Pressure Cooker Soft Chicken Tacos

I've been doing more cooking lately, but haven't been blogging about it.  I will try and get things down on paper . . . so to speak . . . more often.  Recently I did a Root Beer BBQ sauce that came out great and last night I did chicken thighs in the pressure cooker and everyone loved them.

Ingredients:

• Chicken Thighs (about 2lbs):  I used skinless and boneless thighs, but you can use bone-in.  I do recommend removing the skin, it's kinda nasty in the pressure cooker.
• Canned Tomatoes (1 14.5 oz can of crushed or diced)
• Onion (1 chopped)
• Garlic (3 cloves, minced)
• Chicken Stock (1/2 cup)
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Serve with:

• Tortillas (I like soft, taco size)
• Lettuce (about 2 cups shredded)
• Tomatoes (2 fresh, diced)
• Onion (1 diced)
• Shredded Cheese
• Salsa

Steps:

1. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs liberally.
2. Heat some olive oil in your pressure cooker, medium heat
3. Add the chopped onion, saute until softened
4. Add the minced garlic, saute for about 30 seconds
5. Add chicken stock and de-glaze the pan
6. Add the chicken and canned tomatoes
7. Seal the lid and let the pressure rise to it's limit
8. Cook for 10 minutes under pressure and then turn off the heat
9. Let the pressure release naturally.  It will take 10-15 minutes.
10. Once the pressure is gone, remove the lid and take the chicken out with a slotted spoon
11. Shred the chicken between two forks and return to the cooking liquid to stay warm and juicy.
12. Once the rest of the meal is ready, spoon the chicken into a serving dish, it's OK to have some of the cooked onion and tomatoes as well.

Should make enough for 12-15 tacos, depending on how loaded you like them.  Serve with the condiments of your choice.  I like keeping it simple with lettuce, fresh onion and tomato, salsa, cheese, and sour cream.  But whatever you like will work!

Changes
This isn't a very spicy dish because a couple of family members can't handle spice.  There are plenty of alternatives:

• Season the chicken with Chile Powder or Cumin, in addition to salt and pepper
• Use Salsa instead of canned tomatoes for the cooking medium.  You should be able to eliminate the onions and garlic if you use salsa instead.
• Use Beer or Apple Juice instead of Chicken Stock
• I do recommend Chick Thighs over Chicken Breasts, I have had very little luck with breasts in the pressure cooker.  They get surprisingly rubbery and dry.

Blood Sugar and Oatmeal Choco-chip cookies

OK, it's been 2 months since my last post.  My blood sugar reading has been pretty stable, today was 104, 7 day average 102 and 30 day average 101.  I had one low reading, low as in way off the norm, of 90.  I took it twice to make sure I didn't mess anything up.  But I think it was because I had a very busy day, very physically busy, and really ate light, including very few carbs, much lower than normal.

I also had two high reading, 126 and 128 about a week apart.  Both of those readings were after eating out.  I think I need to work on making better choices whenever I eat out, but to be honest, i don't like eating salads in most places.  I don't mind a side-salad instead of fries or potatoes, but most of the larger, meal-sized, salads are nearly as bad as most of the rest of the menu.

To help deal with that, I've downloaded a bunch of restaurant menu nutritional information PDF's to my phone and PC. This way I can plan what's better on their menu than take guesses.  Hopefully that will help.

As for cooking, so far I have been keeping things pretty basic.  Grilling meats as opposed to other preparations, lots of greens and salads, and for snacking I've been making batches of oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies that contain about 10-12 carbs each.  So two cookies for a mid-afternoon snack satisfy a little sweet-tooth and don't do much in elevating my blood sugar.  I evaluated a number of recipes and settles on one with minimal white flour and use walnuts and Spenda Brown Sugar blend instead of straight-up brown sugar.  I've estimated the carb count based on several recipes and the best part . . . the whole family likes them, so I make them in large batches and they usually last most of a week.

