feet tall, 6-figure income, 6-pack abs. Social media told women that 666 was the minimum requirement.
How many posts on social media have I seen where some pseudo-expert claims that we are killing ourselves because we are using peanut oil, or that we can avoid dementia by taking the special supplement that they are selling? You must believe!
Why is this curation happening? Is it to help us? No, it is to encourage continued engagement. The more outrageous and one-sided the content is, the more likely it is to command the viewer’s attention. The old newspaper line, “If it bleeds, it leads,” was true then and truer now. The more engaged and enraged a person is, the more they can be manipulated. This is especially true when an idea is cleverly paired with another one, often by misrepresenting information and sometimes by outright lies.
Combine universal healthcare with Communism. How about pitting public health policies against individual rights? Another common ploy is to pit religion against science. Although these examples may sound ridiculous, they have all been successfully used to shape opinion and to control others.
Social media can also suppress opposing information. Suppose I have the belief that pasteurizing milk was not implemented to prevent raw milk illnesses, like listeria, but was done by some evil science cabal that wants to control me. Social media allows me to find cult leaders and individuals with similar ideology easily. The more cult-like a group is, the more likely it is to demand social isolation and obedience. Such beliefs may be funny to others when the individual is convinced that the earth is flat, but less humorous when parents place their children and their community in harm’s way by rejecting proven vaccinations.
Confirmation bias is a psychological tendency to accept information that supports one’s beliefs while rejecting information that contradicts those beliefs. We all tend to have some confirmational bias. However, when severe, that bias prevents us from making good decisions and hampers our ability to think critically. In the past, we would hear opposing opinions from those around us. We then had to sort out the information by examining all of the variables. Media sources were required to present information as objectively as possible. This was especially true of radio and television, which used public airwaves. You could read the “National Enquirer” for gossip, but you knew that your local newspaper would give you the facts. Many news organizations had local news reporters and investigative units, groups that have now often been dismantled for various reasons. As reporting has become more centralized, it allows for more corruption and misinformation.
It is imperative that we, as citizens, regain our critical thinking skills and stop accepting biased information from self-serving individuals and groups. But how can we do this? The first step is to recognize the problem. If you are reading or watching content that consistently upsets or angers you, there is a chance you are being manipulated. If you belong to a group or organization, including a religious one, that demands that you think in a certain way and where questioning is considered disloyalty, you are being manipulated. If you can not have a rational conversation with someone with an opposing view, you have already been manipulated.
What can be done?
-Avoid curated content that biases you against any other group. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t stay informed or have an opinion; I’m saying that you should avoid editorial content on YouTube, cable news, and other sources. The vast amount of information on cable news is editorial, and therefore often biased. Much is designed to be rage bait, keeping you watching. Expose yourself to “the other side.” If all you watch is Fox News, dip into CNN now and then. Better yet, avoid both and go for a more neutral news source, like over-the-air news, which has to conform to anti-bias rules. An additional option is to pick unbiased sources like the BBC, which is now easy to access online. I tend to listen to US-based news summaries and supplement them with other balanced sources.
-Avoid all hateful channels on places like YouTube. The world is a better place when we work together, as we have for millennia. When it comes to dating apps, women are in control. Here I may sound like an old codger… but I guess that is what I am. Women, look past the superficial and focus on the qualities that really determine a good mate. Here is another true story. When I was in med school, I knew a woman who was trying to find a boyfriend (I was married at the time). I had a friend in med school who I thought would be a great catch. He was very average-looking, but a great guy. He was smart, kind, considerate, and thoughtful. He was motivated to succeed and (in fact) obtained a pharmacy degree prior to getting into med school. He had great earning potential. He wanted to settle down and was looking for a serious relationship. He had the potential to become a great dad. I arranged a blind date, and he took my friend to a very nice restaurant for dinner. I was shocked when she summarily rejected him as he gave her the “ick.” Why? Because he brought her flowers on their first date, and that was “too much.” Holy cow. I’m happy to report that he is now happily married to someone who saw him as he actually was. His wife scored a good one.
-Broaden your mind. Although I’m more liberal-leaning, I’m always willing to listen to opposing views in a civil conversation. Sometimes I change my views, most times I don’t. However, I leave knowing why a person thinks as they do, and by doing so, I know that they are not my enemy. It is OK to have a different point of view.
-Use your critical thinking skills. If an individual or group demands that you think uncritically, allow yourself to question their motivations. There are so many examples of this, from claiming that everything is “fake news” to impostor influencers peddling their lotions and potions, to “experts” with statements like “This food will cure cancer!” Our current best way of determining something is by studying real data and testing outcomes. Listen to the majority expert opinion, not some quack. Majority opinions are sometimes wrong, but quack views are often wrong and self-serving.
We all benefit when we understand and accept each other and work together. Those who want to split us based on hate rhetoric have their reasons, and those reasons do not benefit us; they only help them.
Dear daughter, how exciting that you picked up an Instant Pot on Black Friday week, and what a great price you got! You asked me to gather my recipes, but many are in my head. Also, I usually use the Internet and YouTube when I am making something new. Naturally, I’ll be happy to teach you any tricks I know, but it is easier for me to do so recipe by recipe than to compile a book, as I tend to “cook on the fly.”
I decided to take a different route and document the fundamentals of pressure cooking, as I believe that understanding the background and theory of something makes adaptive solutions come more easily. I also decided to do this in a post, as it can serve as a permanent reference for you, and it may help someone else who picks up an electric pressure cooker/Instant Pot over the holidays. Let’s get started!
History
Pressure cooking has been around for a very long time, but became available for home cooks in the late 1930s. Several pressure cookers were introduced then, but the one that took off was presented at the 1939 World’s Fair by the now Presto Corporation. It was more popular than a slightly earlier offering as it was easier to use.
People went wild for pressure cookers, which cooked much faster than traditional methods, and they flew off the shelves. However, WWII happened, and production of pressure cookers took a back seat to war production.
After the war, demand for pressure cookers was high, and a number of companies began manufacturing them. However, many used inferior materials or designs. This is when stories began circulating about “exploding bombs” in the kitchen. However, modern pressure cookers have multiple safety features and are very safe if used correctly.
Traditional stovetop pressure cookers have been around since then, but lost popularity when new gadgets, like the microwave oven and slow cooker, became popular in the 1970s and 1980s.
