8 minutes to chicken tacos

I can finally say that all the Thanksgiving leftovers have been officially handled. 

The mashed potatoes topped a beefy shepherd's pie last night (the leftover carrots also made their way into that one...), the cranberry sauce (made with fresh orange juice, ginger, honey, maple and cinnamon) went into the freezer--I'm going to pull that out later for a quick cranberry chicken bake, and a gluten free cranberry cake.  The turkey stock has been frozen, and there's only one precious piece of lefse left.  After that--done.

So, onward with the quest:  getting dinner done on a daily basis; healthfully, economically, and with a minimum of time, effort and fuss.

Enter:  8 minute chicken tacos.

Who out there has a pressure cooker?  No??  Well Sister, put one on your Christmas list!  Hopefully Santa will bring you one of these time-saving, sanity-saving devices.

I know, I know, sounds like something your grandma used in her kitchen, right?  Well, perhaps.  But pressure cookers have come a long way baby, and now they are making a comeback, and totally hip once again. 

I'm no expert on pressure cookers, but here are a few basics:  get a stainless steel one, not aluminum.  Make it big enough to be worth your while--mine is a 6 qt  Fagor brand pressure cooker.  And make sure you're getting a pressure COOKER, not a pressure CANNER...they are two totally different things.

Here are two great reference books:  Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes, by Vickie Smith, and Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass.  Miss Vickie's is my fave because it has super-useful charts for cooking anything and everything basic, like chicken thighs, breasts, whole birds, all meats, beans, veggies, etc.

Read the instruction manual that comes with your pressure cooker. They are really easy to use. 

Here's a "go-to" thing I do a lot:

Chicken thighs (if it's just one pkg about 1 1/2 lbs. I just throw them into the pressure cooker and add 1/2 cup water.  Lid on, bring up to pressure, and then pressure cook for 8 minutes.  If it's two pkgs it takes about 3 minutes longer.  Release pressure by running cold water over the lid.  Let them cool enough to shred.  Season with taco seasoning.  Serve with all the fixin's.  Seriously, it's that quick, and ya got one pot to clean.

This was yummy with black olives, salsa, and guacamole on a GF tortilla.

 



Kinda lovin' on my pressure cooker lately.  It totally makes quick work out of just about anything, and I'm here to tell you it makes the tenderest, juiciest chicken of ANY cooking technique out there.  Any.  It really is the very best way to cook chicken, in my opinion.

Well, what else is up this week? 

Ah yes, gluten free, dairy free chocolate biscotti...I'm going to give it a shot, I'll let you know what happens.  Hopefully I will get to it at some point this week.  I'm doing a Stampin' Up! Christmas Stamp Camp Friday night, so hopefully I will have some successful biscotti to munch on with my girlfriends as we stamp to our little hearts' content!