Ingredients:

• 1 Stick of Crisco Butter Flavor shortening (16 Tbs)
• 4 Tbs of unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Cup and 2 Tbs of Spenda Brown Sugar Blend
• 3 whole eggs
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 1 Cup Unbleached White flour
• 1 Cup Whole Wheat flour
• 4.5 cups of Old-Fashioned Oatmeal
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 2.25 tsp baking soda

Recipe:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
2. I melt the butter while beating the shortening on low.  Once it's melted I add it to the bowl of the mixer to combine.
3. Then I add the brown sugar blend and beat on medium until well blended.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla.  Beat on medium until well combined.  I have tried to beat until light and fluffy, incorporating more air, but I haven't seen it make much of a difference.
5. While the liquid ingredients are beating, I combine the oatmeal, white and wheat flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl and mix well.
6. Once the liquid ingredients are ready, I incorporate the dry with the liquid about a quarter cup at a time, on low.  It comes together as a very dry mixture and I usually have to switch to my dough hook to mix.  
7. Once done, I toss in 1.75 cups of chopped walnuts and 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Be careful here, the mixer will be working very hard!  You might need to push the mixture back down to get it well mixed.
8. I prep two cookie sheets with parchment.
9. Using a tablespoon scoop, I scoop up a level tablespoon and place on the cookie sheet about 1.5 inches apart.  I get 25 per sheet.  The cookies don't spread a lot.  If you are after more of a flat cookie, up the butter content.
10. Bake one cookie sheet at a time, 7 minutes, then rotate and cook another 7 minutes.  When I pull one out, I put in the next right away.
11. Once out, I pull the whole parchment sheet off onto a cooling rack so they don't keep cooking on the hot sheet.  
12. After rotating, I prep the next sheet.

I get about 125 cookies.  Once cool, I bag them up in two gallon-sized zip lock bags.  Like I said they last between 5 and six days around my house.  Because of my blood sugar, I limit myself to 6 a day, two about 10 AM, two about 3 PM, and if I get munchie after dinner, two more.  So far. so good!

Changes are needed!

Hey everyone,

No, I haven't been doing much original cooking and that needs to change.  A couple of months ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, so I have had to change my diet  . . . at the moment I am 35 lbs lighter and my blood sugar seems to be under control.  But I do feel pretty bored with a lo-carb diet so it's time to start cooking again and try and work on diabetic friendly recipes.

Am I surprised by the diagnosis?  Not overly shocked.  Diabetes does run in the family, including my grandmother and my daughter.  I've also been eating-out way too much and certainly been enjoying baked goods an awful lot.  So with a prescription for MetFormin and a few classes on dealing with Type 2 diabetes, I've been seriously watching what I eat . . . and to tell you the truth, I am bored!  There are hundreds of diabetic cookbooks and many of the recipes I have tried might please my doc, they do little for me . . . well other than in the blood sugar area.  I will be continuing my journey and looking for lo-carb, high taste, and interesting food.

Seriously, this isn't like a diet to lose a few pounds that you cheat on.  Cheating on diabetes is really life-threatening, and you can see the results every time you check your blood sugar. So no one else might end up reading my blog, but I do plan on writing more and more and focusing on my life with diabetes.  Every post will include my latest sugar result in three ways, that day's reading, my 7 day average, and my 30 day average.  For today I was 126, 102, 103.  Yes, I know today was a bit high, and I am pretty sure I can blame yesterday's mistakes with my diet.  I think that's how I realized how bored I was getting with my current diet and one of the reasons to start jazzing things up! 

So here goes a new chapter in my life and in my blog.  Anyone who wants to offer feedback and recipes, please do!  Who knows, I might actually learn something :-)

Chili Verde (2)

I know I haven't been posting, in reality I haven't been doing much original cooking.  It's been a busy year in a number of ways.  However, my office decided to have a carry in over several days so I decided to do a Chili Verde.  Now I have a recipe for one that I like and has been well received in the past, but I couldn't get my favorite Chili Verde ingredient, Tomatillos.  Instead of being in the dumps over it, I decided to do a little experimenting and take a new approach.  In addition it got me posting again here :-)

So the ingredients:

• 10 Anaheim Chiles
• 3-4 lbs of Pork Shoulder
• 2 Onions
• 6 Garlic cloves 
• 2 Tbs cumin seeds
• 1 Tbs white pepper
• 4 cups of Chicken Broth

I know,  a pretty light ingredient list, but I was really figuring this as a good starter and something to build on.  Once I was tasted the end result, I won't be doing much different the next time.