Consumer electric pressure cookers were introduced in the early 1990s, and the first Instant Pot was sold in 2010. It was a hit, as Amazon featured it during a Black Friday sale. The Instant Pot is just an electric pressure cooker with some additional programs. However, it launched the recent pressure-cooking craze.
There are now many clones of the Instant Pot. They all do similar things, but you may find that one’s feature set is more desirable than another.
My mom
Dear daughter, you never met my mom, but she was a great cook. She used a stovetop pressure cooker several times a week and made the most amazing dishes with it. That is why I’m so comfortable using a pressure cooker. I know you have seen me use our pressure cooker often, so I hope that experience was a good vibe for you, too!
How pressue cookers work
A pressure cooker is a sealed pot with a vent tube. When water boils, it creates steam in the pot, which pushes out the air through the vent tube. The pot then closes the vent and pressurizes (15 PSI for most stove-top units, 10-12 PSI for most electric units). Higher pressure allows water to boil at a higher temperature. For example, at sea level, water boils at 212°F, but at 15 PSI, it boils at 250°F.
Additionally, the steam in the pot eliminates the micro-air gap around foods. This combination allows food to cook much faster, often three times faster than by conventional methods. This method can also tenderize tough meats and cook dry beans without soaking. It does the above not only more quickly, but it also preserves flavors and vitamins.
The difference between stovetop and electric pressure cookers
Stovetop pressure cookers in the US operate at around 15 PSI, while electric pressure cookers range from 10-12 PSI. This means they will reach a lower operating temperature, so it will take slightly longer to cook something. This is usually not a big deal, but it has to be taken into account when using recipes, as some are written for stove-top units while others are for electric units. This difference is insignificant when the cooking time is short. It is more significant when cooking time is longer, as you may need to add 5-10 minutes to the suggested cooking time when converting a stove-top recipe to an Instant Pot recipe.
However, because the Instant Pot is so popular, there are numerous cookbooks and thousands of recipes on the Internet for electric pressure cookers, so it is always easy to find a recipe that suits your needs.
Lastly, since stove-top units are basically heavy-duty pots, they can function for decades. Your aunt, Nancy, used my mom’s 1950s pressure cooker into the late 1990s, until it was accidentally destroyed. You can’t expect that longevity from an electric appliance. However, you can still expect your Instant Pot to work for many, many years if you take care of it.
My electric pressure cooker isn’t an Instant Pot, but it functions just like an Instant Pot.Stovetop pressure cookers operate at a higher 15 PSI pressure and are more durable than an electric pressure cooker, but they are less convenient.
Do you need all of those functions?
Various Instant Pot models have different numbers of functions, but most are unnecessary and unused. I always set my times using the manual function. However, there may be some functions that could be useful.
Sauté: When you brown your meat or saute your vegetables, they release more flavor. Having a Saute function lets you do this right in the pot before you pressure cook. I often use this function. This is an unpressurized function.
The function I use most on my pressure cooker (beyond the pressure-cook function) is sauté.
Slow Cook: Most say a slow cooker does a better job than an Instant Pot set to slow cook. However, most electric pressure cookers have this function, which can be used in a pinch. This is an unpressurized function.
Egg/Rice functions: Many swear by making rice in an Instant Pot. You can also pressure steam eggs for perfect hard-boiled eggs. You don’t need a separate button to do these things; you can just manually set your pot. These are pressurized functions.
Yogurt: You can use your Instant Pot as a lower-temperature incubator to ferment yogurt. This function works well. This is an unpressureized function.
Sous Vide: You can program your Instant Pot to act as a water bath for sous vide cooking. However, many pots are only 6 quarts, and most sous vide enthusiasts would use a dedicated heater and a larger water bath. However, this function could be useful when cooking for one or two. This is an unpressurized function.
The bottom line is that most don’t need all of the functions, so don’t worry if you have fewer functions on your model compared to some other model. However, if you have a particular, unique need, perhaps you want to make your own yogurt, then look for those unique options.
What size pot is best?
I know you have a 6-quart pot, and that is the perfect size. However, electric pressure cookers come in many different sizes. With that said, I believe the 6-quart size is the most versatile for most people.
Pot-in-pot cooking
You can buy smaller cooking vessels that fit inside your main pot. These allow you to cook several different foods at once. I have been interested in trying that, but have not yet. However, it sounds interesting.
The “Burn” warning
If you don’t have enough liquid in the pot, or if the liquid is too thick, you may get a “Burn” warning. This means that the pot is overheating and won’t operate. Some recipes will tell you to add water/broth first and not mix the contents to avoid this.
Immediate release of pressure vs. release naturally
Some recipes will tell you to release immediately, others will ask you to release naturally.
When cooking delicate foods, you release the pressure immediately to halt cooking. When cooking other foods, like meats, you let the pressure drop naturally, as this keeps the meat juicier and less dry.
When the recipe tells me to release naturally, I usually unplug the pot after cooking time, as the “keep warm” setting may prolong this process. If the pressure hasn’t dropped in 10-15 minutes, I’ll usually release the pressure myself. For me, that is a good time vs. results compromise.
Thickening soups, stews, and sauces
You know I like soups and stews a bit thicker. If I need to thicken after cooking, I plug the pot back in and use the sauté function to bring the liquid back to a boil, then add my thickening agent. I can then cancel and go to “keep warm” or simply unplug the pot if I’m serving immediately.
Using the instruction manual
The instruction manual that came with your Instant Pot will have all sorts of useful information. Additionally, it will supply you with cooking timetables. How long to cook pork chops? Check the manual! What about black beans? Same, check the manual. It is a good idea to keep that booklet handy!
Your pressure cooker will come with valuable timing charts, so keep the manual handy.
Care of the device
My mom’s pot used a fragile rubber sealing ring, but new pots use much more durable silicone rings. I always pull these out and wash them separately. This can be done by hand or by placing them on the top rack of the dishwasher.
Please don’t store the pot with the gasket in and the lid closed. This will result in a smelly pot (remember your microbiology) and a squashed sealing ring that may not hold pressure. I always store my ring loose in the pot and install it into the lid at cooking time.
Rings will absorb food odors. If you plan to make many sweet and savory dishes, consider having both a savory and a sweet sealing ring. These rings are inexpensive and can be purchased from many places, including Amazon. Make sure you get the right ring for your particular pot, since they do come in different sizes.
You can wash the inner pot and the sealing ring (top rack only) in your dishwasher. However, the lid and regulator should be hand-washed. Naturally, the base should never be washed. Use a damp cloth to clean an unplugged unit.
