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You'll find over 435 of my favorite recipes here, including ideas for Quick meals, Cooking for 2, Feasting on Leftovers, and cooking with 5 Ingredients or Less. I'm adding new posts regularly; you can subscribe by email or RSS feed if you'd like to receive the latest recipes. Bon appétit!
Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs
By Kath Dedon
My mom used to make Porcupine Meatballs fairly frequently. I’m pretty sure her recipe involved a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup. I always liked the meatballs, so I was excited to see Coco Morante’s recipe for Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs in her new book, The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook. (The recipe is also on Elise Bauer’s Simply Recipes food blog.)
The recipe is easy and the meatballs are tender without the use of bread crumbs. They’re great for people who avoid wheat.
Coco states that the original recipe was from Betty Crocker. That sounds about right. It felt very retro to have the Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs last night. Peas seemed to be the perfect retro side dish.
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Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs
(Adapted from Coco Morante’s recipe on simplyrecipes.com and in The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook)
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Serves 4
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Don’t double this recipe. The meatballs need to be in a single layer to cook properly.
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1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped (about 6 ounces)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef (85% lean)
½ cup long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
½ cup water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Chopped flat-leaf parsley or small basil leaves for garnish (optional)
- Put half of the onion and half of the garlic in a bowl.
- Add the ground beef, rice, salt and pepper to the bowl. Mix well with your hands so the onion and rice are evenly distributed. Don’t worry about over-working the beef.
- Shape the meat into 12 meatballs.
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4. Press Sauté and adjust heat to Normal on the Instant Pot. When the pot is hot add the olive oil. Let it heat for about a minute, and then add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened.
5. Add the tomato sauce, water, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir and let the sauce come to a simmer.
6. Press the Cancel button to turn the Instant Pot off. Carefully place the meatballs in the sauce so they are in one layer. Spoon a bit of sauce over each meatball.
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7. Put the lid on the pot and set the Pressure Release to Sealing.
8. Press the Manual or Pressure Cook button. Set the time for 15 minutes at high pressure.
9. When the time is up, let the pressure release naturally for about 10 minutes. Then do a quick release to release the rest of the pressure. Open the pot and serve, garnished with parsley or basil, if desired.
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Chana Salaad (Chickpea Salad)
By Kath Dedon
There are already several chickpea salad recipes on my blog. We like chickpeas. This new recipe, though, for Chana Salaad (Chickpea Salad) is the one that we find is perfect. Bob is actually quite smitten with it, saying that I should be making it all the time.
Urvashi Pitre’s recipe in Indian Instant Pot Cookbook uses the Instant Pot to cook the chickpeas. I think freshly cooked chickpeas really make a big difference. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you could cook the chickpeas on the stovetop, or substitute 2 cans of chickpeas.
The first time I made this Chana Salaad I did wonder about Urvashi’s instructions to cook the dried chickpeas under pressure for 20 minutes, but I followed her directions. Sure enough, the beans weren’t done. That was really no problem. I simply sealed the pot again and cooked them for another 20 minutes and they were perfect.
In hindsight, I think she might have meant to have you cook soaked chickpeas for 20 minutes. Since I love to skip the soaking step with my Instant Pot, the next time I made this I cooked the dried chickpeas for 40 minutes. Perfect!
Give this Chana Salaad a try! Leftovers keep well. (We might have had leftover Chana Salaad for breakfast.)
If you have an Instant Pot and love Indian food, I highly recommend Urvashi’s book!
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Chana Salaad (Chickpea Salad)
(Adapted from Urvashi Pitre’s recipe in Indian Instant Pot Cookbook)
Serves 4 – 6 (depending on how many other courses are served)
The olive oil added to the beans helps to keep the foam down. Foam can clog the pressure valve.
While you can use canned chickpeas, I think you’ll find this recipe is vastly improved if you use freshly cooked beans.
