Someone's Sick Chicken Soup (great for a sick person)!

I am really good at making soup and I love it (this is a genetic trait in my family)! I don't usually measure my ingredients so trying to do that is tough--but I have given it a try! I made this yesterday to share with a friend who just had surgery. I'll post several variations of chicken soup and making broth as the blog grows--because it is just so darn good for you!

By the way, before you try these recipes, read your manual, and try one or two of the recipes in there just to get to know your appliance!

1 small (3 pd) chicken fryer (take out the neck and stuff and rinse it)

After rinsing and pulling out the neck, gizzards, and stuff, put it in the cooker.

Add:

2 4" pieces of celery with leaves (rinsed well) cut in big chunks
1/2 carrot cut in big chunks
1/2 small onion
2 tsp. parsley
Grind in to taste some pepper, some sea salt, and add 1 tsp. garlic powder or a smashed clove of garlic, or minced in a jar (1 tsp).

Fill the cooker so it is no more than 3/4 of the way full.

Set it for soup, and add time to equal 40 minutes. After it stopped, I did let it sit in the cooker for 20 minutes--just because I got busy. I opened up the cooker, and lifted out the chicken carefully with two pasta spoons. I put it on a platter to cool, and used a straining spoon to lift out all the other solids in the pot. The chicken was falling off the bones. I let it cool, and took all the meat off the bones, cut it in pieces, and put it back in the pot.

To the pot I then added:
2 Tablespoons of chicken broth powder (Frontier), and 2 stalks of celery and two peeled carrots that I had put in the food processor and chopped until pretty fine. I added 1 tsp more dried parsley, more salt, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 c. frozen peas, 1 piece of ginger (the slices that come in a jar)that I cut up finely, and 4 ounces of egg pasta noodles that I broke up. I again added enough water to make it about 3/4 full (don't go over the fill line)!

I reset the cooker on soup, put the lid back on as per directions so it would seal, and walked away.

When it was done, I had soup. It was warm, delicious, and comforting.

Now, I read on some reviews that some folks never got their electric pressure cooker to work. What I think may be happening is that they think it reaches pressure instantly, and never see it count down. I have found out the more liquid--and the fuller the pot--the longer it takes to reach pressure and to start counting down.

Also, I normally wouldn't process my veggies for a soup as finely as I did--but if I make it for someone sick or recovering for surgery, I want my veggies finer. I also believe strongly in the healing powers of food--hence the ginger and garlic and onion!

Cooking under Pressure! What is this blog?

What the heck is "Cooking under Pressure"? This blog is my space to share with my family, friends, and others recipes I have developed or adapted for my Wolfgang Puck Electric Pressure cooker. These recipes will hopefully work with any electric pressure cooker. My sister-in-law, Ann, sang the praises of this nifty kitchen appliance, and I bought one on Overstock.com the next day! She bought hers at HSN--prices are close to the same.

I am going to share my recipes and experiences using this cooker. I absolutely love it! It makes preparing dinner quick and easy--what we both like about this appliance is that you can put your food in it, set it up, and walk away. I can then perform the 1000s of other chores I need to do while dinner cooks. Yes, sometimes my recipes may be a bit overcooked for some folks--readers of this blog will have to do lots of taste testing of my recipes and adapt them according to your own tastes.

Warning--I am not usually the kind of cook who measures. For this blog, I am trying to measure, but, I don't always remember to do that. I invite other users to share their recipes and successes with electric pressure cookers as well! The manuals that come with these things give you limited recipes--that is another reason I decided to start this blog--to fill this niche.

Here is a link to the pressure cooker I purchased:
http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Wolfgang-Puck-5-quart-Electric-Pressure-Cooker/2596121/product.html

Reasons it is my new favorite kitchen appliance:

1. It does not heat up my kitchen like my stovetop and oven does. It does produce steam that it releases, but I am cool with that. I may even use it outside at the beach cottage this summer.

2. It is great for one pot cooking--and therefore, quick cleanup. It is non-stick, and so easy to clean.

3. It makes me stick to my food budget. How? On those nights I am too tired to cook (I work full-time), I can throw in stuff (even frozen), and have a great dinner while I either site and veg out or multi-task and clean the house, do laundry, etc., etc.

4. It makes inexpensive cuts of meat delicious!

5. It makes great rice.

6. It makes a great pot of soup or quick stock.

7. You can make really tender collards in it (but they still stink up the house).

I'll probably add to this later!

Now, on to recipes!