How energy efficient is an Instant Pot
It’s good that your sciency dad likes to delve into such things. A while back, I experimented to determine just that. I tested several electric pressure cookers, a stovetop pressure cooker heated by an induction burner, several different sizes of crock pots, and a toaster oven. All were significantly more energy-efficient than a traditional oven, but that is no surprise. What was surprising was that the electric pressure cookers were considerably more efficient than the other appliances, including the slow cookers.
Slow cookers sip electricity, but the classic ones are constantly sipping. A pressure cooker uses a lot of energy to reach pressure, but then it rarely uses energy to maintain that pressure. The stovetop pressure cooker was also very efficient, but the electric one still beat it. However, either would be excellent in situations where you needed to conserve electricity. That is the case when I’m camping in my all-electric adventure van as I rely on batteries and solar panels to cook.
When I did my experiment, I assumed that I was cooking something that needed longer cooking, like a stew. If I were cooking something that only needed a few minutes of pressurized cooking, the pressure cooker would be less efficient, as it often takes 5-10 minutes on full power to reach pressure. A long cooking time offsets that initial energy use.
If my goal was to conserve energy, I would cook foods that require a long cooking time in a pressure cooker, but I would cook foods that require a short cooking time on the stove or in the microwave. Lastly, I’m not trying to be disrespectful of the humble slow cooker. It was relatively energy efficient, and it certainly has its place as a functional cooking appliance.
I used a Kill-A-Watt meter to measure the energy used by various small electrics. I compared several slow cookers, several pressure cookers, and a toaster oven to determine that electric pressure cookers were the most energy-efficient of the pack.
What can I cook in an Instant Pot
An amazing number of foods! If you can cook it in a slow cooker, you (most likely) can cook it in an Instant Pot, just much, much faster. Stews, soups, dry beans, rice, tough meats, etc.
You can also make dishes like one-pot spaghetti and steamed cakes, including cheesecake.
As you know, I have made many different things in our pot, ranging from countless soups, curries, and stews to St. Patrick’s Day corned beef and weekday stuffed peppers. The great thing about an Instant Pot is that it is a “set and forget” (sort of) device. Always be within earshot when using it, but you don’t have to monitor it as closely as a stovetop unit. The Instant Pot will reach pressure, cook, and then turn to keep warm all on its own.
Are all pressure cookers the same? What about a different brand electric pressure cooker?
Dear daughter, I know you have an Instant Pot, so I’m writing this section for others who may be reading this post. My electric pressure cooker is not an Instant Pot, but it works just like one.
Different machines may offer slightly different programs or features, but most don’t make much of a functional difference. The only features that may be important to some are the yogurt, slow cook, and sous vide functions, as they could be slightly different or absent on some machines. All machines have a sauté function, which is important.
Different machines may offer other options that the end user may or may not want. Most Instant Pots have a stainless steel cooking pot, while some other brands have a non-stick one. Some pots may have a broader base or locking handles for the inner pot. Additionally, different pots may have various types of knobs or switches to release the pressure. You will adjust to your particular pot as they all work well enough.
Remember, US stovetop pressure cookers use higher pressure, so cooking times will need to be slightly reduced when converting a recipe from an electric pressure cooker to a stovetop unit. Little conversion is needed for recipes that have short cooking times, but times may need to be shortened for longer cooking times. For instance, an Instant Pot recipe that calls for 60 minutes at high pressure may only need to be cooked for 50 minutes using a stove-top pressure cooker.
What about brand-X pots
When it comes to electric pressure cookers in the US, they are more similar than different. As far as I know, the vast majority of electric pressure cookers cycle between 10 and 12 PSI, so they will cook the same way as an Instant Pot.
Stovetop units made in the US operate at 15 PSI, but some European ones operate at lower pressures, often 12 PSI. This is similar to an Instant Pot, so cooking times would be the same. European stovetop brands with a strong presence in the US sometimes convert their pots to 15 PSI for the US market, so read the instructions that came with your pot.
Stovetop Chinese brands seem to be more variable, with some operating at 15 PSI and others as low as 8 PSI. If you decide to go with one of these pots, make sure you know its cooking PSI, as there is a significant difference in cooking times between 8 PSI and 15 PSI.
Conclusion
Dear daughter, it is great to see you embrace cooking from home. Pressure cookers are truly miraculous machines that can transform tough cuts of meat to tender morsels and speed up dishes that would typically require all day to less than an hour. I know you will master your Instant Pot in short order. For those other readers, I hope that this open letter has helped you understand this excellent device.
Dear reader. My daughter picked up an Instant Pot during Black Friday week and asked me for some recipes. I decided to do a post instead, as she could use it as a reference, and it may also help other newbies. The above is that post.
Images are my own or from the Mealthy Instruction Manual. All images are used for educational and entertainment purposes only.
My parents fed seven on a single salary, and much of that economy was due to my mother’s cleverness. Soups, stews, casseroles, and hot dishes are filling and delicious, and they make the most of their ingredients. Something essential during inflation and the Trump tariff taxes.
I was cleaning out our freezer to make room for new purchases when I came across a large block of ham I vacuum-sealed in April 2022. I thawed the ham and tasted it, and it was absolutely fine. That is the power of a vacuum sealer. However, now I had to do something with the thawed ham. The possibilities are many, but I thought I would go with a soup option on this blustery fall day.
I had a bag of dry 15-bean soup beans in the pantry, and that sounded like the perfect foil for the ham. This recipe makes an enormous amount of soup. Four of us ate it, and we put at least four portions in the fridge for future lunches. I also vacuum-sealed and froze another four portions for a future meal. All in all, a very economical dinner.
Let’s take a look at the recipe from http://valerieskitchen.com. I did make a few changes, which I’ll discuss in the following photos.
Several brands sell a 15-bean mix, or you may find a bag of 16-bean or 14-bean soup mix. They are all interchangeable. This bag was from Aldi, and the beans were of excellent quality. Always sort out flawed and broken beans and discard any little rocks. I have never found a rock, but it is always a good idea to look.
I soaked the beans overnight in double the water. Soaking is unnecessary if you use a pressure cooker. If you used unsoaked beans, you will need to increase your pressure-cooking time to about 40-50 minutes. If you plan on making this soup in a slow cooker or on the stove, you will need to soak the beans first. I believe soaking improves digestibility and reduces unpleasant bean “side effects.” It also reduces the pressure-cooking time to 30 minutes.