To cook the chickpeas
1 cup dried chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 bay leaves
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
For the salad
1 cup finely minced red onion
1 large plum tomato, seeded and diced
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Drained cooked chickpeas (or 2 cans rinsed and drained chickpeas)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Combine the chickpeas, water, bay leaves and salt in the Instant Pot.
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2. Stir in the olive oil. Seal the lid. Use high pressure with the Bean/Chili function, and set the time for 40 minutes.
3. When the time is up, use the natural pressure release (in other words, don’t do anything) for at least 10 minutes. (Longer is OK.) Then use the quick release and remove the lid. Drain the chickpeas and discard the bay leaves.
4. Combine the red onion, tomato, and cilantro in a large bowl.
5. Add the chickpeas to the bowl with the salt, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Stir well to distribute the lemon juice and seasonings and serve.
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Air Fryer Chicken Wings
By Kath Dedon
Air Fryer Chicken Wings are the best chicken wings I have ever had! They are crispy, not at all greasy, and the meat is moist and cooked perfectly.
My family will tell you that I was pretty clear that I really, really wanted the Cuisinart® AirFryer Toaster Oven. Bob “surprised” me with it for my birthday, which happens to be a few days before Christmas. That meant I could make 3 batches of chicken wings for an afternoon snack on Christmas Day!
The reason I wanted this particular air fryer is because it’s a multi-talented toaster oven that not only air fries, but it also bakes, convection bakes, broils, convection broils, warms, and makes toast. I also like the fact that it has a window and an oven light, so it’s easy to check on how things are going.
So far, I’ve only used the air fryer, baking, and warming functions. I baked perfect potatoes. I warmed some leftovers. I made a batch of cookies with a large, full sheet of cookies in my regular oven, and I was able to bake the few cookies that were left at the same time in my toaster oven. They were perfect. It’s really nice to have a second oven that works well.
These Air Fryer Chicken Wings were the first thing I made. I just followed the recipe in the small Cuisinart cookbook that came with the oven. We were amazed at how good they were. Using no oil and seasoning them only with kosher salt made the perfect wings.
Air Fryer Chicken Wings and Fries
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Air Fryer Chicken Wings
(Adapted from the recipe that came with the Cuisinart AirFryer Toaster Oven)
Makes about 11 wing sections
1¼ pounds “party” chicken wings (drumette and flat sections)
Kosher salt
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- Sprinkle kosher salt over both sides of the chicken wings.
- Put the air fryer basket on the baking pan. (Line the baking pan with foil, if desired, for easier clean up.) Put the salted chicken wings in the basket.
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3. Put the pan and basket in the middle position of the oven. Set the oven to the Air Fry function and 400°.
4. Set a timer for 10 minutes. (I use my cell phone timer because the one complaint that people seem to have about this air fryer is that the timer is not accurate.)
5. When the timer goes off, take the pan out of the oven and turn the wings over.
6. Return to the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Some of my family liked Frank’s Red Hot Sauce with the wings, but Bob and I both loved them plain.
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The Best Yorkshire Pudding
By Kath Dedon
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J. Kenji López-Alt calls this “The Best Yorkshire Pudding”. I found his recipe on Serious Eats and made it to serve with our Christmas dinner. I made my Perfect Rib Eye Roast for the main attraction.
Yorkshire puddings typically call for using beef drippings from the roast, but my roast never produces enough drippings. Kenji suggests using drippings, lard, shortening, or vegetable oil. I used a couple of tablespoons of drippings from the roast and added melted duck fat to make the ½ cup of fat needed to finish the Yorkshire pudding.
This Yorkshire Pudding recipe is SO easy to make and it drew rave reviews at the table. I had to share it on the blog to keep the recipe handy for future feasts at Chez Dedon.
The secret is to make the batter the day before. Kenji did all of the scientific experiments, and found that Yorkshire Pudding rises much higher if the batter has been made ahead of time. You just whisk the ingredients together and refrigerate overnight. When the roast is done, you take it out of the oven to rest and make the Yorkshire Pudding. Simple!