OK, now on to the cooking:

• Roast the chiles on a gas flame, charring the skin.  Place the chiles in a plastic bag or a tightly covered bowl and allow to steam for about 10 minutes.  Once steamed, the skin pretty well peels right off.  So peel and seed the chiles.  Rough chop and set aside.  Note, you can used canned green chiles, but they cannot compare in flavor to roasted fresh chiles!
• While the chiles are steaming, place the cumin seeds in a dry frying pan and roast for a couple pf minutes.  As soon as you can smell them, get them off the heat and out of the pan.  Be quick because they can burn quickly once they become fragrant.  Place in a spice grinder and reduce to a powder. 
• Trim the pork shoulder and cut the meat into 1 in cubes.  Save the bone.  Salt and pepper the meat and then brown in batches using a little olive oil.  I used a large dutch oven.  Save the meat in a bowl to also capture any juices following the browning.
• Rough chop the onions and saute in a little oil in the dutch over.  Scrape the bottom of the pan as the onions soften and release liquid.  This should take about 5 minutes or so.  I am not after browning as much as I am softening. 
• Finely chop the garlic and add to the onion.  
• Then add the cumin and white pepper.  Stir for about 30 seconds until the garlic is fragrant.
• Add in the roasted chiles.
• Add enough chicken broth to deglaze the pan, then add the rest of the broth.
• Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for about an hour.  The meat should be right at the stage of falling apart!
• If it seems fatty, you can scoop the solids out with a spider and run the broth through a gravy separator.  If it seems thin, you can crank up the heat and reduce it a bit.  Your own experience will tell more than I can at this point.  

It worked well.  If it seems thin and maybe more like a soup, it goes well over rice.  I usually thicken the broth a bit through cooking rather than any thickening agents.  I like it plain!  It's not very spicy hot, which is OK once in a while.  I think I might experiment with some mixed green chiles.  But as a simple straight forward recipe., it worked surprisingly well.

Grilled Tri-Tip

Tri-tip is a great cut of beef.  It's not too expensive, and loaded with flavor.  I've fixed it a number of ways, including grilling using the direct heat method (right over the coals).  I've roasted it, braised it, cooked it in a pressure cooker.  Yesterday I grilled using the indirect method and it worked great!

Basic method is simple.  I coated it in a rub and let it sit for several hours in the fridge.  Then indirectly cooked it for about an hour with some hickory wood.  After the hour I hit it with a few things to help keep it moist and wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil and kept it in the grill for 2 hour hours.  It was terrific.

First up the rub, equal parts kosher salt, white pepper, onion powder, paprika, and brown sugar.  I used about 2 Tbs each.  Then rubbed a 2-3 lb tri-tip on all sides and wrapped tight in plastic wrap and relegated it to the fridge. 

About 4 hours before dinner, I put the meat on the counter to warm up nearer to room temp, then I set up the grill.  I use a large kettle grill, charcoal.  I started about a chimney full, about 2.5 scoops with my cut-down gallon milk jug.  I let them get well started and then split the in half to each side of the grill.  I added an aluminum pan inbetween the two piles, added a couple of pieces of hickory chunks that had been soaking in water for about an hour.  I make sure I have two smaller pieces well soaked, smaller because they slip into openings in my grill grate easily.  Then I put on the grate, let it get hot and brush it and coat with some vegetable oil.  Then I position a thermometer probe to read the temp right in the middle of the grill, just below where the food will be placed.  I half close the lower air vents and almost completely close the upper.  I am after 225-240F, no hotter or you will dry out the meat.

