Sunday, June 24, 2012

Bread Maker Mania

Happy summer!  I am happy to announce I have entered the wonderful, satisfying world of bread making.  After reading many reviews, I decided to purchase a Zojirushi bread machine.  It is top quality.  I am in love!  The first day that I took the machine out of the box I was able to make a great loaf of bread.  It's so easy.     

I have made five loaves of bread and one batch of pita breads in the last week.  I used recipes from the book that came with the bread maker.  Then, I also purchased a cookbook, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger.  The breads I've made from this cookbook have come out much better than the recipes that came with the machine.  I highly recommend. 





Saturday, June 9, 2012

Rice in the Pressure Cooker

Spring is here, school is almost out, and I'm gearing up for another fun summer filled with cooking and blogging. 

I plan on sharing some of my experiences with my pressure cooker. I love, love, love it.  If you're on the fence about buying one, do not hesitate.  Here's the one that I bought from Amazon: 




In order to cook rice, I also needed to buy a small stainless steel bowl so that I could steam in my pressure cooker.  I bought a set of three stacking Martha Stewart stainless steel bowls at Macy's.  The middle bowl is 3-quarts and it fits perfectly. 

I love to make Steamed Rice in my pressure cooker.  I adapted it from Miss Vickie's book which I highly recommend.



Measure one cup of long grain rice into a small stainless steel bowl.  Rinse it several times, then drain.  Put 1 1/2 cups of fresh water in the rice, along with a little salt and a tablesoon of butter.  Put one cup of water in the bottom of the pressure cooker.  Put the rice (that is already in a small bowl) on the trivet on top of the water.  Bring up to pressure.  I move to the lower temperature burner, and start timing for 8 minutes.  Let it come down to pressure naturally.  You will get perfectly steamed rice every time.  So delicious and so quick.