I made mine in my 10-inch cast iron skillet. If you have a 10-inch skillet that is oven-safe it is clearly the easiest pan to use because you don’t have to divide the fat and batter between multiple wells. According to Kenji, you can also use two 6-well popover tins, one 12-well standard muffin tin, one 24-well mini muffin tin, or two 8-inch cast iron skillets.
I know I’ll be making The Best Yorkshire Pudding again. There’s no reason not to with such an easy recipe! I might try it in my 12-inch cast iron skillet next time. I think it would work. If you try that, please let me know how it works for you!
My pudding rose so high! I think it would work in my 12-inch skillet next time.
The Best Yorkshire Pudding
(Adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt’s recipe on Serious Eats)
Makes one 10-inch skillet-sized, or two 8-inch skillet-sized, 8 popover-sized, 12 muffin-sized, or 24 mini muffin-sized puddings
For the batter
4 large eggs (200g)
1 cup plus 2 teaspoons (150g) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (175g) whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons (28g) water
½ teaspoon (2g) kosher salt
To finish the Yorkshire Pudding
½ cup beef drippings, lard, shortening, vegetable oil, or duck fat (I used about 2 tablespoons of beef drippings and then added duck fat to make ½ cup.)
- Whisk the eggs, flour, milk, water, and salt together to make a smooth batter. Pour into a container, preferably something like a Pyrex quart measuring cup. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for up to 3 days.
- Put the oven rack in the center position and heat the oven to 450°.
- Put the ½ cup drippings or other fat in the 10-inch skillet. (Or microwave the fat to liquefy it if it is solid, and divide it between the two 8-inch skillets, 8 popover cups, 12 muffin cups, or 24 mini muffin cups.)
- Put the skillet (or muffin tins) in the hot oven and heat for about 10 minutes, until the fat is “smoking hot”.
- Pour the batter into the skillet. (Or divide it between the wells of the tins. Each one should be between ½ and ¾ full. The skillet should be about ¼ filled.)
- Bake until the Yorkshire pudding has quadrupled in size, is browned, and sounds hollow when tapped. My 10-inch skillet took 24 or 25 minutes. Smaller muffins will take about 15 minutes; popover-sized or 8-inch skillets will take about 25 minutes.
- For the 10-inch skillet pudding, cut into 8 pieces and serve immediately.
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The Best Greek Chicken and Potatoes
By Kath Dedon
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The Best Roast Greek Chicken and Potatoes is pretty darn good! Heather Christo posted it on her blog, heatherchristo.com, saying it’s one of her most popular recipes. I decided to make it for Laura and Byron and took it over to their house, along with Chopped Greek Salad with Feta Cheese. (They had their adorable baby boy, our grandson, 3 weeks ago today!*) They declared that it was a “winner winner chicken dinner”! It’s so easy to make, I know it won’t be too long before I make it again.
I used a 4.5-pound whole chicken and cut it in half. I don’t see why you couldn’t use about 4 pounds of your favorite chicken pieces if you don’t want to split a whole chicken.
Don’t skimp on the lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, or garlic. They are the key flavor ingredients.
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The Best Roast Greek Chicken and Potatoes
(Adapted from Heather Christo’s recipe on heatherchristo.com)
Serves 4 – 6
1 whole 4 – 4.5 pound chicken split in half
2 large lemons
11 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons dried Greek oregano
1 cup olive oil
6 medium Yukon gold potatoes
Kosher salt and pepper
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Place the chicken halves on a sheet pan.
- Cut one of the lemons in half and squeeze all of the juice over the chicken. Rub the lemon halves over the chicken.
- Pour ¼ cup of the olive oil over the chicken.
- Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the oregano over the chicken.
- Peel and mince 5 of the garlic cloves and sprinkle over the chicken.
- Peel and quarter the potatoes and put them in a large bowl.