Here are the ingredients that I used. In addition to the recipe, I added 1/2 of a sweet pepper. I used an enormous amount of ham as I had defrosted a large block. However, about half of that could be used. You could use any other smoked meat, from bacon to smoked sausage. In fact, you could use cut-up hot dogs if you wished. The chicken broth was made from “Better Than Bouillon.”
Here is a close-up of the spices that I used. I added minimal salt, around 1/2 teaspoon. I was going to adjust the salt at the end of cooking, but the soup was salty enough just from the ham and bouillon. If you don’t have all of these spices, that’s OK. Use what you have. Oregano is an inexpensive and handy spice that adds interest to many dishes. I could have used just that, along with the salt and pepper. With that said, all of these spices are affordable if you buy the Walmart, Aldi, or Dollar Store brands. I didn’t use the seasoning packet that came with the beans, as that is mostly salt.
Using the saute function on my pressure cooker, I lightly browned the ham in a little oil.
I added the chopped onion and garlic and continued to cook the mixture for a few more minutes
In went the spices, which I cooked for about 1 minute more.
Then 8 oz of tomato sauce. Different recipes use different tomato options. Some use a can of crushed tomatoes, some use fresh tomatoes, and some use tomato paste. It makes no difference.
I added the rest of the vegetables.
Then the pre-soaked beans.
Finally, the chicken broth. I used about 6 cups of broth instead of the 4 cups of broth and 3 cups of water stated in the recipe. Less liquid was needed because the beans were already somewhat hydrated from pre-soaking.
I pressure-cooked the beans for 30 minutes, then waited 15 minutes to release the pressure. If I had not pre-soaked the beans, I would have pressure-cooked them for 40 minutes (or possibly 50 minutes). I used a wooden spoon to mash some of the beans to thicken the soup, but that is optional.
Here it is plated up. I served it with oyster crackers, a little cheese, and sour cream. I paired it with some of my homemade whole wheat bread. I like to break off chunks of the bread to dip in the soup; that’s just me. The great thing about soup is that it always tastes better the next day.
This batch was huge and will feed us for several meals. By vacuum-sealing and freezing a portion of the leftovers, I’ll be able to thaw the soup later for an easy, delicious meal.
I hope you know that no recipe is set in stone. You have many options to customize recipes based on your preferences or what you have on hand. Just try to pair like with like. If you don’t have 15-bean soup mix, try another dry bean that you do have. If you don’t have ham, try another flavorful meat. One idea is to save a ham bone and ham scraps from one meal and turn them into an almost-free future meal. Ham bones and scraps freeze well. If you vacuum seal them, they can last for years in the freezer.
Inflation and the Trump tariff taxes got you down? Cooking your own meals from scratch can help despite rising grocery prices. Homemade food is significantly less expensive than dining out, and in 2025, it is now cheaper than fast food. Additionally, it tastes better.
Paprikash is a simple Hungarian stew that originated hundreds of years ago. Peppers thrived in southern Hungary, and paprika is ground peppers. Sour cream was introduced into this simple dish at the turn of the last century, adding a bit of luxury to this humble stew.
Paprikash is a dish my mom made as part of her dinner rotation. You could call this part of my international dining experience, as we are not Hungarian. In that rotation was Chop Suey, which I thought was real Chinese food growing up, but it’s not. I was so sophisticated! (That is a joke.)
I love dishes that are simple to make, don’t require many ingredients, and are delicious. Chicken Paprikash fits that bill. I’m making it in a pressure cooker, which is what my mom did. However, it could also be made in other ways, for instance, using a heavy pot (Dutch oven) on the stove or in the oven. In that case, you would need to adjust the liquid a bit and stew the meat longer. Just search for a recipe that uses your particular cooking method. For example: “Chicken Paprikash made in the oven.”
You will find that there are no absolutes for this dish. Some recipes use more or less paprika, others use different chicken parts. Personally, I think this dish is best with bone-in chicken thighs, but I had boneless chicken breasts in the freezer, so I used those.
The best recipes are flexible, as they allow you to use up what you have or what is on sale. Most soups and stews fall into that category, and as you gain confidence in your cooking, you will soon be substituting ingredients while still achieving delicious results. Let’s move on to the recipe.
Easy Chicken Paprikash
This recipe is from the website dadcooksdinner.com
Here are the ingredients. They are pretty simple. I’m using cut-up boneless skinless chicken breasts, as that is what I had in the freezer. I’m seasoning the chicken with seasoned salt, which contains salt, pepper, and paprika (among other spices), for ease. I’m using paprika from the Walmart spice brand, as that is what I had, but a quality Hungarian paprika would be better. I’m mentioning substitutions to illustrate that it is OK to substitute. The result will be a bit different, but it will still be delicious. Substitute like with like. By the way, paprika is made from sweet peppers, so this dish is very mild and not hot.
Melt some butter in a pot. In this case, I’m using an electric pressure cooker (AKA Instant Pot) on the “sear” setting.
Brown the chicken in batches to prevent overcrowding; overcrowding steams the chicken rather than browning it. Remove it from the pot.
Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for around 1 minute more. Garlic is high in sugar, so if you add it too soon, it will burn.
Add your spices and the tomato paste and cook for around 30 seconds. This “blooms” your spices. However, if you do this for too long, you will burn them, and you don’t want to do that.
Add the cup of chicken broth. I’m using hot water with some “Better Than Bouillon.” You could use real stock, boxed chicken broth, or even bouillon cubes. Use what you have on hand. Remember that bouillon concentrates are salty, so add salt sparingly. You can always add more salt when the dish is completed, but you can’t take it out. My finished dish was salty enough with the small amount of salt that I added along with the salt in “Better Than Bouillon.” Note: I only added around 1/2 teaspoon of salt, plus the seasoned salt that I used to season the raw chicken. This, with the “Better Than Bouillon,” was more than enough salt.
Return the browned chicken to the pot.
Pressure cook for 15 minutes on high. Let the pressure come down on its own. Alternatively, you can release the pressure 10-15 minutes after the cooking cycle has completed. That is what I did. If you release the pressure as soon as the cycle has finished, your chicken will be drier, as the sudden pressure change will force some of the juice out of the meat.
While the chicken was cooking, I boiled up some noodles on the stove. Noodles are traditional, but you could use any starch you have on hand: mashed or boiled potatoes, rice, or even toast as the base of the dish.
