Shortcut Beef Bourguignon in a pressure cooker

Ingredients:
Top Sirloin Steak (2 large) cut into cubes
Lardons (thick cut proscuitto or bacon cut into small cubes)
1 large chopped onion
2 cups sliced button or baby bella mushrooms
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup red wine, a cabernet is good
lipton onion soup packet
2-3 tblsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
-corn starch optional
2 cups cold water
1 package egg noodles

Special equipment: a pressure cooker
Prep and cook time 1.5 hours

If you do this the Julia Child way, it is a an all day production, although well worth it. But, if you want a pretty similar flavor, this will give you pretty good results in a lot less time.
Hint: take advantage of the frequent half-price sales on Top Sirloin and stock up on it, freezing what you don't use. It is very versatile, flavorful and tender and can be used in any recipe calling for beef cubes.

Melt the butter in a large skillet. I use cast iron, but any will do. Add the mushrooms and try not to crowd them. Cook them in two batches to brown if you are not too pressed for time, until they are golden. Remove from pan and save. Add lardon to the pan. Brown them and then remove from pan and save. Add the onions to the pan and cook until soft. Remove from the pan and set aside. Salt and pepper the steak and add the steak to the pan, adding butter if needed, until the meat is browned. Transfer steak, lardons, onions, and mushrooms to your pressure cooker. Add flour to the ingredients and stir until the flour coats all ingredients. Pour in red wine, and onion soup mix, stirring everything well, over medium heat. Add enough water to cover all ingredients and add 2 bay leaves. Cover pressure cooker and bring ingredients to a boil. When indicator on pressure cooker pops up, turn heat down to a simmer and cook for 30-45 minutes.
If mixture is not thick enough, mix a tblsp of cornstarch into a 1/4 cup of cold water and add to pot, stirring and simmering for one more minute to thicken.
Boil water and prepare egg noodles according to package directions, during the last 20 minutes of cooking time.
Serve meat and gravy mixture over egg noodles.

Banana Mango Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
1 cup frozen mango chunks, thawed
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2-3/4 cup non-fat Greek unflavored yogurt

Directions:
Add sliced banana and mango chunks to the blender, and pour enough of the coconut milk and/or orange juice to cover the fruit. Blend on high until smooth. Add the remainder of the liquid and the yogurt. Blend again until well-mixed. Divide between 2 glasses and serve.

Makes 2 servings,

Corn, Black Bean and Edamame Salad

Ingredients for Salad
1 can of black beans, rinsed
8 oz frozen, shelled edamame
3/4 cup frozen corn kernels(I like Giant brand, super sweet white corn)
1/2 cup of raw almonds, chopped or sliced
1/2 orange sweet bell pepper, chopped finely
2 scallions, sliced
1 tsp salt

Ingredients for Dressing
2 oz Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried shallots or one chopped fresh shallot
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Mural of Flavor spice from Penzeys Spices (These spices can be mail ordered or bought from the Penzeys Spices stores.)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3-4 oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

Add enough water to a saucepan to cover edamame and toss in a tsp of salt. Heat until the water is boiling. Add edamame and lower heat. Boil for 5-7 minutes, according to package directions. Drain when done and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, to a large bowl add all of the other salad ingredients and mix well. Add edamame to salad and mix in.

In a small bowll, add all of the ingredients except the oil. Whisk these ingredients well, and then slowly whisk in the oil. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. Serve immediately or chill and serve cold later.

Whole Wheat Couscous Salad

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked whole wheat couscous
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
3 small, seedless cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1 and 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese

Dressing Ingredients:
4 oz cider vinegar
2 oz olive oil
2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tblsp orange juice

Directions:
Put uncooked couscous in large a bowl. Heat chicken broth to boiling and then pour broth over couscous. Cover the bowl of couscous with a plate and let sit for 5 minutes. Then, use a fork to fluff couscous.
Meanwhile, chop the vegetables into small pieces. Add the vegetables to the couscous.
Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing, then pour over salad.
Add the feta cheese.

Serve immediately, or chill and serve later.

