2 Treat to eat!

I can not take any credit for this yumm-o recipe. I got it from my good friend Brandi after she brought it to scrapbook night. Every time I make it I try a different combination based on what I've got on hand and its always disappeared behind smiles. Let me know what you mix in and how its received. At Ellen's request here's...

PUPPY CHOW

In a large bowl measure out:

8 cups dry cereal-type stuff
1 large bag hard-shell candy

In a pot over low heat stir till melted:

1 bag white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Pour hot goo over mix in bowl and stir till well coated
Spread out on a large cookie sheet
When dry, break into pieces and enjoy

Dry stuff options:

4 cups Honey Nut Cheerios
2 cups cocoa puffs
2 cups pretzel stixs
- or -
2.5 cups Honey Nut Cheerios
2.5 cups Fruit Loops
1 cups cocoa puffs
1 cup chocolate gram fish
1 cup pretzel stixs

1 bag candies:

plain M&M
-or-
Kissables
-or-
Reeses Pieces

5 Merry Christmas to me!

THE PITCH: The Deni Pressure Cooker is safe and simple to use. Cook fork tender stew in 30 minutes, roasts in under an hour, and fruits and vegetables in minutes. Put the ingredients in the pot, set the timer, and enjoy a delicious home cooked meal. Brown your meat in the cooking pot before cooking under pressure to make cooking time even faster. The Deni Pressure Cooker combines steam, heat, and pressure while retaining the nutrients and flavor of the food. The removable five quart non-stick cooking pot provides even heat distribution while the outer housing remains cool to the touch.

THE SALE: My generous In-Laws gave me a GIFT certificate to a local specialty cooking store, "Kitchen Kneads", for Christmas. Since this is a VERY UN-kid friendly store, I've only been in it a few times so I decided I'd better buy something last Saturday when Nate was home watching the girls. It turned in to quite a hard thing to do. I had decided that I didn't want to get several little things, but use the opportunity to get ONE nice something that I wouldn't have bought myself otherwise. After several times around the store with a great saleswoman (actually a grown up high school student I taught years ago!), she sold me on this new appliance. The TIME-factor was the main selling point for me, but it all sounds so GOOD.

THE MEAL: Tonight was my first time pressure cooking anything. I set it to BROWN & seared my 4 pound lump of pot roast right in the cooker. I then added my sliced onion. SLICK! When they had started to cook I added 2 chopped potatos, 4 sliced carrots, a packet of dry onion soup mix, & 3 cups of water. I set it to 'hi' pressure for 55 min & pressed START. At first it sounded like a ROCKET getting ready to lift off, but as soon as pressure was reached it went nearly SILENT. I'd read when trying a new recipe, start with less time than you think the food will need, since you can always add time. Tonight I added 10 min & then 10 min more...I wanted my meat nice & tender.

THE VERDICT: NICE! Next time I'll go with less water and an initially 65 min, but everything was TENDER & full of FLAVOR. It was plenty tender for Kylie to MUNCH. There was plenty of juicy GRAVY- my favorite part. Nate loves roast, especially on a roll with cheese the next day. YUMMY! Clean up was EASY, too. I can see myself using this every week.

THE FUTURE: Now I want to try EVERYTHING in my pressure cooker & can't wait to take the class on using it in June. I need a rack so I can steam all kinds of VEGGIES & a bowl so I can make STICKY RICE. It even comes with a recipe for making DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE in 20 min...gotta get a 7-8 in spring form pan for that. It has a 'crockpot' setting, but with the ability to delay cooking by up to 8 hours - why? Oh, what fun we will have!