I mixed the sour cream with around a cup of the hot broth from the stew until smooth, then returned it to the pot. I tasted for a seasoning adjustment, but it wasn’t needed. I tend to like thicker stews and soups, so I thickened the stew by mixing a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch in around 1/3 of a cup of cold water and then poured (while mixing) that into the bubbling stew. This is an optional step.
Here it is, served with some of my homemade bread maker bran and flaxseed bread. My wife and daughter both said, “This is really rich and delicious,” without solicitation.
Cooking from scratch will become easier the more you do it. I hardly think about it. When you become confident in making one type of dish, making the next similar one is a snap. If you can make soup, you now have the skills to make stews. And so it goes.
Ease money stress by doing things that put you in charge. Cooking from scratch is one of those things.
This post is for those of you who have a bread maker that consistently overproofs your loaves.
If you have read my posts, you know I love machines and love comparing one machine to another. I like kitchen machines as they tend to be simple and understandable, given my non-engineering scope.
I have been playing with bread makers since the late 1980s, and I have used over 20 machines during that time. In fact, I have quite a few of them as I write this. You may think I have spent a fortune on these machines, but I buy almost all of them used and have spent as little as $4.99 on a working one.
Bread maker components are all the same. That is not to say that they are all of the same quality; instead, all bread makers have the same types of components.
All bread makers have a simple display with a tiny microcomputer that controls things like kneading and baking times.
All bread makers have a heat system with a thermostat and one or two heating elements that are used for baking and sometime proofing.
All bread makers have a motor that turns a kneading paddle in the bread pan.
Add to this a case, buttons, and a bread pan, and you have a bread maker.
Manufacturers may program their bread makers slightly differently, so one brand may knead a bit more, another may use a different proofing schedule, and another may have a slightly different baking temperature or baking time. That is why one brand may make a loaf that is more to your liking. However, all should be able to make a decent loaf of bread.
Since most of my machines are used, I always run them through their paces when they are first acquired. I’ll make sure that they power up and that all of their buttons work. I then make sure the paddle turns and the heating elements warm. If all is good, I’ll bake a loaf of bread. Typically, I’ll use the white bread recipe from the machine’s instruction guide at the machine’s maximum loaf size. If that is not feasible, I’ll use a standard white bread recipe that I know has worked in a variety of machines. Surprisingly, the majority of these used machines continue to make excellent loaves of bread, even my 30-year-old ones.
However, on rare occasions, I run into a clinker. I got a used machine on Amazon for a great price. It worked perfectly, except the paddle wouldn’t turn. I was able to send that one back to the seller. And then there was this machine, a Cuisinart CBK-200 bread maker, gotten at an amazingly low price on eBay. It passed all of its preliminary tests with flying colors, but my test loaf came out hopelessly overproofed. Returning something to eBay is not as easy as doing the same on Amazon. This would be a good time to apply the scientific method and develop a solution.
The Cuisinart CBK-200 is a classic bread maker that has been sold for over 10 years, suggesting that there was something specifically wrong with this unit. Likely the reason that they were selling it on eBay.I made this loaf using the 2-pound white bread recipe from the Cuisinart instruction manual. I was very meticulous, weighing and measuring all ingredients. The bread was made at home at around 70°F and with normal humidity. Bread was made using program 1, medium crust, 2.0-pound loaf. What a disaster!
Cuisinart has sold this particular model for over 10 years, so its overall design can’t be flawed. Therefore, the problem had to be with this machine. The solution was to find a workaround that was as simple and reasonable as possible.
I was a research scientist before I went to med school and am well-versed in setting up experiments. Experiments have constants, which don’t change, and variables, which do. Many experiments involve adjusting variables and recording the outcomes from those adjustments. In a perfect world, an investigator changes one variable at a time. However, I’m just trying to get a bread maker to make a good loaf of bread, not publish a paper. I don’t want to have to make a dozen loaves, each with a slight change. Besides, my funding director (AKA my wife) would disapprove of me wasting ingredients! I needed to be as efficient as possible.
If you make bread the traditional way, there are quite a few steps you can take to address overproofing. However, many steps in a bread maker are fixed and therefore constants. On this particular machine, kneading, proofing, and baking times, as well as temperature, are fixed and can’t be changed.
There were some variables that I could change, so let’s take a look at those.
Environmental
Excessively hot or humid conditions can affect yeast growth, leading to overproofing. However, my room temperature was around 70°F, and the humidity was within normal limits. This was a variable that I couldn’t easily change.
Baking programs
Like most modern bread makers, the Cuisinart has many preset programs for making various types of bread, such as white or whole wheat. Cusinart thoughtfully provides a timetable for these programs. Some did have shorter final rise times (which would reduce overproofing), but they also had changes to other parameters, like kneading times. I didn’t want to have to experiment with every bread recipe, trying multiple programs until I found the one that worked with that recipe, so that option was out.
Another possibility was to use the dough function, terminating the last rise early, and then using the bake function to bake the bread. Honestly, that would be more trouble than it was worth for me. I have other machines. If this one was going to enter the rotation, it had to be as easy to use as the other ones.
However, I was willing to try one option. I usually make 1.5-pound loaves instead of 2.0-pound loaves because the bread is the same length but shorter, and more “store-bread”- like. I knew from experience that sometimes a machine does a better job making a 1.5-pound loaf vs. a 2.0-pound loaf. I decided to give that option a try, and in this case, I used a Betty Crocker recipe that works in multiple machines. Here are the results:
This loaf looks better, but the top has collapsed, a sure sign of overproofing. The loaf color is good, but a bit dark. I made this loaf on the medium crust setting, but it looks like I used the dark crust setting. Could the thermostat be off? Perhaps the baking chamber is overheating during the proofing cycle. However, I have no way of changing that. Here is that loaf sliced. Wow, many indications of overproofing, including the top of the slice being missing and huge air holes throughout. This bread was edible, but hardly ideal. Time to do another experiment.
Impact of Ingredient on overproofing
Every ingredient has an impact on the final loaf of bread. The good thing about experimenting with simple white bread is that the ingredient list is short. The only additional ingredient in the Betty Crocker loaves is a little dry milk powder. That may add some sugar, but it wouldn’t be the first variable I would test.
Flour
Bread flour works best, and I was using a quality bread flour. If the dough is too wet (slack), it doesn’t provide enough resistance to the CO2 gas bubbles and will overproof. However, I always check my dough during kneading, and it was fine.
