Loaded Perogy Breakfast Casserole

Dear Husband treated me to a glorious sleep-in day on his weekend, and treated the family to a fantastic French toast breakfast. (Yes, I know how lucky I am ❤️).

Included with breakfast was bacon and an unholy amount of breakfast sausages. God love him, Dear Husband thawed the entire 1.2kg package of sausages for three people so it's been sausages for days at The Hole House. 

Side note: I love cheap sausages. Seems like the cheaper they are, the better. So the Superstore 1.2kg no name bag for $10 is the perfect deal! 

With all these sausages, and a limited amount of time to use them, I've been stretching my imagination to ensure they're consumed. Hence, the breakfast quesadillas we had yesterday, and today's new hit: Loaded Perogy Breakfast Casserole.

Without further adieu, the recipe:

12 - 15 frozen perogies 

1 lb breakfast sausage

1 Bell pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

2 cups spinach leaves 

1 cup shredded cheese

7 eggs

1 cup milk

Pepper

Salt

Garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350°

Remove breakfast sausage from casings, crumble and cook in a skillet until thoroughly cooked. Drain excess oil and set aside. 

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, black pepper, salt, and garlic until combined. Set aside.

Cover the bottom of a greased 9x13 casserole pan with frozen perogies (no need to pre-cook). I used bacon and cheddar perogies, but most flavours would work.

Layer the Ingredients: Evenly spread the cooked sausage over the perogies, followed by the diced peppers and onion, spinach, and shredded cheese (I used a cheddar and jack mixture).

Pour the egg mixture evenly over the spinach and cheese layer. Place the casserole in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the casserole is set and golden brown on top.

Remove from oven and serve warm with a dollop of sour cream (if desired).

It's definitely not health food, but it is comfort food. It would be a great make ahead meal for a busy morning, or camping.

*I measure with my heart so the quantity of perogies, spinach, cheese, milk and all seasonings are approximate 😉

Finely diced fresh jalapenos mixed in with the peppers may also be a great addition!

Cornbread and Instant Pot Ribs

It's been a few months since I last wrote, and even longer since I was first introduced to the Instant Pot and made pork ribs using said pot for the first time.

Since then I've made those ribs a number of times and have improvised a bit.

To make life a little easier and save a little more time in an already pretty quick process, I've been using pre-made rubs. The latest star is the Garlic and Chili Pepper rub by Traeger.

I smother the ribs in rub. If I remember early enough I'll do so the day before or a few hours ahead, but you don't need to. Wrap the ribs around the inside of the pot, pour in 1 cup water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and 1/4 tsp liquid smoke. Hit the meat button, set it for 25 minutes and walk away. (Let them natural release for 10 minutes and finish as previously written about).

Instead of walking away tonight, I decided to be a little ambitious and make cornbread. Dear Husband loves cornbread, but I've never found a recipe that I like. It's always dry and crumbly, and gritty, and just not that great.

Well, those days are over folks. Pop on over to Cooking on the Ranch for the best, and most moist cornbread you've ever had.

While gathering the ingredients, I realized that this recipe calls for a can of creamed corn. This is not something I have in the house often because Dear Husband is not a fan. There have been many incomplete ham dinners since we met.

But I was determined to make this recipe, and since COVID-19 says not to make unnecessary trips to the store for one item, I decided to make my own for the first time ever.

Let it be known that I will never again buy canned creamed corn. Today I used a recipe from Spend With Pennies. I almost regretted that I was making it to be an ingredient in bread.

Husband now likes creamed corn.

Back to the bread... So simple. So easy. I didn't have fresh jalapeno or muenster cheese either so I substituted plain old shredded mozza and cheddar, and pickled jalapeno.

Little loaves of deliciousness

In under 45 minutes, we had 'fall off the bone' BBQ ribs, creamed corn from scratch, and the best ever cornbread.

Creamed corn not pictured -- It's in the bread!

No regrets👌

Except next time, there will be bacon. Mmmm, bacon and jalapeno creamed corn.

Instant Pot Taco Pasta

Mexican inspired food is a favourite at our house, so I decided to combine our love of south western food with my new Instant Pot passion. 

Dear Husband is a hunter, so our freezer usually has an abundance of deer or elk, so a lot of what I make uses wild game as the protein. If you don't have any of that on hand, don't fret, hamburger would would just fine. You could even modify the recipe slightly and use chicken! I happened across many recipes for Instant Pot pulled chicken which would work perfectly. 