- Peel and mince the remaining 6 garlic cloves and sprinkle over the potatoes.
- Add the remaining ¾ cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon oregano, and the juice of the second lemon to the bowl of potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and gently toss so everything is evenly distributed.
- Put the potatoes and all of the seasoned olive oil around the chicken on the sheet pan.
- Roast until the chicken is done (165°, measured with an instant read thermometer), about 1 hour and 10 – 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and potatoes to a serving dish. Pour all of the remaining sauce in the sheet pan over the chicken and potatoes.
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* Emerson, 16 days old, and his dog, Louie (photo by Laura)
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Chopped Greek Salad with Feta Cheese
By Kath Dedon
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This Chopped Greek Salad with Feta Cheese is colorful and delicious! It’s best made ahead of time, so it’s perfect for entertaining, potluck parties, or your holiday table.
The recipe is adapted, barely, from Kalyn Denny’s recipe on her blog, Kalyn’s Kitchen. Kalyn uses Newman’s Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing. I made a quick batch of Zesty Homemade Italian Salad Dressing and used that instead.
Kalyn cuts the Feta cheese into cubes and stirs it into the finished salad. I served it on the side. If it’s served on the side, people who like Feta can add it to their servings, and people who avoid dairy or who are vegan can enjoy the salad without it.
I highly recommend this Chopped Greek Salad with Feta Cheese for this busy holiday season!
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Chopped Greek Salad with Feta Cheese
(Adapted from Kalyn Denny’s recipe on Kalyn’s Kitchen)
Serves 3 – 4
1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 English cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and sliced
½ red bell pepper, cut into ¾-inch squares
½ yellow bell pepper, cut into ¾-inch squares
½ orange bell pepper, cut into ¾-inch squares
½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, cut in half (or sliced Kalamata olives)
¼ cup chopped red onion
½ cup diced Feta cheese (or more), or sliced Feta served on the side
Dressing
½ cup Zesty Homemade Italian Salad Dressing (or Newman’s Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Mix the oregano into the salad dressing and set aside.
- Put the tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, olives, and red onion in a bowl.
- Pour the desired amount of salad dressing over the salad. (I used almost all of it.) Gently stir the salad so the dressing is well-distributed.
- If adding the Feta cheese to the salad, stir the cheese into the salad. Otherwise, serve it on the side.
- The salad can be served immediately, but it’s even better if it’s allowed to marinate at room temperature for an hour or two. Refrigerate leftovers; it keeps well.
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The Chopped Greek Salad with Feta Cheese was part of a meal that I delivered to Laura and Byron. They welcomed our little grandson, Emerson, into the world 20 days ago. He was born on November 25.
That’s right! I’m a first-time Grammy! Of course, Emerson is the most beautiful baby ever born! GrandpaDude (Bob) and I are thrilled!! (I’m speaking with a lot of exclamation points these days. 😉 )
(Oh, and Laura wanted me to let you know that they loved the salad! 🙂 )
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Laura, Byron, and Emerson
Photo by Bella Baby Photography
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A Few of Our Favorite Holiday Treats
By Kath Dedon
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Can you believe that Christmas is just two weeks away?
We don’t have desserts on a regular basis, but this is one time of year when we like to indulge in a few favorite treats. A few days ago Laura suggested that I should post some of our holiday favorites. I thought it was a great idea. So without further ado, here they are. (Just click on the names of the desserts for the recipe.)
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Our favorite holiday pies!
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Naturally Sweetened Pumpkin Pie
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If you need a gluten-free option, this Almond Flour Pie Crust works very well with the pecan or pumpkin pie recipes.
Our Favorite Holiday Cookies!
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Sugar Cookies….aka Million Dollar Cookies
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And one spectacular holiday cake!
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This Portuguese Orange Olive Oil Cake should be made a couple of days before serving, and it deliciously serves a lot of people. A holiday win-win!
Wishing you and yours a very happy and tasty Holiday Season!
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