Pressure Cooker Lemon Artichoke Chicken

I do not have an Instant Pot.

Instead I have an electric Cuisinart pressure cooker, which I've had since BEFORE the Instant Pot became the rage. It's similar... it just doesn't have settings like "poultry" or "slow cooker." It sautes, warms, and can cook with high or low pressure. I love it. Probably just as much as you love your Instant Pot.

This was originally an Instant Pot recipe found on the world wide web. (link here)

I had to make a few modifications, since I didn't have the EXACT ingredients, which changed the recipe enough for me to call it mine {wink}. We LOVED it, that is why I'm quickly capturing my recipe... before I forget what I did haha.

Sorry to disappoint, but I will be sharing only my quickly snapped phone pics. I'm sure they are not the most impressive, but I'm not making money at this, so I figure you'll just have to trust me that, despite my lack of presentation, this is YUMMY!

So So Good Pressure Cooker Lemon Artichoke Chicken

3 lbs. chicken breast (I had two large Costco fresh chicken breasts, but you could easily use 3)
1 cup chicken broth (I used 1 Tbs. of Better-than-Bouillon Roasted Chicken paste + 1 cup water)
1 (33.5 oz) jar whole artichoke hearts in water (not marinated - I get mine at Sam's Club)
1 lemon, sliced

Antipasto marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 large clove fresh garlic, minced (or pressed)
Salt and pepper

1 lb. angel hair pasta (cooked according to package directions)

Put the trivet in the bottom of your pressure cooker, then add the chicken broth (or bouillon and water). Place chicken breasts on top of the trivet.

Drain the artichokes and cut into halves or quarters, then place on top of the chicken.

Add lemon slices. In a small bowl, whisk the antipasto marinade ingredients together, then pour over the top of the chicken, artichokes, and lemon. Put the lid on, set timer for high pressure for 15 minutes, then allow a natural release for 5 minutes before releasing the pressure. Once the pressure is released, remove the chicken from the pot and shred. You can also remove the lemon slices if you'd like :-)

Cook your pasta while you are waiting for the natural release - angel hair only takes 4 to 5 minutes.

Drain the pasta and place in a bowl. Toss with some of the juices from the pressure cooker. To plate, top pasta with shredded chicken, then spoon artichokes and a little juice/sauce over the top.

My two large chicken breasts easily made 4 servings, so 3 breasts would serve 6. I had left over angel hair pasta, so I think it's safe to say 1 lb. would serve 6 nicely.

This. Is. Delicious.

Trust me.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

These are so good... and so good for you!
(No, I am not a food stylist... and didn't want to waste much time snapping a pic while Bill's pancake was nice and hot)

(This particular pancake was made right after one I had sliced bananas into the batter, thus the round(ish) spots on the pancake)

WHOLE WHEAT BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3 Tbs. sugar (still yummy with only 2 Tbs.)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

1 Tbs. coconut oil, melted (can use canola)

1 large egg

1 large egg white

Cooking spray

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Combine buttermilk, coconut oil, egg, and egg white; stir with a whisk. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring just until moist.

Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet (OR A CAST IRON SKILLET) over medium heat; coat with cooking spray. Spoon batter onto griddle; turn when edges look cooked and tops are covered with bubbles. Serve with butter and syrup (AND HOMEMADE RASPBERRY JAM).

The cast iron skillet. This is a sad little misshapen pancake... probably the end of the batter in the bowl. But still so yummy!

Note: I LOVE to cut up a banana on the top of the uncooked side of a pancake just before flipping to the other side. Seriously so so good.

Best Whole Wheat Bread EVER

Note: This is another transfer over from my family blog... original post here. Circa May 2012.