So, I searched and searched and searched for the perfect Taco Pasta made in the Instant Pot, but Pinterest was failing me. So, I decided to wing it based on what I had learned so far (I had made homemade macaroni and cheese in the Instant Pot a few days before, which was a super success), and borrowing some inspiration from about a half dozen of the recipes I did find. Then, cause I like jalapeño, I threw some of that in there too. Then I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. 

In less than half an hour, from frozen solid ground meat, to table. Not bad for a days work (don't tell Dear Husband; if he wants to think I slaved in the kitchen all day, that's his own prerogative). 

If I had to rate this dish on a scale of one to five, well, let me say this, Dear Husband didn't even drown his dish in Ketchup! Which is really saying something because he puts Ketchup on all his pasta. Gold star! We will definitely be making this again!

The keys to successful Taco Pasta plus your protein of choice

1 lb ground venison
2 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
1 lb rotini pasta
900 ml beef broth
2 cups chunky salsa
1/4 cup jalapeño (pickled or fresh), chopped (optional)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can corn, strained
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 cup shredded cheese (Mexican blend or Old Cheddar)
1/4 cup sour cream (for topping, optional)

Place the ground venison (or ground beef) and olive oil in the Instant Pot and, leaving the lid off, brown the meat using the sauté function, stirring frequently. Add the chopped onion and sauté briefly. Turn off the Instant Pot. Drain excess fluid if there is any remaining.

Add the uncooked pasta, beef broth, salsa, jalapeño, and taco seasoning and stir thoroughly, ensuring that all pasta is covered. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, set the steam valve to sealing and set the Instant Pot to high pressure and cook for 4 minutes then do a quick release. 

Remove the lid. All liquid should be absorbed and the pasta cooked. Add the corn, black beans and shredded cheese and stir well. Serve immediately with a dollop of sour cream, a garnish of green onion couldn't hurt either, and Provechito!

The Jigg is Up: Tackling Jiggs Dinner in the Instant Pot

If you are from British Columbia, like myself, you may have lived your entire life having never heard of Jiggs Dinner. Dear Husband and I moved to the Grande Prairie area seven and a half years ago, like many others from all over the country, drawn by the prevalence of work to be had, particularly in and around the oilfield industry. 

We've met so many amazing people, and some of the best are from the east coast. If you've never had the pleasure of meeting and befriending a Newfoundlander, add that to your bucket list. You can thank me later. Not only will you be acquainted with some of the friendliest, kindest people on the planet, you are likely to party harder than you ever have, have more laughs than you've ever experienced, and you'll probably be invited to Sunday dinner at some point, where this boiled dinner just may be on the menu. 

Jiggs Dinner is traditional fare, and as such, there is a traditional way to prepare the meal, a ritual even. The traditional method is great, and definitely has its perks, but it also takes hours.... Ain't nobody got time for that on a Monday night when you just want to take a nap, but you're just 'bout gutfounded (very hungry) and happen to have a bucket of salt beef in the fridge. Enter the Instant Pot (you'll want the big daddy 8 quart Instant Pot for this one).

My friendly neighbourhood IGA stocks Island Rock Naval Salt Beef (Chalkers is the brand preferred by most East Coasters, but I wasn't up to the trek to find it). As the name implies, salt beef is very salty; it is literally beef which has been cured and preserved in salt brine. Just 100g of this meaty goodness accounts for 4800mg of sodium (that's more than double the daily recommended intake). As such, I like to do my heart a little favour and rinse the beef with water to remove some of the excess salt. Some people are known to even soak the beef overnight and change out the water a couple times (not any self-respecting Newfoundlander, mind) just to pull out some of that salt. I didn't do that, and typically don't, but I may before the next time I prepare it using the Instant Pot.

All these flavours and you choose to be salty

Often a full roast turkey is made with this meal. As I stated earlier, ain't nobody got time for that, so no turkey today. Besides, it's just myself and Dear Husband, so no need to make enough for 20 people.

1 Bucket of Naval Salt Beef (1.5 to 2kg), rinsed

1.5 cups water

1 turnip, peeled and cut into large chucks

4 carrots, peeled and halved

1 head of cabbage, quartered

2 or 3 potatoes, peeled and halved (pretty standard, though I omit due to my personal preference)

2 cups water

Rinse salt beef with fresh water and trim off excess fat. Place the trivet in the Instant Pot and place rinsed and trimmed salt beef onto the trivet. Add 1.5 cups of water. Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. While your meat is cooking, prep your vegetables. When 30 minutes is reached, natural release for 5 minutes then complete with a quick release. 

Prepped and ready

Remove lid and drain all liquid from the Instant Pot. Remove beef and give the Pot a quick wash. Replace the trivet, and return the salt beef to the Pot. Add the turnip, carrots and cabbage and add 2 cups of water. Cook on high pressure for 23 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes then quick release and serve! You may like to make a gravy to serve on the side as well, up to you!

