What we like to serve for dinner on Co-op Cooking Day!

By the time we get home and put all of our newly assembled meals in the freezer, we want to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible for the rest of the day!  This is a quick, nourishing and tasty solution.

At the end of our cooking session:
Cut up 2-4 raw chicken breasts per family of six
Scrub 5 pound bag of new potatoes by running them through the dishwasher rinse cycle
Quarter the clean potatoes, and distribute among the batches.
Wash fresh green beans, as many as you desire (fresh or canned-- any green veggie would work).
Arrange in disposible foil baking pans.
Sprinkle each batch with a packet of Italian dressing mix and then top with a melted stick of butter. Cover with foil and send home raw for tonight's dinner.

At home, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Pressure Cooker recipes from Chef Brad

We are adapting our favorite Chef Brad’s recipes by preparing them in advance as frozen crock-pops.  The ingredients are assembled and frozen in containers that can removed just before cooking.  In this case, we are speeding things up by popping the frozen food into the pressure cooker rather than a crock pot.  It would be confusing to call them pressure-pops, so we’ll continue referring to them as crock-pops.  The amount of extra time required in the pressure cooker because the food begins cooking in a frozen state remains to be determined.  We'll let you know after we test these.

Millet Rigatoni

This recipe is a family favorite at Chef Brad's home. So easy and so tasty. This must be done in an electric pressure cooker.  The electric pressure cooker is amazing for this meal.

Ingredients

16 oz Sweet ground Italian Sausage

½ cup Millet, uncooked

26 oz pasta sauce, garlic and herb

28 oz Crushed tomatoes, or Whole tomatoes crushed with hand

12 oz can roasted red peppers, chopped

2 T. Italian seasoning

1 lb. dry rigatoni

Salt and pepper
2 cups water (if using crock pop, add water to the pressure cooker)

Directions

Turn on an electric pressure cooker to high heat. Let it begin the heat up. Add the sausage with a little olive oil. Using a flat spoon, break up the meat in the cooker to let it begin to brown. Add the millet into the sausage. When it is about half way brown, you can begin to add all the other ingredients. Once the ingredients are all in the cooker, add a can full of water (using the pasta sauce can). Add more water if needs be till the water line is right above the pasta. Place on the lid, and cook for six minutes on high pressure. Let pressure come down naturally and open and top with cheese and close until cheese melts.

Crock Pop Directions:  unmold frozen crock pop, add 2 cups water to the pressure cooker,  and change the processing time to 16 minutes on high, letting the pressure come down naturally.

Chicken Thigh Stew

This soup is soul food. So tasty, you will want to make sure you have leftovers. Chef Brad serves this stew on or over pressure cooked Yukon Gold potatoes.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

This recipe is Gluten Free

Ingredients

10 skinless chicken thighs

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

Fresh rosemary, parsley, and marjoram, chopped

1 large can fire roasted tomatoes

1/2 cup brown rice

Salt and pepper to taste

Corn starch or Ultra gel for thickening (try 2 tablespoons CS in a little water)

6 ½ cups water (If using crock-pop add water to the pressure cooker)

Directions

In pressure cooker, sauté onions, garlic, celery, and carrots in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add some of the water and sauté for 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and place lid on pressure cooker and cook for 12 minutes. Remove lid and thicken with Ultra gel or corn starch. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over cooked potatoes.

Pop crock direction:  add 6 1/2 cups water to pressure cooker.  Change processing time in the pressure cooker to 22 minutes.  Quick release and thicken sauce with corn starch or ultra gel (see instructions above).

Lemon Chicken

This is a wonderful new twist on a old favorite recipe of Chef Brad's that he called Lemon Chicken Louise, after his wife. He has updated it using whole grains and the result is amazing.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 to 20 minutes

Total Completion Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, skin off

2 cups fresh ground whole grain flour, I like a mixture of spelt, barley, and brown rice.

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 lemons, juice and zest

Peanut oil

Salt and pepper

Fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

In sauté pan with peanut oil, brown meat that has been dredged in the whole grain flour mixture with salt and pepper. After browned, set aside. In pressure cooker sauté onions and garlic in small amount of oil. Place browned chicken on top of tender onions and garlic and add can of soup with lemon juice and zest. Pressure on high for 15 minutes. Remove chicken from sauce and add more water if needed, pour sauce over chicken, garnish with fresh parsley and serve with brown rice or mashed potatoes.

Crock Pop instructions:  Add 1 cup water.  Process on high for 25 minutes.  Let pressure release naturally. 

Chicken Rolls

The five "fat" Whiting sisters, our cousins, Joyce, Glenna, Myrna, Debra, and Terry, picked the title of their cookbook, The Fat Sisters Cookbook  to honor their mother, Aleen, who told them, "Never trust a skinny cook."  Their chicken rolls recipe is so popular, some of their family can eat a dozen at a sitting.  We share an adaptation of their recipe here, as we are substituting ritz crackers for the seasoned croutons, and we are leaving out the sage and nuts that they mix into the crushed coutons.

Chicken Rolls
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 can refrigerator crescent rolls
1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers
3 tablespoons butter, melted

For the filling, mix cream cheese and butter well.  Then stir in chicken.  Separate crescent rolls into eight triangular pieces.  Spread each with about 1/4 cup chicken mixture.  Roll up and tuck sides of dough under to make a ball.  Pinch the dough to seal edges.

Run Ritz crackers though food processor to form crumbs.  Dip each roll in the melted butter and then in the crumbs.  Place on cookie sheet and bake 15 to 20 minutes at 375 degrees.  Serve with gravy on top.  Can be frozen (before or after baking) and reheated.

Gravy options:  Used canned cream of chicken soup thinned with 1/3 cup of water or milk.

Tip:  Costco deli chicken works well in this.

Fat Sister's original crumb mixture:
1/2 cup seasoned croutons, crushed
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sage