Kind of productive day!

This morning I woke up, made Johnny's coffee, and fed the cats...like I do every morning. I spent some time with Johnny on the porch before he had to start working. Then I had some more packages delivered...including my new spice rack and jars! Unfortunately, I had a doctor appointment so I had to leave shortly after the mail was delivered. Then I had to go pick up all my prescriptions. After I got back home, I had a surprise visit from my grandma. She wanted to get out of the house for a little while. So I was able to show her the new floors and the rug that my sister had bought for us and everything that we'd been doing around the house and in the backyard. Around the same time grandma showed up, Ashlyn got home from a walk with her dog to meet a friend and Aubry stopped by briefly to drop off her dog with me before going to work. Grandma enjoyed seeing the kids and even the puppies...since we haven't been around grandparents much since the coronavirus hit. Grandma had also given me the pressure cooker and loves hearing about what I've been making in it for dinner, so I heated up some of the ribs for lunch. She really liked them, too. :)

Grandma stayed and hung out with me and Ashlyn for a couple hours before she headed back home. Johnny's break fell around the same time so he got to say bye too. :) Then I started organizing all the spices and seasonings to put on the spice rack. I already had one spice rack, and was able to find another one just like it. I actually used some heavy-duty Command strips to attach the spice racks to the back of the white pantry cabinet that I spoke about in this post. I also got some new jars for some of the stuff that didn't previously fit on the spice rack so we could have everything in the same spot and have it look more uniform. I think it turned out really great!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Candi Pride (@tinycandi) on Jun 23, 2020 at 4:36pm PDT

Ashlyn decided to make tacos for dinner. I've had a horrible headache so that was really nice. Now just going to have a relaxing night and hopefully go to bed early and wake up in the morning without a headache.

We had a wonderful weekend!

We celebrated Father's day and Aubry's birthday this weekend. Johnny's present actually arrived last weekend...a new charcoal grill! We hadn't been able to use the old one for a couple years because it had rubber "feet" that held water and ended up rusting the bottom of the legs so much that it collapsed just above those rubber feet. It leaned quite a bit after that! So, we got a new grill. Thank goodness for sale prices! :) Luckily it showed up just before I had to take Aubry to work...so she was able to help me bring the 125 pound box in the house! We sat it in the living room and I covered it with a blanket for Johnny to "open" during his lunch break. ;) That night, Johnny was so excited that we put it together in the living room at 1:00 am. LOL.

Then Johnny moved the old grill, cleaned off the back patio, and Ashlyn power-washed the patio furniture.

Friday evening we finally moved the grill from the dining room to the patio. Johnny made barbecue chicken out on the grill for dinner Friday night. It was SO yummy. :) He really likes his new grill!

Saturday morning Johnny started spray-painting the patio furniture. He got through the table and two of the chairs before we ran out of paint. But what a difference some spray paint makes! It had faded to a very light grey color...but with some dark grey metallic spray paint, they look like new! We also had to get some new cushions for the chairs and we found a nice umbrella...since ours was taken out in a storm a couple years ago. It's really starting to come together out there. :)

That evening my mom and dad came over for dinner. Aubry and my dad opened their gifts while I finished mixing the barbecue sauce for the pressure cooker spare ribs and Johnny finished the hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats out on the grill. It was a very nice evening. :)

Sunday was a very relaxing day just hanging out around the house. We slept in and watched some TV together. Ashlyn spent a few hours with her dad and Aubry mowed the front yard. It was a really nice weekend. :)

Oh! And I also joined a blessing group on Facebook...which is basically sharing Amazon wishlists and "blessing" people with items from their list. They play a lot of games...like the Price is Right where you post a price and if someone has something on their list (added prior to that day), they post a screenshot of the item and you purchase it for them. There's also the Wheel of Fortune game where 10 people join and each person spins a wheel with everyone's names on it...then you buy a gift from the list of the person's name that you landed on. There's also a lottery game...where about 20 or so people are entered and the moderator assigns numbers in order of comments and then uses a random number generator to draw a number. Then the lucky winner receives an item from their list from each of the rest of the participants. If everyone shows proof of purchase within 20 minutes, the moderator picks another number. Apparently it was my lucky day on Friday! My name was landed on 3 times in the Wheel of Fortune game and I was the second chance winner in the lottery drawing! So I ended up with 24 gifts! Fourteen of those packages arrived on Sunday and six more on Monday!


And then tonight, the girls and I had dinner with my mom and grandparents at Applebees for Aubry's birthday/graduation. It's still so hard to believe that she's done with high school! Parenting teenagers is surreal, that's for sure. 

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I always used to order the lettuce wraps from PF Chang's...and it sounded like a nice summer recipe to make! It turned out very yummy and they're very easy to make. :)

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground chicken
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce, low sodium 
1 8oz can of water chestnuts, chopped 
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
1-2 heads of lettuce (depending on size), separated by leaf
chopped green onions for garnish
Sriracha sauce if you like some kick

Directions: 

1. Turn pressure cooker to saute. Add oil and brown chicken about five minutes. Stop the saute function and drain before returning chicken to the pressure cooker.  
2. Add chicken broth, garlic powder, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, water chestnuts, and rice. 
3. Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. 
4. Allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes and then release remaining pressure. 
5. Stir the chicken mixture. Spread a spoonful of the chicken mixture in the middle of a lettuce leaf. Top with green onions and sriracha sauce if desired.