My dough ball was smooth and slightly tacky. Just the way it should be.
Sugar
Sugar adds flavor and helps the yeast grow. Sugar could be reduced, but by how much? Also, sugar varies from recipe to recipe. I didn’t want to have to calculate a sugar amount every time I made a different loaf. How much should I reduce 2T of sugar? What about a recipe with 3T or 1/3 cup of sugar? Too complicated for me; pass on this variable.
Salt
Salt controls yeast, so adding a bit more should inhibit the yeast. But how much? Plus, I don’t want salty bread. I would consider adjusting salt, but it would be an option of last resort.
Yeast
Now we are talking. Yeast can be adjusted easily. Most advise a reduction of 10-25%. This recipe uses 2t of yeast, so I could easily change it to 1 and 1/2t (25% less). But heck, let’s make some other changes too. I had used instant yeast, which can be a bit more active than active yeast. For this round, I went with active yeast. Lastly, I changed the loaf color from medium to light to see if that would make a difference. I know, I know, I’m changing three variables at once. However, this would be my third loaf in less than 24 hours. I needed to be flexible. But what were the results?
Here is the loaf. It looks pretty good! Let’s see how it compares with the other 1.5 pound loaf that I made.Much better! Look at the difference between the beautiful dome of the 1.5t yeast bread vs the loaf with 2t of yeast! However, it remains the same color even after selecting a light crust. Clearly, the temperature is a bit off, which is why the machine is overproofing. However, I can change the yeast variable and compensate for that. This slice is just about perfect. Job done!
If your machine is overproofing, check the obvious things first. Is the room too hot or humid? Did you measure everything correctly? Is your dough hydrated correctly? Are you using a recipe that you know works across multiple machines, or one that was specifically designed for your machine? If you have done everything right, then look towards the ingredients. Many of them will impact the rise of the loaf. However, adjusting the amount of yeast is the simplest option. I also changed from instant to active yeast. I’ll continue that too.
In this machine, I think it is increasing the temperature slightly. I’m basing this on the fact that the light crust still looks pretty dark. I can’t change that, so luckily the yeast trick works.
Inflation, the Trump tariffs, and the country’s general negative disposition have me a bit down. It is time for me to return to a simpler time, and what better way than with a nostalgic meal?
This idea started a few weeks back when the family was watching an episode of “The Great British Baking Show.” During that episode, the contestants had to make school lunch items, including “school cake.” School cake is a cake with simple white frosting, set in a pool of custard.
The cake was especially evocative for Julie, who spent a semester in England during her undergraduate days. She was housed in a dorm, and they often served school cake for dessert. She has talked about it ever since.
It would be interesting to combine her school-day favorite with one of mine, Sloppy Joes. Since I was going to make the combo for dinner. I decided to class it up just a bit by making the buns and the cake from scratch. However, I was completely uncertain about the custard, as I had tried to make some in the past and was told it was incorrect. Because of this, we found some Birds Original Custard powder at the World Market. I would use that mix for the custard sauce.
Naturally, it would be just fine to make this meal more simply by buying the buns and using a cake mix. However, I had the time, so I decided to go the homemade route.
Let’s go through the recipes!
Homemade Hamburger Buns
Recipe from Ourlittlebluehome.com
I made the dough in a bread maker using the dough setting.
I divided the dough into six pieces (I really could have done seven or eight) and formed each piece into a ball, which I placed on a greased cookie sheet. I slightly flattened the dough balls, covered them, and let them rise for 30 minutes. I then brushed each bun with egg wash. I baked the buns at 350°F (175 °C) for around 12-15 minutes until nicely browned.
Here are my buns. These were Will’s favorite part of the meal. I did an entire post on making hamburger buns on October 10th. You can find that post here: https://www.drmikekuna.com/2025/10/10/
Homemade Sloppy Joes
Don’t use the canned stuff. Making Sloppy Joes from scratch is super easy.
Recipe from NatashasKitchen.com
I’m using frozen ground beef from a year ago. However, because I vacuum-sealed it, the meat was as fresh as if I had bought it yesterday.
These are kid-friendly, simple ingredients. A small onion, 1/2 of a pepper (traditionally green, but this is what was in the fridge), and some garlic.
The sauce is equally simple: Tomato sauce, yellow mustard, a little brown sugar, and some Worcestershire sauce. Just mix it all up.
I’m using an electric Dutch oven, but you can use a pot on the stove or even a frying pan.
Brown the hamburger, then season it with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the chopped pepper and onion, and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Add the sauce mixture and bring the mixture to a boil, then down to a simmer for around 15 minutes. That’s it!
I toasted the buns in a toaster oven and heaped on the meat. I’m serving today’s meal with chips, but I also recall having these sandwiches with fries and sometimes tater tots. The Sloppy Joes were my favorite part of the meal.
And now for the dessert. I had tried to make school cake once before, but I had no reference point. I simply guessed. Today, I used Dame Prue Leith’s recipe, modified to a smaller quantity by the bakers at theviewfromgreatisland.com. This is a much heavier cake; it is more like a flat pound cake, but it was delicious!
Cream the softened butter, then slowly add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Then add the vanilla and mix in.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between additions.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined
Pour into a greased 9 x 9 baking pan. The batter is very thick, and you will need to “maneuver” it into the corners of the pan.
Bake at 350°F (175 °C) for 22-30 minutes. Bake until lightly browned, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Wait until the cake has cooled completely and frost it with the simple frosting listed above. Apparently, sprinkles are an important part of this recipe; naturally, I included them.
I wasn’t certain on the custard, so I went with Bird’s, a British brand.
Here is the school cake. The custard (per Julie) is supposed to be as thick as gravy and warm. The school cake was Julie’s favorite part of the dinner.
Tonight, we went down memory lane and had a delicious, economical dinner. Everyone liked it. I will definitely be making it again.
In a recent post, I discussed rediscovering my long-neglected bread maker. In reality, I have several bread makers, as you can buy used ones for very little. I love to compare gadgets. That is just me.
It was very inexpensive for me to make bakery-quality white bread using simple, readily available ingredients. The bread was delicious, but my wife believes that white bread isn’t as healthy as other types of bread, and so I’ll try baking a multi-grain recipe. Today I’ll be using a 20-year-old Zojirushi bread maker using the whole wheat setting. It is very likely that the following recipe will work with any 2 pound bread maker that has a whole wheat cycle.