I made a batch of white bread late last night, and decided that I would try a recipe for wheat bread this morning. The recipe called for DOUGH ENHANCER, and for some reason I thought I had seen it before at the grocery store... so after getting the girls off to their FINAL DAY OF SEMINARY FOR THE YEAR, I headed to Safeway... then Walmart... then King Soopers (yes, 6am). No dough enhancer. I determined to make the bread anyway. I found the recipe here a long time ago, but had never taken the opportunity to make it, most likely due to my aversion to whole wheat bread ingrained in childhood from sack lunches with sandwiches made from small, dense, dark loaves. If they were tuna sandwiches, it was even worse. My mom was determined to feed her family healthily. She would grind wheat and bake bread weekly, I'd guess. I can vaguely remember conversation about how that "store-bought" Wonder-type sandwich bread was nothing but air. No nutritious value. "Wheat for man," she'd say. I certainly see her efforts were valiant and worthy, but at the time it just felt like torture.

But thanks to such an upbringing, I have a desire to feed my family healthier, too. I BUY wheat bread, I just don't eat it (unless I have to). And I'll admit to a twinge of guilt every time I put that white bread in my shopping cart.

Back to today. I was going to make wheat bread (from wheat I ground myself last night, even), and I was going to see if Shawni's recipe really WAS "the best home-made bread." Dough enhancer or not. I could always blame a less-than-successful attempt on that anyway.

One of my loaves turned out looking a little "funny" - certainly not Bake Sale worthy (which is why I was making a lot o' homemade bread in the first place) - so I decided to cut it open and give'r a try.

Oh. My. Stars.
Light, fluffy, de-lish. I wouldn't have believed it was 100% whole wheat had I not ground the wheat myself.


BEST WHOLE WHEAT BREAD EVER

Put into a small bowl* and let sit while you mix the rest of the ingredients:
2 Tbs. yeast
1/2 cup warm water (tap hot)
1 Tbs. sugar

(*Use something bigger than a 1-cup measure - mine foamed over the top, so my bread was most likely lacking a bit of leavening)

In mixer, combine:
5 cups warm water (tap hot again)
7 cups ground whole wheat flour

Mix.

Add:
2 Tbs. salt (you could reduce amount if you are watching your salt)
2/3 cup oil
2/3 cup honey (if you put the oil in the measuring cup first, then add the honey, it will come out all slick into the mixing bowl)
2 Tbs. vital wheat gluten
2 Tbs. dough enhancer (didn't have it, didn't use it... the bread still turned out awesome.)

Mix all together.

Add one more cup of wheat flour.

Add yeast mixture, and mix again.

Gradually add 3 to 5 more cups wheat flour until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl (I used about 4-1/3 cups).

Knead for 10 minutes - either by hand or in the Bosch
(I think I've mentioned how much I love the $5 Bosch my mom found at her local DI years back and gifted to me. It isn't pretty -less so now that I've used for years - but it gets the job done. LOVE IT.)

Shape into 4 loaves of bread (I spray non-stick spray on my hands so it's not so sticky)

Put in well oiled bread pans. Let rise for 35 to 40 minutes or until almost doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes.

Another thing I learned: Apparently bread rises faster/higher in glass baking pans. I didn't know. Now I do, and plan to purchase a few more glass pans in the future. When I have some extra dough. Haha.

Bake Sale bread (wheat AND white)... ready to go.

ENJOY!!

Blueberry Protein Shake

I love this protein smoothie/shake (recipe courtesy of a good friend of mine). I made it for my daughter, Britt, while she was here visiting a while back and she said, "It must have to grow on you... it still has that protein aftertaste." Another daughter, Lolo, said, "I don't like feeling like I have to chew it." Just warning you if you have a strong aversion to a "protein aftertaste" or chewy smoothies!!

I, on the other hand, immediately liked it. It tastes like a blueberry graham cracker milk shake - but so much healthier for you!

Give it a try. Then give it another. It just might grow on you, or you just might think it's delish right off the bat.

Blueberry Protein Shake
Makes 2 servings.

2 scoops protein powder
1/2 cup fiber cereal (the kind with NO SUGAR)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup water
1 cup ice cubes

Combine all ingredients and blend together to desired shake consistency. Yes, I use my trusty $20 Oster blender and it works just dandy. A Blendtec, Vitamix, Magic Bullet, Ninja or any other fancy blender would work, too {wink}.

Approx. 185 calories, 3 grams of fat, 24 grams of protein, and a lot o' fiber (8.8 grams). 
Good for you, I tell ya.