Tag Archives: Cooking

Faster, Easier Homemade Broth In An Instant Pot

by Texas Homesteader ~

It took me a long time to jump into the Instant Pot scene. I mean, I already had slow cookers, and I had a high-end stainless steel stove-top pressure cooker too. Why would I spend more money to buy something else I had to store? Wanna know what the breaking point was for me to decide to jump in?

Well I’d borrowed my sisters IP to see if I’d *really* use it enough to justify the cost. One of the first things I tried was bone broth. I was hooked!

Y’all, making your own healthy broth has really never been this easy!

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Homemade Pork Tamales – Quicker In An Instant Pot

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~Texas Homesteader~
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RancherMan & I love tamales. As a matter of fact, tamales are RancherMan’s favorite Tex-Mex food. And heck with his mad hunting skills, we always have pork in the freezer from the Wild Hogs that cause so much damage to our property.

It’s pretty common for me to cook up all those pork roasts at one time and quickly Shred The Roast with my KitchenAid mixer. That way I have cooked, shredded roast in the freezer at any given time for all manner of our favorite Mexican-themed meals, whether Pulled Pork Enchiladas, even easier Enchilada Casserole or maybe Carnitas Tacos.

But now we were in the mood to make tamales, although we hadn’t made them in about 15 years or so. Time to dust off those skills and put a few tamales in the freezer!

It's time consuming to make homemade tamales. But it's very easy. Come see my step-by-step directions complete with photos and recipe. #TexasHomesteader

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Planned Leftovers: Turkey & Dressing (Stuffing) Patties

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by Texas Homesteader ~

Aaaah the holidays. A special time of the year when friends and family gather to bask in the warmth of their relationships and enjoy some really good food. So much food in fact that oftentimes the day afterward can leave you scratching your head. Wow, there’s so much food leftover! What do I do with it all??

Well when you’re tired of eating the same leftovers over & over again, the freezer can be your friend. Or my favorite: planned leftovers. That’s where you make a whole new meal from those delicious leftovers.

Take that turkey & dressing for instance. RancherMan loves when I make Turkey & Dressing Patties from them. It’s like Potato Cakes, but with turkey & dressing instead. Come see.

What to do with that leftover turkey & dressing? Make it into turkey & dressing patties. Similar to potato cakes, it's crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. And so good. No more wasted food! #TexasHomesteader

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Lazy-Cook’s Quick & Easy Italian Soup

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by Texas Homesteader ~

RancherMan & I were planning a day trip to visit my dad. When we go for a visit I like to take any meal-planning pressure off him. I’ll typically whip up something super easy & portable to bring with us so he doesn’t feel he needs to put on a spread for us. On this cold day I decided a big pot of soup would fit the bill quite nicely.

We typically leave early in the morning so we can drive the 3 hours for our visit. We’ll stay all day and plan to be back home around 10 that evening. Since I’ll be whipping up this soup early in the morning I need a lazy-cook’s recipe. You know, a recipe where I can just brown some ground meat, open a bunch of cans, dump it all in a slow cooker’s crock and GO!

Enter this Lazy-Cook’s Italian Soup…

Lazy-Cook's Italian soup. Just cook ground meat, onions & noodles. Dump it all in a soup pot with cans of vegetables. EASY! #TexasHomesteader

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How To Tell If Baking Powder Is Still Good

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I was baking some Beer Bread recently. As I pulled out the ingredients for my bread I noticed I was dangerously low on baking powder. But wait, didn’t I see a large container stashed way in the back of the pantry just the other day?

I dug around until I found it. Wow, it’s apparently been in the pantry for quite some time. But it seems such a waste to just throw it away. I wonder if it’s still good… So I decided to run a quick test.

Do you wonder if that container of baking powder is still good? Here's a quick & easy test to show you whether it's safe to use or you should throw it out. #TexasHomesteader

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12 Must-Haves For Any Home Cook

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by Texas Homesteader ~
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Do you know someone who loves to cook? Or maybe someone like me, who tolerates cooking and just needs tools to get it all done more quickly or easily?

There are tons of great gift ideas out there to make cooking more enjoyable. (and for me, most importantly – made EASIER! LOL) Here’s a list of my favorite & most-used items in the Taylor kitchen:

Must-Have gifts For Cooks. Come see the most used tools in my homestead kitchen. I always opt for tools that make cooking easier. #TexasHomesteader

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Easy Pressure-Canning For Bone Broth

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by Texas Homesteader~
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Y’all know I love to make my own broth, right? I mean, when I found out how simple it was, and how cheap, and healthy – there was just no reason NOT make it. Just plunk some bones into a pot of water and then cook them until they’re broth. I don’t add veggie ends or seasoning of any kind. Just pure bone broth.

I typically pour that cooled and strained broth into plastic jars and store them in the freezer. But too many times I’ve failed to properly plan in advance & I’ve had to chunk frozen broth from the jars for my recipe. So now that the weather’s cooler and I don’t mind heat & humidity from the kitchen coming through the house, I figured I’d can it this time instead. Don’t be intimidated by a pressure canner, y’all. Canning broth is easy.

Preserve your homemade broth. Use a pressure canner when canning broth. It's easy and your reward is jars of homemade broth for months #TexasHomesteader

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Quick Dessert Recipe: Spiced Rum Fried Apples

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I try to invite my parents to supper as often as I can. There’s just something about breaking bread together that bonds us. Plus it’s much less expensive to invite them to a simple meal at home than to meet them at a restaurant. And it’s much nicer to visit in a home setting too. So recently I invited them over.

I made a plan to cook a simple Instant Pot Roast as the main entree. A side of green beans and breaded Potato Cakes was planned for sides. But dad loves that I serve dessert when I invite them over. So I also planned a very simple dessert. Fried apples… with a twist.

I made a simple dessert of fried apples, with a twist. I added a little spiced rum for extra flavor & moisture. #TexasHomesteader

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Homemade Bread Shortcut: Pre-Mixed Ingredient Packets

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by Texas Homesteader ~

Recently I learned that bread machines have apparently changed for the better. Now I find I really love the convenience. So I tweaked RancherMan’s favorite Honey/Oatmeal Sandwich Bread recipe to make a 2-Lb Loaf for a Bread Machine. I use that bread machine to whip up hot, fresh homemade bread for him several times a week.

Since I’m baking bread so often I went looking for ways to shorten my bread-baking tasks. Let me tell ya, whether using a bread machine or mixing & baking it up the old fashioned way, these shortcuts make homemade bread a breeze!

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Easiest Instant Pot Cheesecake Recipe

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I love cheesecake, y’all. I mean really, really love cheesecake. But I’ve always been intimidated to try to make it myself. I mean – water bath in the oven? The top cracking if you didn’t cook it just right? The 2-part pan leaking in the water? It just sounded so… finicky.

So instead I always enjoyed my cheesecake at a restaurant table, #thankyouverymuch.

Then I read someone saying that the reason you bake it in a water bath in the oven is because it must have that moisture. Without that moisture you’re doomed to have a dry, cracked cheesecake. This person said that’s why a pressure cooker is the perfect way to make cheesecake. There’s naturally lots of moisture.

Wow, now that makes sense.

Making Instant Pot Cheesecake turns a finicky dessert into pure simplicity. Come see this easy cheesecake recipe cooked in an Instant Pot. #TexasHomesteader

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