Don’t have a bread maker? Shop second-hand stores or Facebook Marketplace. You can buy bread makers for less than $10 at secondhand stores, and I have seen many in the $10-$30 range on Facebook Marketplace.
Just a few bread makers that I saw on Facebook Marketplace.
The least expensive bread makers have a loaf pan that is more vertical than horizontal. The bread will taste the same; it just doesn’t look like a traditional loaf. If you cut the bread perpendicular to the pan, you will get nice “sandwich-style” slices. Horizontal loaf pans make more traditional loaves, but the slices are pretty tall. I’m using the Zojirushi today, because its two-paddle, long-pan design produces a horizontal loaf similar in size to the bread you buy in the store.
If you buy any machine second-hand, make sure that the bread pan and paddle are included. Plug the machine in and check to see if it powers up and the buttons work. The majority of machines will work if they don’t look abused, come with a pan/paddle, and power up. I think you are best off with a machine that makes a 1.5- to 2-pound loaf. However, one-pound machines will work too if you are a small family. Making a 2-pound recipe in a 1-pound machine will result in a mess, so make sure that you use a recipe sized for your machine. Often, you can download the instruction manual for your particular machine, which will include many recipes.
The loaf that I’m making today is from the Zojirushi instruction manual. There are whole-wheat versions of multi-grain bread that can be found on the internet, but I thought I would start with a recommended recipe before attempting an internet recipe. It makes a two-pound loaf.
This is the recipe that I used. Please make sure that you add the ingredients in the order listed for optimal results. This machine uses active dry yeast for regular cycles. However, some machines may require instant/bread-making yeast. Check your manual.
Like everything else, bread prices are rising steadily due to inflation and the Trump tariff taxes. There are reports online of people spending $8 to $10 on a loaf of bread. I’m in Chicago, and we are not that high as of November 2025. However, multi-grain breads are still pretty pricey. A Brownberry 24-ounce multi-grain bread is going for $4.99, and a half loaf of Lewis 12-ounce bread is $3.79 at my local store.
$4.99 for 24 ounces, and that is the sale price!$3.79 for only 12 ounces of bread!
The multi-grain bread that I’m making today is 2 pounds, or 32 ounces. I sourced the ingredients from Amazon, Costco, and my local market. I did try to get good prices, but I would have saved significantly more if I had bought some ingredients, like the bread flour and 7-grain cereal, in bulk.
Making the bread was beyond simple and took me less than five minutes to put together. A few button presses later, and the machine took care of the rest. It truly is a set-it-and-forget-it operation. I buy my active yeast in a two-pound bag from Costco. It is very inexpensive when purchased this way. I keep it in the freezer for future bakes. The only addition that I made to the recipe was ½ teaspoon of diastatic malt. I read reports noting that a tiny amount of this ingredient helps the bread rise.
The only addition that I added to the recipe was 1/2 teaspoon of diastatic malt, which helps with texture and rise.
Here is a cost breakdown based on price per ounce of bread:
-The 12-ounce Lewis bread costs: $3.79 Almost 3 x more than homemade
-The 24-ounce Brownberry bread costs: $4.99 (on sale!) Almost 2x more than homemade
-My 32-ounce bread maker bread cost was only $3.60
It is not only more accurate to weigh your ingredients, but it is also faster and involves less cleanup. All it takes is a few clicks, and the machine does everything else. I had to run some errands, and the bread was done when I got home. Bread machines mix, knead, proof, and bake bread automatically.A few beeps lets you know that it is bread time!A beautiful loaf. Let it cool until it is barely warm; otherwise, you will rip the bread apart.A crispy crust and soft interior. What more could you want? How about that it is significantly less than store-bought!
You simply can’t beat the quality and cost of homemade bread made with a bread maker. The varieties of bread that you can make are endless, and it is possible to buy a used machine for next to nothing. Why not give it a try!
Peace
Mike
images are my own or screen captures of images on websites. All are used for educational purposes only.
Today was another beautiful fall day. The weather is cooling off in the Upper Midwest, making it a perfect time for hearty dinners. Today I will be making chili, an economical and delicious dinner, as we all battle inflation and the Trump tariff taxes.
There are as many ways to make chili as there are people making chili. Today I’ll be making some “from scratch.” However, if you want to take the easier route, you can buy a chili spice packet at your grocery store. My chili tastes better, but spice packets do a fine job, and they are inexpensive, especially if you buy the house brand.
Chili is another one of those dishes that is easy to stretch. If you have a bigger crowd, you can just toss in another can of beans. Let’s take a look at today’s recipe.
This recipe is from Budget Bytes.
A fall day’s chili
In a heavy pot or Dutch oven, brown a chopped onion, then add a heaping spoonful of jarred garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. You can use real garlic (a few cloves) or powdered garlic (1-2 teaspoons) instead if you like. Don’t use garlic salt, as it is mostly salt.
Add around a pound of hamburger and brown it.
Prepare your spices: 1T chili powder, 1t ground cumin, 1/4t cayenne pepper powder (a little more or a little less depending on your taste), 1/4t garlic powder, 1/2t onion powder, 1/2T brown sugar, 1t salt, 1/2 t black pepper. Where T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon.
Add your spices and cook them for around 30 seconds. Then, add one can of chopped tomatoes, one can of tomato sauce, and one can of drained beans. Traditionally, kidney beans are used, but you can use any canned bean that you have on hand. I also added some canned corn for fun.
Stir, bring to a boil, and then turn the stove down to a simmer. Cover and cook for at least 15 minutes. However, I like to turn the heat down a bit lower than simmer and cook the chili for a couple of hours for maximum flavor.
Here it is, served with oyster crackers and green onions. Sour cream is also a nice addition. For those who like it super spicy, have some hot sauce on hand for “self-administration.” I’m serving it with some yeasted cornbread. That recipe is as follows.
Yeasted cornbread in a bread maker
Recipe from the Betty Crocker Bread Baking Cookbook
Add ingredients in the order listed to a bread machine pan.
1 egg plus enough room-temperature water to equal 1 and 1/3 cups.
1/2 cup or 170 grams of honey
1/4 cup or 60 grams of softened butter
4 cups or 480 grams of bread flour
2/3 cup or 100 grams of cornmeal
3 tablespoons or 25 grams of dry milk
2 teaspoons salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast. Make a little divot for the yeast.
Use the basic or white bread setting for a two-pound loaf.