Easy peasey, lemon squeezey.... However, unfortunately without the Pease Pudding. Pease Pudding is almost my favourite part of this whole meal so I was sad to find my cupboard bare of yellow split peas when I needed them most. Made using the traditional method, you'd boil your yellow split peas for hours right alongside the salt beef, either in a cheesecloth bag or Mason jar, remove from water, mash with butter and pepper and enjoy. I see no reason why this couldn't be made in the Instant Pot  (with cheesecloth) and will try that one day as well. I also found this somewhat more complex Instant Pot Pease Pudding recipe video, which I may try one day, especially if I acquire a second Pot:

That's all folks; long may your big jib draw (May you have good fortune for a long time).

Regarding Instant Pot French Onion Soup

First off, let me just say, I did not start this blog to write about cooking, even though the first and second blog posts have turned out to be about food. I am not a chef, I have no special culinary skills, nor the imagination to create my own recipes. I do, however, want to write about things about which I have 2₵ to say. This is the very thing that expert blog writers advise against; apparently I am supposed to find my niche and stick to it. I suppose it’s a good thing that I’m not out to be an expert….

Anyway, today I decided to tackle French Onion Soup with the new Instant Pot. I have never made French Onion Soup before, but Dear Husband and I both love it, and I happened across a simple enough recipe for the new Pot, so badda boom, let’s try it. (Hopefully there’s no actual boom!)

It’s about 2:30pm and I start taking out all the ingredients and prepping the kitchen. I review the recipe, courtesy of The Typical Mom. Onions (yellow and green), check.  Butter, salt, Worcestershire, thyme, beef broth, all check. I don’t have day old French bread, but I do have Mini Baguette Crisps by Ace Bakery, those will do. I’m also choosing to use Swiss instead of Mozza because I make my own choices. Gruyere would typically be used, but I don’t have that, and I probably couldn’t taste the difference if I was doing a blind-folded taste test, à la #birdbox.

I’ve also decided to make an elk roast with this dinner. French Onion Soup is great, but Dear Husband has been working all day and he loves him some meat. Santa put this Canadian Moose Seasoning in Dear Husband’s stocking last year, so I just season the roast up with that, give it a sear and throw it in a dish to bake. (For those wondering, yes I do know that moose and elk are not the same, however they are both mammals from the Cervidae family and I’m pretty confident that this spice does not include anything that can be used solely on moose meat. I'm pretty sure this spice, despite it's name, could be used on Reindeer as well *gasp*). Anyway.... I could cook this roast in the Instant Pot as well, but having only the one insert makes that seem like more trouble than it’s worth for right now.

But wait! I forgot the beauty of Instant Pot cooking. It’s fast!! And it’s still only 2:35pm at this point. This particular recipe, from start to finish, prep to filling my face, should only take approximately 15 minutes, 25 minutes if you're easily distracted like myself. So, I put the perishables back in the refrigerator and go live my life for a couple more hours….

Queue the classic song to signify time passing -- the Jeopardy theme song! For those who didn’t know, there are now a few episodes of Jeopardy available on Netflix! I feel that chemo has killed a few brain cells so I turn that on and try to hone my skills and kill some time. The Tournament of Champions series is streaming, so I feel really smart when I get one right! (Truth be told, I wouldn’t have known any more of those answers pre-chemo either).

A sufficient amount of time passes then I’m back in the kitchen, albeit a little bit more knowledgeable. I have my ingredients, again, and I am ready to cook, again!

I melt the butter in the Instant Pot using the sauté feature, as directed, however I then sear my elk roast in the Pot and that same butter. Searing helps to lock in all that natural meatiness of flavour, or so I’ve gathered from watching MasterChef. Doing so in the same pan that I’m about to cook the soup in can only add more flavour to the broth.

Then I take to chopping the onions, a taunting task. No, it is not The Onion Memory that makes me cry, it is indeed the actual onions, and cry I did.

Once upon a time, a college professor asked me to analyse this poem:

Real onion tears

“It is the onion, memory,
that makes me cry.
Because there's everything and nothing to be said,
the clock with hands held up before its face,
stammers softly on, trying to complete a phrase--
while we, together and apart,
repeat unfinished festures got by heart.”

The Onion Memory, by Craig Raine

Don’t ask me what that means; I’ve always been way too literal to interpret poetry. I can vaguely remember the same professor reprimanding me when I said the poem was about onions. If you read the poem, please feel free to comment below on what you think it means.... I'm pretty sure I received the lowest grade I ever received in the class with this confounded poem. Additionally, seriously, is "festures" even a word?