I put on the cover and let it get nice and smokey while watching the temp.  At the point the meat is still on the counter.  Once I am sure the grill isn't getting too hot, I put it on the meat, fat side up, right over the aluminum pan and close it quickly.  For the first half hour, I watch the temp very carefully, keeping it no higher than 240 using the upper air vents for control.  It's not a fine-tuned as a good smoker, but I don't smoke meats that often to need one.  As long as you are careful, a kettle grill works fine.

After a half hour I take the the cover off and check out the coals and the wood.  I usually have to add the reserve pieces of wood and maybe a couple of briquettes.  I also brush the surface of the meat with a little apple juice.  I like the slight carmelization you get from the sugar in the juice.  It also helps I try not to add too much charcoal because the fire can get too hot to quickly.  If that happens, I close the bottom air vents further and keep trying to regulate using the upper vents.

A couple of interesting things.  I never turn the meat.  We are cooking using the indirect method, not searing, so turning the meat isn't needed.  Plus if you put the fat layer on the bottom, it will just melt off and not tenderize and flavor the meat.

OK, after the first hour the meat has absorbed all the smoke you need.  So get a large piece of aluminum foil.  I like the heavy duty, wider than normal sheets.  Overlapping smaller sheets tends to leak.  OK, I lay it out between a couple of hot pads, this way I can create depression for the meat.  I pull it off the grill and hit it with a couple of pats of unsalted butter, about a quarter cup of brown sugar, and a quarter cup of apple juice.  Seal it up very tight and put it back on the grill.  The additional ingredients are what help keep it very moist.  In all honesty the first time I did this recipe, I did overcook it a bit, but it was still nice and juicy.

Every half hour I check the coals and keep it going, adding just a few briquettes at a time.  Again, you are looking for low and slow!

After 2 more hours, it would be ready.  Smoked tri-tip as tender and juicy as a good brisket.  Let it rest about 15 minutes and slice it across the grain into 1/4 inch slices. While it's resting, you can take the liquid from the foil packet and reduce it on the stove by about half and it makes a great sauce.  If you don't feel like doing that. get a large bowl, pour in some of the liquid from the foil packet and as you slice the meat, put it in the bowl. 

Chicken and Rice Salad?

I saw a recipe over on Cooking.com for a Chicken and Rice Salad, but after reading it, the ingredient list made it more of a main course -- and everyone liked it, especially keeping the lemon vinaigrette on the side.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of pine nuts (Toasted for 5-8 minutes in a dry frying pan -- make sure you keep them moving, they can go from toasting to burnt in a hurry.)
• Two lemons
• 2 lbs chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock
• 6 green onions (sliced into about 1/2 inch pieces on the bias)
• 1 cup of peas (I like using frozen peas and then just blanching them to defrost rather than cook to soft)
• 1 preparation of Basmati Rice, yes, that recipe again. What can i say, I love it!
  
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Regular Olive Oil (to brown the chicken)
• Salt
• Pepper

Recipe:

• First up, get the rice cooking according to the Basmati Rice recipe. It should be ready once the chicken is done and everything else is cut and ready to mix.
• Heat a tablespoon of regular olive oil in a saute pan (one with a lid).
• Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. You can do this with breast tenders or dark meat, but watch the cooking time. The breasts stay nice and juicy, the tenders tend to over cook quickly if you aren't careful.
• Brown the breasts on two sides, about 3 minutes per side.
• Add the stock once the breasts are browned and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• While the chicken in simmering, zest the lemon.
• Blanch the peas. Blanch for 5 minutes in boiling, salted water until they are defrosted. If they are fresh, blanch for only about 2 minutes -- tops. I am not a fan of mushy peas unless I am pureeing them.
  
• Juice two lemons
• Slice the scallions
• Turn the breasts and simmer for another 7 minutes. I look for an internal temp of 165F. Once there I kill the heat and let it rest in the cooking liquid for 5-10 minutes.
• While the chicken is resting, whisk 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil into the lemon juice to make a vinaigrette. Once you have the right consistency, add the zest. Reserve for serving.
• Remove the chicken from the cooking liquid and slice into 1/4 inch slices across the grain of the chicken.
• Put the rice in a large bowl, add the chicken, scallions, peas and pine nuts. Mix well. Serve with a side salad.