The bread was immediately removed from the bread maker when the cycle completed, but it was allowed to rest in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it onto a rack. I then let it cool almost completely before I sliced it.
Here is the bread sliced. I sliced it thick and then cut it in half. It was a cross between corn bread and regular bread. It was slightly sweet and delicious!
This is another one of my posts, written to show those afraid of cooking how easy it is to make a delicious, inexpensive meal. You could skip the yeasted cornbread and use a quick-bread cornbread mix. Or, you could omit cornbread completely, as the chili can stand on its own.
We are entering fall in the upper Midwest, a perfect time for stew. The great thing about stew is that it is very flexible and can be made economically by adjusting the ingredients.
I have another reason for making stew today: I’m trying to clean out my freezer because I need the space. Once a year, I get a rebate check from Costco, usually for hundreds of dollars. That check has to be spent by the end of the year; otherwise, it becomes void. Traditionally, I have used this bonus money to buy Costco meat, which I’ll then divide into vacuum-sealed pouches and freeze. In fact, this stew meat is from last year’s haul.
It’s now November, so I’ll be going on a meat run soon. However, with inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, I may not have the bounty I had before. I hope my freezer cleaning wasn’t just wishful thinking!
Let’s get into this simple and delicious recipe. I’ll be using an Instant Pot type pressure cooker, but you could also make this recipe in a slow cooker or a Dutch oven. With that said, you would need to adjust your time and possibly liquids if you chose one of those methods.
Brown 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of stew meat in a little cooking oil. Browning isn’t necessary, but it seals the meat, making it more juicy, and adds depth of flavor to the dish.
Add 1 chopped onion. Your chopping doesn’t have to be precise, as the cooking process will dissolve most of the onion.
Add a heaping spoon of jar garlic. Naturally, you could use a couple of cloves of real garlic, or even some powdered garlic. I would not use garlic salt, as it is mostly salt, and could over-salt your dish. If you do decide to add garlic salt, use only 1 teaspoon, and add additional salt only when you adjust the seasonings at the end of cooking. If you don’t like garlic, omit it.
Add some spices. If all you have is salt and pepper, that’s OK. However, I like adding spices to my dishes for extra interest. Today, I’m using around one teaspoon each of thyme, parsley, and rosemary. I had one sad, broken bay leaf, so that is also going into the pot. I also added around one-half teaspoon of pepper and a scant teaspoon of salt. I’ll further adjust the salt and pepper at the end of cooking. Remember, once you add salt, you can’t remove it.
I then added about 4 peeled and cut-up potatoes, a big fistful of washed and peeled carrots, and about three stalks of celery. There are no absolutes here. If I only had two stalks of celery, that is what I would have used. If I were trying to get rid of more carrots, I would have added more. You get the picture.
If you have other vegetables, consider adding them. What are good choices? Green beans, peas, and corn come to mind. I personally love peas in soups and stews, but my wife has an aversion to them, so no peas for us! Fresh or frozen work, and if you want to bolster up your stew, you can even add canned veggies at the end of cooking.
My kids were over for brunch today, and two were remaining at dinner time, so I put them to work. One peeled and cut the potatoes; the other peeled and cut the carrots. Bonus for me!
I added one can of tomato sauce. This adds another flavor layer, but it isn’t required. If you don’t use it, you’ll end up with a traditional brown stew. If you go the tomato route, you can use what you have on hand. If you don’t have tomato sauce, you could add tomato paste or canned tomatoes. It is all good. I then added two cans of water. You need liquid when using a pressure cooker. Why two cans? Why not? I could have added one can instead. By the way, two cans are around 4 cups of water.
Here is another optional ingredient. I added a couple of tablespoons of cooking sherry to add acidity, which wakes up the dish. A little vinegar would do the same thing. If I were using vinegar, I would add around one tablespoon.
This is also optional, but almost a necessity in my book. I added a heaping teaspoon of beef bouillon. These products have a lot of salt, which is why I make most of my salt adjustments at the end of cooking. Remember, you can’t remove salt from a dish once it is there.
I pressure-cooked the stew on high for 40 minutes, and then let it rest for 10 minutes before releasing the pressure. Immediately removing the pressure can draw out the moisture from the meat and make it dry. This is the same reason you let meat cooked in other ways rest for about 10 minutes before carving them.
Here is the stew. I like my stew a bit thicker, so I mixed a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch with a little cold water and drizzled it into the boiling stew while stirring. However, adding a thickener is totally optional. This is the time when I would adjust the salt and pepper. The stew is ready to serve and is a complete meal. It fed four of us, and there is a lot left over for lunches. If cooking for one or two, leave out enough for an additional meal and freeze the rest for an easy future supper.
To make the meal special, I baked some delicious onion-and-cheddar bread in a bread maker. I have done quite a few posts on using a bread maker. You can often pick one up very inexpensively at thrift stores; make sure it powers up at the store and that it comes with the baking pan and kneading paddle. I love playing with gadgets and have more than one bread maker. The last one that I bought cost $4.99! It was pretty grubby, but cleaned up very nicely.
Here is the recipe for the Cheddar Onion bread. I made a 1.5-pound loaf and sliced it thick (after it cooled a bit). The recipe is from the Betty Crocker bread-making cookbook. I added 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning to their original recipe.
Cheese Onion Bread
3/4 C pluse 2 T of water
3 C Bread flour (you can also use AP flour)
3/4 C shredded Cheddar cheese
2 T Sugar
1 T Dry milk
2 t Instant minced onion
1 t salt
1 t Italian seasoning (optional)
1 and 1/4 t instant or active yeast (I used instant)
Note: T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon
Add ingredients in the order listed and use the basic or white bread setting for a 1.5-pound loaf.
This Cheddar cheese and onion bread is really delicious and is a perfect foil for any soup or stew.
Here is my $4.99 thrift store purchase. She looks pretty dirty, but she lit up when I plugged her in, and her buttons worked, so I took a chance.
Here she is after some elbow grease, soapy water, rags, and an old toothbrush. Now she looks brand new!
I’m writing these posts to encourage people to cook from scratch. Cooking at home will save you money, and it is much more economical to cook from scratch than to buy pre-made, highly processed foods. I taught my kids how to cook, and they make food and portion it into containers for easy meals during the week.
If you can’t stand leftovers, freeze your remaining food into meal-size portions to defrost for future use. Lastly, the more you cook, the easier it gets, so don’t be discouraged if your first attempts seem like too much effort.
