Pressure Cooker Country Ribs

I found a 3 quart pressure cooker on sale and just cooked my first ever meal in it.  I opened the box, read all the material, handled all the parts, and put it together.  It sat on the counter for a week and I walked past, eyeing it warily.  I was afraid!  I remembered momma's pressure cooker, sounding like an angry rattle snake, ready to explode on the stove top!

A busy day, and we weren't home until 7:30, and so I made the move!  I can't believe dinner was ready so fast!  After I browned and drained the meat, I added the liquid and popped the top on.  Steam puffed out of a little hole on a handle until enough pressure popped up a safety valve.  This doesn't allow the lid to come off until inside has settled back to a non-pressurized level.  Cool!  I feel safer already!  The new pressure cooker sat on the glass-top stove, cherrfully puffing steam from the valve on top with a wfff-wfff-wffft every five or six seconds.  No rattling in this modern pressure cooker!

I made boneless, country style pork ribs.  Here's' the recipe I found online, which I doubled.  It fit perfectly in the 3 quart pot, coming exactly to the "maximum fill" line.  Besides doubling the liquids, the only change up I did was, I added 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke.  It smelled fantastic!

I can't believe the pressure cooker time was only 15 minutes.  I let it go for 22 because I doubled the recipe.  It took about five minutes to pressure up and 10 minutes to depressurize. Served with yellow rice, green beans, and pickled beets, it was a good hurried meal, very tender and delicious!  David and Mark had seconds!

Raw Cow's Milk

A local middle school teacher named Ann has a small Apopka farm and sells free-range eggs and raw cow's milk. My 23 year old milk drinking maniac son and I drove over to see what's what and we were pleased to walk out into the pasture to meet Clover, and Paris - who is ready to calf at any moment. Paris is not being milked so near to delivery. We got to watch Clover being milked (with a machine) and she produced 4.5 gallons of Jersey Juice. These two Jerseys are sweet pets that will live out their lives on the farm, even after they are no longer productive.

Most people who drink raw milk are "foodies" and are particular about what the cows get to eat, where the live and how much "cow time" they get. Ann's Jerseys eat a soy free diet of grain and grass and free choice hay. Florida's soil is worthless for sustaining a milk cow; we don't have real soil, it's sand, and dairy cows would starve to death on just Florida grass. Ann has a friend who is allergic to soy and could not drink any milk (grocery or otherwise) until Ann found a soy free cow food, because soy is one of those things that does pass through the cow and end up in milk.

Ann also has a small herd of about a dozen Dexters, small black cows, and she has one butchered occasionally, which I am curious to try out. She names the Dexters too, but they have "reality names" like T-Bone, Burger, and Stew. Ann has a variety of chickens that scratch what they want, wander in the fields, and enjoy the sunshine. When she gets a bully rooster, he becomes dinner, as it should be. She sells big brown eggs with strong healthy shells.

I just drank a glass of delicious custard yellow milk. It tastes similar to Gustafson's Farm milk from the store, but it is creamier than whole milk. The cream seperates, so you have to give it a shake before pouring. I can use a turkey baster and take some of the top cream for my coffee.

BBQ

Barbequed chicken breasts, cooked in the oven, then coated with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.
Yukon gold potatoes, sliced and tossed with sea salt, rosemary, pepper, and olive oil, then oven baked in oven until wonderful and done.
Romaine salad with balsamic dressing.
Strawberry cake, white icing, and fresh sliced strawberries
Raw unprocessed cow's milk.

Heart Attack Chicken

HEART ATTACK CHICKEN

1 pkg. Good Season Italian or Ranch Dressing Mix (dry)
1 stick butter
3-4 chicken breast, raw, cubed
(I use an entire bag of flash-frozen tenderloin strips, no cutting)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup (undiluted) - tonight I used Cream of Celery
8 oz. block cream cheese (just use the whole block!)

• Combine dressing, butter and chicken in pot.
• Start boiling separate pot of salted water to cook noodles.
• Once chicken is nearly cooked, add soup and cream cheese, mixing well.
• Cook on low until all ingredients are heated.
• Serve over drained noodles.
• Get fancy! Add fresh sliced mushrooms halfway through the chicken cooking time. Add a jar of drained artichoke hearts, canned mushrooms, fresh sliced asparagus, or a handful of frozen peas just before serving.  To night's meal included several shakes of speecy-spicy red pepper powder and a half-jar of pimentos.

Substitute soup with any “cream of”. I’m fond of celery too. Cream of mushroom is good, but adds a dark cast to the meal.  Cook time: ½ hour

I named this Heart Attack Chicken because it has some high fat ingredients that could cause a heart attack, plus everybody that tastes this has a virtual happy heart attack because of the flavor.  Serve with a good romaine salad with the same dressing (mixed) that you used in the chicken dish.