Cooking Beans

Last Sunday I showed you my new pressure cooker and mentioned that you could cook dried beans in it in a short time and I would let you know how that worked when I tried it. On Thursday this week I gave it a go.

The book that came with the cooker says for every cup of food add 3 cups of water. So I put in two cups of washed dried pinto beans and six cups of water. It also said to add 1 tsp of vegetable oil (I used olive oil) for every cup of water to keep it from foaming. Then it said to put the lid on, set it for High pressure at 3 minutes which I did. It took it about 12 minutes to come to pressure and then to it started to cook for 3 minutes. At 3 minutes it shut off to warm and I hit the stop button and let it release pressure naturally as it said to do. When I took the cover off this is what they looked like:

 

They had cooked but to me they needed more cooking as they were firmer than we liked them, so I put the lid back on and repeated the process for another 3 minutes. They came out like this:

 

They look about the same, but these were softer. I had to rinse them off because of the oil. I think 6 tsps of oil might be a little much. We decided that we like our beans cooked all day on the stove slow with onions and ham hocks added and cornbread. If you wanted beans but forgot to soak them overnight this would be a good way to do a quick start. I think maybe what the directions meant but didn't say was 3 minutes per cup of food is the cooking time. So there you have it. I really like the pressure cooker and will keep trying recipes and let you know if I find a keeper. If you have one of these pressure cookers do you use it and do you like it? Let me know if you have a favorite recipe to use  in it.

Lazy Sunday

I am not getting much done today it seems. I've been hunting for recipes to use in my birthday present. DH gave me an Nesco Electric Pressure Cooker when I mentioned I thought we should have one. I've used a regular pressure cooker for years, but since getting this one it's the only one I want to use. It is also a slow cooker and has high or low pressure to cook with. Best thing of all I can get it started set the timer and leave which I couldn't do with the old one.

The usual statement of I'm not connected to Nesco in any way other than a satisfied customer. I have their dehydrator also and love it.

I cooked a 3.5 pound chuck roast in it the other day in 45 minutes. Next I'm going to try pinto beans in it. I usually soak them over night and then slow cook them all day with a ham hock and onion on the stove. The recipe book says you can cook dried beans in 3 minutes in the Nesco. I'm going to have to see if that is true. I'll let you know.

On to other things. This week I have been working to get caught up on my Back to Square One going on over at Patchwork Times .
This is my quilt so far:

DH says he really likes it and he thinks it looks like a Stained Glass window. It is really coming out better than I thought it would. Have the next border partially done and hopefully can get it finished and attached by tomorrow.

On The Needles

Nothing much new on the needles except some progress. Haven't spent as much time knitting as I would like to, but I have made some progress on the Pine Forest Baby Blanket

September start of project:

October addition so far:

So there has been some progress just not what I had hoped to have done. If you want to see how others have been doing check out Patchwork Times

How I Believed In Myself

Over at Jo's Country Junction she is having a give away for a sweepstakes drawing for a $50 Visa Card and a BlueRay Combo Pack for Monster's University. If you'd like to enter check out her blog with the details.

READ THE WHOLE POST FOR A CHANCE TO WIN

I'm a quilter and a machine quilter and one day, in 1993,  while catching up on reading my quilting magazines I had one of those light bulb minutes where and idea just pops into your mind. The more I thought about the idea the more excited I became about it, and as luck would have it I was home alone with no one to share my excitement. When my husband came home I excitedly told him about my idea and how I thought it would sell. He agreed that he thought I should do this and encouraged me to go with it. I had an idea of what I wanted my design to be, but not being able to draw more than stick figures I had my daughter give it a try. She sent me what she had drawn and while it was in the ball park it wasn't quite right. So I took her drawings and my idea over to see my B-I-L Richard. Richard is really good with Corel Draw and he started putting shapes together and after a couple of hours of playing around we came up with a design that looked like the picture in my mind.  I took the drawing and started looking at how to get the design made and how much would it cost. I finally found a place in Wisconsin to work with. It still took me a couple of years to get up the courage to spend the money, but in 1996 I finally placed an order.

I designed with Richard AND Margaret's help and my family's encouagement  a QUILT BUG lapel pin and these are my -

 QUILT BUGS:

 I really get excited when I am at a quilt show and see someone wearing one of my pins it is such a rush. I used to watch the quilting shows on tv and one Saturday Kaye Wood did a program on all the pins you collect and how to display them. Right there on tv sat my first quilt bug in the center of all her pins. Again I was home alone and no one to share with. Unfortunately, I couldn't record it right now like we can today so I could show them when they came home. That's okay I saw it and I can't even describe how good it made me feel. So I would urge you to follow your dreams. If there is something you really want and believe in go after even if it takes you awhile to get there the rewards are worth it.

So now I have to ask you Have you been bitten by the QUILT BUG? If so don't you think you should have one or six to wear or give as gifts to your quilty friends?
If you've been bitten by the QUILT BUG and would like to win a set of my pins leave a comment here to let me know you entered the sweepstakes and a link to your blog page with your entry post. I'll draw a name on the 31st of October.


So would you like a chance to win a $50 Visa Gift Card and a Monsters University Blu-ray Combo Pack?