Side note: Some of you may be thinking: "hey, that looks like way more than three onions chopped" and you would be correct. I cannot cook for two, so there will be leftovers in my freezer.

Carrying on, this particular recipe tells me that if I have thyme, oops sorry, TIME, than I can caramelize the onions. Well, I have both time and thyme, so that is exactly what I do. The caramelizing process took longer than my scheduled 15 minute cook time, but it should make a difference. From what I understand, caramelizing brings out the natural sugars in the onions. I don't have quite enough patience to fully complete the caramelizing process, and since it was listed as optional, I don't stress about it. 

Partially caramelized

Into the Pot goes the beef broth, I seal the lid onto the Pot, say my little prayer  that this time will not be the time the Pot explodes, and set the timer as advised. It takes a number of minutes for the Pot to pressure up, something which was not mentioned in the recipe instructions, so I spend about 10 minutes wondering if I did it right or if I did in fact create a bomb. But then the timer starts to count down from 3 minutes. Crisis averted. 

Once the three minutes has completed, I do a quick release, prepare the buns (horseradish for me, not for Dear Husband), and cut the roast (which has been resting for a bit now). When safe to do so, I remove the pressure cooker lid, ladle the soup into crockery bowls, top with the crusty baguettes, Swiss cheese, and green onion, throw in the oven under broil for 5 minutes. Then, presto, dinner is served!

In future, I think I will attempt to make my own beef broth (probably out of elk, moose or deer, so not beef at all) instead of buying pre-made. There are an abundance of directions on how to make broth in the Instant Pot as well, and I bet I could make a pile of it and freeze for future use. The heart of French Onion Soup is the broth, so the better that is, the better the soup. Overall it was good enough, perhaps a little sweet, but that could be down to the onions. Also, I think that wine is often added to the broth when making this particular type of soup. No offense to The Typical Mom, by the name I’d guess she’s cooking for kids, but in my opinion, wine makes things better, so next time I make French Onion Soup, there will be wine. 

The Day the Instant Pot Changed My Life: Pork Ribs

I did it! I jumped on the Instant Pot craze (repeat, Instant Pot, not InstaPot). Walmart had an amazing Black Friday sale: $48.88 for an 8 qt Lux, so I figured, why not? The second worst that can happen is it becomes another kitchen appliance that collects dust before I sell it on the Facebook Marketplace (if anyone needs a juicer, do I have a deal for you!). The first worst, of course, is that I blow up my house. 

Yesterday, I opened the box and despite what I believe were some instructional shortcomings on behalf of the writers of the Instant Pot manual, I survived the pressure test. Praise be.

Step one, of course, saw me spending hours delving through my Facebook groups, and Pinterest looking for what I hope is the perfect recipe - and of course finding dozens of recipes for other things, as well as some paintings to try, dog toys to buy, and a couple Bible verses to keep me encouraged. I’ve been working on this step since the day I sent the order for the Pot (you can safely assume anytime from here forward that anytime I refer to “the Pot,” that I am speaking of the Instant Pot and not, the recently legalized in Canada, marijuana).

To be honest, I selected a recipe which I thought would be great and purchased all of my ingredients on a shopping trip the other day. The ingredients needed consisted of pork ribs. Everything else I had on hand. It wasn’t until this morning, after rereading this recipe, that it occurred to me that there had to be better out there.

And then I found it – Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs, courtesy of the recipe blog “I Wash You Dry." It required a second trip to the grocery store, but after completing a thorough cost benefit analysis - my friendly neighbourhood Walker’s IGA is only about a 60 second drive away, the temperature had risen from -25°C to a pleasant 1°C, and anything worth doing is worth doing right – I decide it’s worth it and head to the store for the missing ingredients.

The first step in the recipe is to remove the skin from bottom side of the rack of ribs, a task which is supposed to be simple, but for some reason I struggle with. Honestly, until I read this recipe I had no idea that this was a step that a person was supposed to do, and I’ve made ribs dozens of times (typically my grandma’s sweet and sour ribs, but that’s a topic for another day). Admittedly, I didn’t think the risk was worth the reward. It took forever to remove what I did, and ain’t nobody got time for that. If there’s anything these past 10 months have taught me, it’s that life is just too short for some things. However, since I did get the silverskin off about half, we’ll find out if this is a step I should take moving forward or not.

