What are you been cooking today

[judydawn]

You've all been so busy.  I made Maddy's Vegetable soup with bacon & pasta for lunch & have prepared everything for fried rice and stir fry vegies and have a pork fillet marinating for tea.

[Katiej]

After all the talk about pressure cookers, I've dusted off mine today and made the filling for JulieO's curried beef pie (for tomorrow nights dinner) and lamb shank and pasta soup. 

I love the smell of cooking in winter 

[judydawn]

Is that the first time you've used it Katie?  I agree about the lovely smells that come out of the kitchen during winter, it is by far my favourite season for cooking scrumptious things.

[Katiej]

No, it's not the first time I've used it Judy.  I've used my electric Tefal pressure cooker quite a few times.  One of Richard's favourite meals is pulled pork which I make in the pressure cooker.  I probably don't use it as much as I could though.

I still haven't used the stove-top pressure cooker that I bought a couple of years ago.  I ordered it from Peters of Kensington and it cost quite a bit, but when it arrived I realised I was too scared to use it (silly I know).  That's when I bought the electric one - it seemed easier to use.  It's sitting here, shiny and new  oops

[bickie]

The pressure cooker talk also inspired me, and so I made the ribs Julie posted last week. Delicious! Will always do my ribs in pressure cooker from now on.

[achookwoman]

H,  leave the egg whites on the bench over night   They should whip up  then.

Making Cauliflower soup, EDC recipe but with a few changes.  Added onion,  garlic and a potato.
Loaf of bread, baked in Bread machine.  Basic no fuss recipe but using up odd bits of flour.  Bread machine is in laundry and it is very cold so I heated up a wheat bag in the microwave and popped it in the machine to warm it up a bit.  Was snowing for a few hours yesterday.

[snappy]

Katie, I've been looking at the stove top cookers at Peters!  I have run out of power points in the kitchen so I thought it might be better for me than an electric one (which I would have to unplug e TMX or coffee machine to use).  So I'm interested in your opinion before I go buying one if they really are that much more complicated to use than the electric ones?

[Katiej]

Snappy I'm sure the stove top ones are not at all complicated. I'm probably not the right person to ask, as I have never used it. When I got it I was scared to use it and just stuck it in the cupboard and forgot about it.

Then I bought an electric one & was more comfortable with it. You just set it & it does the rest.

I think JulieO & Emerald Sue (& probably others) use stovetop pressure cookers, they can probably offer better advise than me.

[EmeraldSue]

Snappy,
I have an 8.5L Scanpan stove top pressure cooker. It has a larger capacity than the electric ones and will last a lot longer too. Previously, I was using my mother's 1975 Seb pressure cooker, but My new one is much easier to use. The bottom is just a regular pot - the difference is in the lid. You just have to put the lid on and twist it until it clicks. You then slide a knob to lock it whilst it pressurises as you heat the pot on the stovetop. It has a little plug that jiggles until it comes to pressure, and then it pops up. You then reduce the heat until only a little steam escapes and put your timer on. Easy Peasy.
Other pressure cookers work slightly differently and some are easier to use than others and prices vary greatly too. Mine was on special at General Trader and worked out about the same price as the New Wave 5in 1. Pressure cookers today have lots of safety devices and are really safe. In fact, the first one I bought was faulty and wouldn't come to pressure as the safety valve kept taking over. I had it replaced with no problems and my new one works well.
You may have noticed from my previous posts that I looove my PC and use it often. In fact it lives on my stove top in winter as I use it so often. There really is nothing scary about it at all.

[EmeraldSue]

Ooh, and thanks foe the powdered milk tips. I love condensed milk.

[snappy]

Thanks ES.  I really appreciate your review.  Makes feel better about considering a stovetop one, even though everyone is raving about the 5 in 1

[Amy :-)]

11pm and I have finally finished the cleaning up from my bake-fest

I have ended up with:
56 M&M Choc Chip Biscuits (I think these will definitely sell well)
35 Caramel Chip Biscuits (These came out lovely and brown)
28 Fudgy Walnut Browines (I freaked out about these because I didn't take into account the amount of oil in the walnuts, so I had to drain them on paper towel to get all the excess oil off them. Unfortunately one tray didn't make it, which is why there aren't as many of these as there are other things )
44 Triple Choc Brownies (These turned out really good too)
45 Double Choc Biscuits (These were a impulse bake. I had lots of flour, sugar, cocoa and choc chips leftover from my baking stock-up shop, so I figured I might as well make something else. No photo of them individually, but you can see them in the photo in my next post)

Even after all this I still have lots of flour, cocoa, sugar and chocolate chips left, so I'll need to find another excuse for some bulk baking...

I've also put a lentil, barley and vegetable soup in the slow cooker to simmer overnight.

[Amy :-)]

And here is a photo of everything packed up and ready for tomorrow's fundraiser

[Cornish Cream]

And here is a photo of everything packed up and ready for tomorrow's fundraiser

Magnificent job Amy.You're going to make loads of money with those delicious goodies.Have a great time

[dede]

Well done Amy, what a great effort. I'm sure you will sell them without to much effort at all. They look great.