*I used the CooksEssentials 8qt Oval Pressure Cooker for this recipe.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Candi Pride (@tinycandi) on Jun 16, 2020 at 6:57pm PDT

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Barbecue Spare Ribs

I made spare ribs in the pressure cooker for the first time tonight. They were delicious! I also made baked potatoes in the slow cooker to go with (I'll post that link at the bottom of this post).

Barebecue Pork Spare Ribs

Ingredients:

5lbs Fresh Extra Tender Pork Spare Ribs
1 cup water
1 tbs liquid smoke 
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce 
4 tbs brown sugar 
1 tbs paprika
2 tsp garlic salt 
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
2 tbs liquid from pressure cooker pot
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I use KC Masterpiece)

Directions: 

1. Remove membrane from the ribs.  Cut into about 4 separate pieces (cut every 4 ribs or so).
2. Mix brown sugar, paprika, garlic salt, onion powder, oregano, and cinnamon and rub all over the ribs.
3. Pour water, liquid smoke, and Worcestershire sauce into pressure cooker pot. 
4. Loosely pile ribs in pressure cooker (I did not use a trivet). 
5. Seal the pressure cooker and cook the ribs on high pressure for 45 minutes. Allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes before quick releasing remaining pressure. 
6. Carefully remove ribs from the pressure cooker pot. They should be fall-off-the-bone tender, so make sure you get all the pieces out of the pot.  
7. Take 2 tbs of the remaining liquid in the pressure cooker and mix it with the barbecue sauce. 
8. You can use a silicone brush to cover the ribs with barbecue sauce, pour it over them, or just leave them plain and allow individuals to choose how much, if any, sauce they want on the ribs (which is what I do, because not everyone even uses barbecue sauce at all). You can also cover the ribs in barbecue sauce and then broil them for a few minutes to get more of a crust on top...but I like them tender without the crisp. :) 

*I used the CooksEssentials 8qt Oval Pressure Cooker for this recipe.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Candi Pride (@tinycandi) on Jun 8, 2020 at 8:28pm PDT

Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:
4-6 large potatoes
Olive Oil
Salt (I use a grinder with sea salt)
Aluminum foil


Directions: 

1. Rinse and dry potatoes. Poke with a fork on all sides.  

2. Tear a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap each potato.
3. Cover each potato with a little bit of olive oil and then sprinkle with salt. 
4. Wrap each potato and place in the slow cooker.
5. Cook on high heat for 5 hours.
6. Remove and carefully (they're hot!) unwrap each potato. 
7. Split and top with desired toppings (butter, sour cream, chives, bacon bits, etc). 

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Beef Tips and Gravy

There are a few quick microwave meals that we like on the days where we are just too busy or I am too tired to deal with making dinner. One of those is beef tips and gravy. I believe the brand of beef tips and gravy I get is Hormel. You just pop the container in the microwave and a few minutes later...delicious. I make open face hot roast beef sandwiches... bread and butter topped with mashed potatoes and then topped with the beef tips and gravy. It is SO yummy and reminds me of when I was younger and we used to go to the little corner cafe in my hometown for lunch and order them. But...the store has been out of the beef tips and gravy. So...I decided to make some of my own! They were yummy and still pretty quick...just not as quick as the microwave. ;)

Pressure Cooker Beef Tips and Gravy

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs of sirloin cut into 1-2 inch cubes (I actually used pre-cut stew meat to save time) 
4 tbs flour 
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried thyme 
1/8 tsp ground pepper 
2 tbs oil, divided 
2 cans beef broth
1 tsp beef bouillon 
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce 
1 tbs of cornstarch 
2 tbs cold water 

Directions: 

1. Mix flour, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, parsley, thyme, and ground pepper in a large bowl. Add meat and thoroughly coat all the meat.   
2. Turn pressure cooker to saute and start. Once heated, add 1 tbs of oil and half of the meat and brown on all sides. Remove and repeat with the second half of the meat then remove. 
3. Add beef broth, beef bouillon, and Worcestershire sauce to the pot. Mix well to dissolve the bouillon then cancel the saute setting. 
4. Return meat to the pot and turn the setting to high pressure. Secure the lid on the pressure cooker and lock. Set the cook time for 25 minutes and press start. 
5. Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes before quick release. 
6. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meat from the pot. 
7. Turn the pot back to saute setting and start. Mix cornstarch with cold water and then whisk into the gravy until thickened then turn off the saute setting. 
8. Serve over mashed potatoes. I also make a bread and butter "sandwich" then place the mashed potatoes on top of the sandwich and cover with beef tips and gravy.

*I used the CooksEssentials 8qt Oval Pressure Cooker for this recipe.

View this post on Instagram

Homemade beef tips and gravy over buttered bread and mashed potatoes. #whatsfordinner #yummyfood

A post shared by Candi Pride (@tinycandi) on Jun 4, 2020 at 5:56pm PDT