Next comes the dry rub. 1/4 cup brown sugar (a loose quarter cup because the recipe didn’t specify that it was to be firmly packed, and let’s be honest, less sugar is better, especially the second week of January when resolutions are strong), 1 teaspoon each salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (I am fortunate enough to have one of the best garlic suppliers in the world, hailing from Lillooet, BC - seriously worth the drive to the summer Friday farmer's market), 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (and a dash extra for good measure), and 2 tablespoons chili powder. I added some smoked paprika because I had it in the cupboard and it just seemed like flavour that would work. I did omit the dried parsley and cumin. Spices are expensive, and I already had to buy onion powder and cayenne because I had ran out previously. Besides, I’ve always been of the opinion that the only parsley worth using is fresh parsley, otherwise it’s just decoration, and even fresh, most of the time it’s just to pretty it up. And cumin, who even knows what that is? I didn’t buy that on principle. There is a list of spices that I have never in my life owned or used, and cumin is one of them. If I’ve made it nearly 39 years without cumin, one more meal will be just fine. Maybe some time in the future I’ll splurge and get me some cumin, but today is not that day. "Nope, not today."

I’m a big believer in Costco sized and club size packs, even though there’s typically only two people that I cook for, myself and Dear Husband. Jumbo size can save tons of money and time. As well, one of my first ever volunteer jobs was at a summer Bible camp for 100+ kids, counsellors and staff every week. Not only did this camp job reward me with some of the best experiences of my entire life (Lake of the Trees Bible Camp, look it up, I encourage any BC kid to go), but it also taught me how to cook for the masses, a skill that stubbornly remains all these years later. It’s why I bought the 8 qt Instant Pot - because I know full well that any meal I plan for two ends up a meal for at least 12, or alternatively, days and days of leftovers. I have learned to embrace this. At the very least, it means I only have to cook every two days. And I have really learned to appreciate having ready-to-heat meals in the freezer.

What this means for now is that I have more than twice the amount of ribs that I need for today’s recipe, and I made too much dry rub. No problem. I rub down that second rack of pork deliciousness and grab my handy FoodSaver vacuum sealer. This is THE kitchen gadget for anyone who freezer cooks or packages their own wild game. The second rack of ribs, after being coated with the dry rub and vacuum sealed, will live in my freezer for a few weeks, until it’s time to have ribs again, with the added bonus that they have been essentially marinated and I can skip all the preparatory steps next time.

Back to the task at hand, I measure out the required water, and the two ingredients that caused me to go to the store – apple cider vinegar and liquid smoke. These are the main ingredients the first recipe I chose was missing. Apple cider vinegar will help to tenderize the meat, and both will add additional flavour. I was going to forgo the liquid smoke, another ingredient I never bothered to buy before today, always being partial to the actual grill, but it’s January, it's cold, and it was cheap enough, so I decided to try it.

It’s at this point where Dear Husband gets called into work. He’s seen the ribs in the fridge, he’s heard me talk about the supposed glory of the Instant Pot. Off he goes, mouth-watering, to earn the income that allows me to purchase things like liquid smoke, and even cumin if I ever decided. Don’t worry, he’ll be home late tonight and a plate full of ribs will be waiting.

Into the Pot goes the liquid ingredients, and I wrap the ribs around the Pot and set on the trivet. Close the lid, lock into place, press “meat” on the Pot, set for 25 minutes and pray that this doesn’t end with the house exploding.

And this is where the magic happens…. I don’t know all the science as to what goes on in the Pot. All I know is that whatever it does, it does it fast, and as it turns out, well.

25 minutes goes past, and then I let the Pot do a natural release for 10 minutes, after which I do a quick release (and lived to tell about it). There was some minor panic when the red float valve didn’t pop up, but I said a little prayer and it all worked out for the best.

These ribs were fall off the bone perfect already! I can tell because they were literally falling off the bone.

Back to the recipe…. The writer says to place the ribs on a foil lined baking sheet, brush with barbecue sauce of choice and broil for 5 minutes. This is all well and good, but I will pause to mention the glorious invention of parchment paper. I don’t remember who told me, not all that long ago, that once I tried parchment I’d never go back to foil, but they were 100% correct and a very wise person indeed! Tin foil has its place in the world, but lining pans is not it!

5 minutes under broil, served with some Taylor Buffalo Blue chopped salad that I found at Costco the other day, and a glass of wine (cause why not?). Don’t ask me if this wine pairs well, I’m no connoisseur, but I am a fan of sweet white wines like this Palm Cove Moscato and Rieslings like Relax (these are my two favourites, if you’re ever looking for an impersonal gift for me, wink wink).

Sweet Baby Ray these ribs are delicious! Never again will I spend hours boiling and seasoning and baking, etc. Today will henceforth be known as the day the Instant Pot changed my life. I guess I better find some more recipes to cook in this thing because it’s not going anywhere.