Brown Rice with Chicken Sausage and Cannelini Beans

Ingredients:
1 chopped leak
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Mozzarella and Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausages (Member's Mark brand from Sam's Club
1 bag Success Brown Rice
1 16 oz can of cannelini beans
1 tblsp olive oil
1 16 oz can chicken broth
4 cups baby spinach leaves

Directions"
Combine one cup of chicken broth with 1 quart of water in a large saucepan, and add an unopened bag of Success Brown Rice. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 8-10 minutes. While the rice is cooking, saute leeks in olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-low heat, about 3 minutes or until soft. Cut sausages into 1/2 inch slices and add to the pan until warm, along with the minced garlic, about 2 minutes. Next, add the cannelini beans to the sausage and leeks and the remainder of the can of chicken broth. Simmer about 2 minutes. Add the baby spinach to the mix, and cover the dutch oven while simmering over low heat, stirring occasionally until the spinach is wilted.
Drain the cooked rice, and pour the rice into the dutch oven, mixing it well into the all the simmering ingredients. Turn off heat, and serve.

This recipe, if divided into 3 servings of 2 and 1/3 cups each, will have 468 calories, or if you divide it into 4 smaller servings of 1.75 cups each, will have 351 calories.

Variation: My husband says that this is good, but a little dry, so if you want a creamy, moister version of this dish, make and add the following sauce to your rice:
1 can cream of mushroom soup, a splash of brandy, a sprinkle of tarragon, about a 1 tsp of grated parmesan cheese, enough water to thin the sauce (about 1/3 cup), and I added a tblsp of my homemade roasted garlic salad dressing to the sauce, which is great on fresh baby arugula as a side dish anyway, and well worth making to have on hand. If there is any interest in the recipe for the dressing, I will add it.

Seasoned Brown Rice with Vegetables

Have you ever checked out the nutrition label on a box of seasoned rice from the grocery store aisle? Here is an example: Rice A Roni Spanish Rice has this in one serving: 260 calories (60 of those from fat) 1030 mg of Sodium (OMG!), and 3g of sugar. There are no whole grains in the box. You can do much better with delicious taste. I dare you to compare.
By the way, I don't really like brown rice, but I like this.

As a side note, the turmeric gives the rice a lovely yellow color, and is said to have anti-inflammatory benefits, for a very low cost compared to most spices (I got .34lb of turmeric in the bulk section of Whole Foods for only $2.29.


Ingredients:
1 large bag of Success Boil-in-Bag Brown Rice or substitute 1.5 cups of Brown Rice.
1 small onion
1 medium red bell pepper
1 small yellow squash
1 tsp salt for the water to cook the rice in.

For Seasoning: Combine
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ground turmeric
1/8 tsp Hungarian paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fine ground orange peel ( I used dried)
1 tblsp olive oil

(Hint: I combine all of the spices ahead of time and store in a zip-lock bag in my spice cabinet until I am ready to use it.)

Directions:
First, dice the onion, red pepper, and squash into small pieces. Pour olive oil into large saute pan and saute on medium heat until soft.

Next, while vegetables are cooking,prepare rice according to directions. The Success Rice only takes about 10 minutes after the water comes to a boil. If you use brown rice that has not been parboiled, it will take much longer. I add a tsp of salt to the cooking water for the rice.

While the rice is cooking, combine all the spices. Pour them over the vegetables and mix them well. When the vegetables are soft, turn the heat down to the lowest setting to keep them warm.

When the rice is finished cooking, add it to the vegetables and spices and mix everything together well in the pan.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and serve.

Wheat Berry Salad with Apples, Raisins and Pistachios

This one is inspired by a recent Cooking Light recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked wheat berries (hard winter wheat)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tblsp shelled pistachios, chopped
2 tblsp olive oil
2 tblsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/2 gala apple, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup feta cheese crumbles

Directions:
Soak wheat berries in water overnight. The next day, pour off water and add fresh water to pot, enough to cover berries plus 2 extra inches above berries. Bring to a boil, then cover pot. Lower heat to simmer berries for 45 minutes.

While berries cook, combine oil, lemon juice, honey, coriander, ginger and salt to make dressing. Measure raisins, feta cheese and chop apple and pistachios.

When berries have finished cooking, drain off water and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Add dressing and other ingredients and toss well.

Eat at room temperature.

Wheat berries can be found in the bulk section of Whole Foods Market, among other places.