pressure cooker

Just thought I'd pass along a GREAT deal!!

Do any of you out there can or bottle food? I recently bottled chicken. I had to borrow a pressure cooker from my mother-in-law and also my husbands aunt(had A LOT to can). Anyway, it was SO easy and now we are enjoying the chicken. It is so nice to pull a jar from the pantry and add it to soups, salads, sandwiches....etc.

Anyway, I just thought I'd tell you all about the great deal that I got recently on an All-American 30-quart pressure cooker/canner. I bought it from amazon.com for $239.00 including tax and shipping. From what I have read and been told, this is one of the best brands of pressure cookers. I WISH I had the means ($$) to purchase one of these for a give-away(wouldn't that be fun?!), but I don't. If you do a lot of canning and are interested in buying a great pressure cooker, check it out. You can can 19 pints or 14 quarts at a time.

I can't wait to try out this recipe for canned stew. I'll be trying it in the next week or two and let you know how it goes.

I will be sharing a recipe for alfredo sauce and some YUMMY garlic butter shrimp soon(possibly tomorrow...so stay tuned.

Salsa / Pico

I made this salsa/pico to go with the shredded beef taquitos that I made the other night. I wanted to make some pico, but didn't want to hand chop the veggies.....so I made a salsa pico combo.

Salsa/Pico

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 3 green onions, including green part
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 3-4 tomatoes (I can't remember how many I used, start with 3 and add 4 depending on how you like it)
• 1 avocado
• 1/2 t garlic salt
• 1/2 t Lawry's seasoning salt
• 1/4 t ground cumin
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper

Directions: Add cilantro to a food processor and pulse until it is chopped fine. Add green onions, lime juice, and jalapeno, pulse until chopped. Add tomatoes, avocado and spices and pulse until tomatoes and avocado are desired consistency.

Cream Cheese Chicken

I LOVE to cook in my crock pot, even though it only works on low now:( I love to make this on Sunday. I can get it started, go to church and when I get home it can finish cooking while I prepare the side dishes. Give this recipe a try, it is SO yummy!!

Cream Cheese Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cube butter or margarine
• 1 packet, Italian dressing mix (I use Good Seasons Brand)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese

Directions: Cut the chicken into cubes. Put chicken, butter, and dressing mix in the crock pot on low. Once the butter is melted, stir it together so the chicken is well coated in butter and seasoning. cook on low for 3 hours. Turn to high and heat for 30 more minutes. *Add soup and cream cheese. Heat on high for 30 more minutes.* Stir until it is smooth and creamy. The sauce is really thick, so you can also add a little water if you want to thin it out. Serve over cooked rice, potatoes, or pasta.

edited to add: *when to add cream cheese and soup.*

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Mallow Bars

I got this recipe from Kraft foods magazine. It is also on Kraftfoods.com. My family really enjoyed these. The boys picked the peanuts off of their pieces, so next time I'd make half with and half with-out the peanuts. Also...my grocery store was out of BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, so I substituted and approx. equivalent of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Mallow Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food cake mix
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 2/3 cup milk, divided
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 jar (7 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme
• 1/2 cup PLANTERS Salted Peanuts
• 6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:
HEAT oven to 350°F. Mix dry cake mix, butter and 1/3 cup milk until blended; press 2/3 onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Bake 12 to 14 min. or until center is almost set; cool 3 min. Meanwhile, mix peanut butter and remaining milk.
SPREAD peanut butter mixture onto crust; top with small spoonfuls of the marshmallow creme and remaining cake mixture. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate; press gently into cake mixture.
BAKE 18 min. or just until center is set. Cool completely before cutting into bars.