Yvonne's Done-to-death Apple Bread

Yvonne's Done-to-death Apple Bread

From the 2Peas Board

oven 325, bakes in about 1 hour and 10 minutes

3 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon vanilla

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups chopped, pared, cored apples (about 3-4) (this puts to good use that darned apple/peeler/corer slicer thing you got at a Pampered Chef party years ago and never used!)

1 cup chopped pecans topping:

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to slow 325. Grease and flour two 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pans (or I use those mini loaf pans)

2. Stir together the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla in medium sized bowl until well mixed.

3. Combine the flour, soda and cinnamon on piece of waxed paper, and then then stir into liquid ingredients until just evenly mixed. Stir in the apples and pecans. The mixture will be very thick and gloppy. Divide between the loaf pans.

4: Prepare the topping: combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small cup, and sprinkle over the loaves.

5: Bake in preheated slow oven at 325 for 1 hour and 10 minutes, approximately.

Check it carefully with a tester inserted in center comes out CLEAN. Make sure it's done. Sometimes in my oven they take longer than the time specified. Make sure they are done. Nothing worse than raw middle. Let the breads cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edges of the pans. Remove the breads from the pans to wire racks to cool.The breads are better the second day. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap or foil and store at room temperature.

Chicken and Lentil Soup (Pressure Cooker)

Made this last night and it definitely going into the soup rotation.Recipe was adapted from Skinny Taste website

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb dried lentils
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (whole)
7 cups water
2 tbsp chicken Better than Bouillon
1 small onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or freeze-dried
3 cloves garlic fresh or  from pre-minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn kernels drained
1 tsp garlic powder1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano1/4 tsp ground paprika
salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS:In a large pot combine all ingredients stir. Set Instant Pot to Soup setting for 30 minutes.  When done natural release pressure, remove chicken breasts, shred and add back to soup. Stir well and serve.

Makes 11 cups and will freeze

Insta-pot Chicken Vegetable Soup

Created by me using a few different ideas I had read on-line.

1 Tablespoon butter
1 large onion
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (anything you like)
1 large celery stock, sliced
6 cups chicken stock (store bought or home-made)
2 cups boneless Chicken breast, raw, cubed
1 teaspoon salt
1 Bay leaf
1-2 tablespoons fresh chopped parley or freeze dried parsley
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
Pasta of choice - Barley is yummy but rotini, egg noodles or rice will work.

Steps:Select saute, melt butter then add onions and celery and cook for 1-3 minutes until soft
Add chicken stock, frozen vegetables, bay leaf and chicken.  Stir well.Lock lid in place. Select High pressure set for 9 minutes.When timer goes off let rest for 5  minutes then use quick release.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over cooked pasta.

Makes 5-6 nice size servings. This will freeze great. Just thaw, heat on stove or microwave over fresh batch of pasta.

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti

Fast, yummy and only one pot to clean up.  This would be a great use of ground beef that has been pre-cooked and frozen then thawed same day to save even more time.

Put 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in bottom of Insta-pot, add generous amount of garlic. Ground one pound ground beef in the oil, adding dry Italian seasoning towards the end of the cooking time. When ground beef is done add 1/2 - 1 pound of dry spaghetti (broken in half) and pour one jar of favorite sauce over . Add water equal to the size of the jar.

Manual cook for half the time indicated on the box of spaghetti.  I did 8 minutes.When done either quick release and then let sit 15 minutes to allow sauce to thicken. Stir and serve.

Adapted from recipes I found on Google.