The vinaigrette can be used on the salad or the chicken and rice mix, or both. What I found was that some people liked it really light, others preferred more lemon. Using it more like a sauce gave them the option. It really came together quickly, not a bad work night meal.

You might have noticed that I mention toasting the pine nuts in the ingredient list, but never actually toast them while prepping and cooking the dish. That wasn't an oversight. When toasting nuts, I always do them alone and before I do anything else. When you are juggling three pans (rice, chicken, and the peas), slicing the scallions, zesting and juicing the lemons I have found that it's too easy to take your eyes off the nuts for even 30 seconds too long. That's how quickly they can burn, especially in a dry pan and over medium or high heat. So I always get that out of the way.

I did have one serving leftover, so I had it for dinner tonight. I wanted to taste it as a salad, the way the original recipe suggested, and it was good. My only issue was that the chicken was sliced a bit on the large side for a salad, so I did wind up heating it up for dinner. I might try it again for a summer-y salad and halve the amount of chicken as well as cut into small cubes.

One surprising success. My granddaughter has decided that she is my sous chef and even though she made a face after tasting the lemon vinaigrette, she did try it on the dish and enjoyed it! She is nearly the pickiest eater in the house. My wife liked the dish, but avoiding the lemon completely.

Pork Tenderloins (2)

I've had some success with braising pork tenderloins, but I wanted to roast them and I went looking for a way to roast them and still keep them moist. This was a knock-off on a recipe I saw Rachael Ray do a couple of years back but I never tried. I think she did hers with a pork loin roast, but I was looking for something for tenderloins, so I borrowed the approach of high heat and short cooking time. It roasted the outside well and the cook time was so short the inside didn't dry out. I tried this method, which worked very well.

Ingredients:

• 2 pork tenderloins
• 1 tbs Fennel seeds
• 1 tbs rubbed Sage
• 1/2 tbs kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper

Directions:

• Grind the fennel seeds until a coarse powder
• Add the sage, salt, and white pepper and grind until well mixed
• Trim silver skin from the tenderloins
• Pre-heat oven to 500F and position a rack in the bottom of the oven
• Dry the tenderloins and rub with the spice mixture.
• Sit in a shallow roasting pan and place in the oven
• Cook for 10 minutes, turn over and rotate the pan and cook for another 8-10 minutes
• Aim for 150F-155F, then remove from the oven, place the tenderloins on a cutting board and cover with foil for about 10 minutes. The temp should rise to about 160F-165F.
• Slice in 3/8 inch slices and serve.

I did up some sauteed onions with a couple of cloves of chopped garlic tossed in for the last 30 seconds of cooking. I used a combination of butter and olive oil and browned the onions nicely. I served this on top of the pork and it helped keep the pork slices, more like medallions nice and hot and the buttery sauce from the onions went well with the pork.

The meat was nice and moist, and I did have an afterthought, but I didn't do it (this time). I thought afterward that the brown bits in the bottom of the roaster would make a good pan sauce. Add some stock, water, or white wine and deglaze the pan over a stove top burner. Reduce the liquid down and hit it with a pat of unsalted butter right at the end or maybe add the sauteed onions -- then season to taste and serve over the pork.

It went over quite well, even my graddaughter liked it -- and she is a picky eater. It worked well. I think oiling the surface of the meat and even letting it marinate with the dry rub on it might add to the taste. Well all that is for the next time.

Update: I was re-reading this post and realized that the idea of oiling the tenderloin is a bad idea. Oil + 500F = smoke! Since my objective is moisture, I think I will brine the tenderloins the next time and keep the surface dry. If anyone else has a good idea for roasting tenderloins and keeping them moist and tender, please pass it on. I was able to cut it with a fork, so this method was good, but I am always looking for more.