This is an updated recipe for what my 8 year old fondly calls Miracle Soup. The change here is my new electric pressure cooker.  It is a six in one appliance.  If you have read past post, then you know that I have been using my rice cooker for all sorts of cooking.  Now my pressure cooker takes the place and does the job all the better.  Plus it is much quicker!  My cooker is this one:

It is called “Instant Pot”

Miracle Soup

• 8 cups of water
• 2-3 chicken breast (cut into bite size pieces)
• 1 large carrot (about one cup)
• 1 cup slivered cabbage
• 2 sticks of celery cut into small pieces
• 1 small onion (slivered or rough chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 teaspoons of cilantro
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Just throw everything together in the pressure cooker.  Close the lid and choose the soup setting. Once the pressure cooker beeps, carefully release the steam and enjoy!!! It tastes like it has simmered for a couple hours.

We love this soup and it is so forgiving.  You could add dried white beans, leave out some veggies and add others.  The picture shows it when I added parsnips.  Hope you enjoy during this cold and flu time!

I have finished my first freezer cooking adventure and loved it!!!!  I used the “Big Book of Freezer Cooking” along with a trial of their software (found on their website) to do the planning. Honestly, it was very easy.  The book is easy to read. Each recipe has it’s own page with a chart so that you can easily multiply the recipe.  Plus since it was developed for freezer cooking it is a great way to learn.  I would highly recommend this book.  The software made the list making so easy.  Simply select your recipes and print! Again, excellent for a first-timer.

So on Wednesday I took my list and went to two grocery stores. First to Aldi, filling the cart with anything on my list that can be found there plus some other basics.  Then to Walmart to finish the list.  Following are the dishes that I made:

• Traditional Egg Rolls
• Breakfast Burritos
• Swiss Steak
• Wet Tacos (Double Recipe)
• Oven Crisp Chicken Tenders
• Smokey Boneless Ribs (Double Recipe)
• Freezer Slaw
• Pinto Beans in Crockpot

Thursday morning, I dressed in my workout pants and tennis shoes for comfort then added an apron.  I was filled with a little trepidation even though I love to cook.  Next I took the list of ingredients and took out everything that was not highly perishable.  Moved my food processor to the island and started the shredded, slicing, dicing and chopping.

After that, I just stopped.  I had no idea what I should do next.  So I decided that picking something that I could easily finish and check off would be the best route.  So I began with the Swiss steak.  It truly was a simple recipe and it worked out great.  Next, I did the Chicken Tenders since I was already breading.

At this point, I was getting excited. Being in the kitchen with everything all laid out really makes cooking fun. Plus I was starting to see my progress.  The rest of the way was quiet simple but a tiring.  I just went through each recipe one at a time until complete.

Things I learned

• Since this was my first time, I wanted to stock my freezer with variety. However, using  just one or two meats would make it much easier.  I had to wash carefully to prevent cross contamination.  Plus it really separated each recipe making more work.
• Plan based on sales. Next time I will definitely plan based on sales.  I am wanting to switch to pasture fed meats but meanwhile a lot of money could be saved with looking at meat sales first.
• While I loved how easy it was to print out from the software, I would make my own list next time. First of all, I would better know ahead of time what I needed to do. Second, there were a few measurements incorrect or items left off. These were not a big deal and all things on hand. Just in the fatigue of the day I had to be careful. There are forms that you can copy from the book or print out on their website.
• For the wet tacos, I forgot I was doubling it when making the sauces. Yikes! So I need extra notes or post-its reminding myself of that.
• Extra Freezer. I have not purchased an extra freezer yet and mine is stuffed.  It was getting harder and harder to flash freeze as the day went on. Room in the freezer was top dollar real estate.
• Be careful of teenagers! My son was homeschooling at the kitchen table. You could tell that each new dish was making it harder for him to keep his hands away. But truly he was a huge help in washing some dishes and final clean-up.

This stack is a small portion of the fruit of labor from yesterday.  I didn’t want to take it all out of the freezer and is the only way I could get a picture of all of it.  All the dishes look yummy and were simple to make. Nothing too hard for sure.  We tasted the egg rolls and they were very good! Cannot wait to taste the rest and yet I kinda don’t want to take it from the freezer (LOL).

I also cannot wait for the next round!!! It truly was fun.

PS – DON’T FORGET TO REGISTER FOR THE COOKBOOK GIVEAWAY! IF YOU WANT TO TRY FREEZER COOKING OR ALREADY DO THEN YOU WANT THIS BOOK!!!

One of the things I have learned in recent years is that I must prepare ahead.  This saves time later but also saves lots of money.  Today, I cut up six sweet peppers to freeze.  Three of these were from Aldi. They have produce at really good prices and I have been very pleased with the quality.  The others were from a produce coop (Noisy Rabbit) that we are part of.  I date them and then place them flat in the freezer.  When I need sweet peppers, I just reach in the bag and take out what I need.  There are times when I need peppers that the price is just too high. This helps me always have them available.

I also do this with meat.  I buy our ground beef at Sam’s Club.  They have huge tubes of meat that are around $25.  It is better quality than what I usually find at the grocery store.  I would love to take the leap to pasture feed beef but meanwhile this seems best.  Once I get it home, I go ahead and divide it into quart freezer bags.  Sometimes I patty some and sometimes I brown some before freezing.  It saves money and keeps me from needing to buy at current price.

For chicken breast, I also buy the big packs and separate it. Once home, I put them in the rice cooker with celery, onion, carrots, salt and pepper. Put it on the brown rice setting. It goes through one cycle and I let it partially cool (learned this from Martha Stewart) before taking it out. It comes out so tender.  Cut it into bite size pieces and put it into quart freezer bags. Soups, pastas, casseroles, etc are no problem and quick to make.  I love knowing cooked chicken is in the freezer and hate the feeling it I run out.

Hope these tips help you!

Chloe has beautiful handwriting. Yes, I know bad posture for writing. She loves doing school and most of it she doesn’t even consider work.  So I let her do school where she likes and thus she spends lots of extra time doing school out of enjoyment.

Today though was a beautiful lesson for both of us.  She looked up and said that when she needed to improved on some part of handwriting she just focused on the letter until she knew it. Then she could write it just like the example. WOW!

I thought that is like our relationship with God.  In order to be more like Jesus, we need to focus on Him. Then amazingly He begins to transform us to the person He desires.  We do the focusing and He does the rest of the work! Praise God for the sweet words of a child.