Holiday Recipes Deserve Homemade BrothInstant Pot And Stove Top Vegetable Broth

Homemade broth is far superior to store bought.

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Homemade Broth is Far Superior

When I'm in a hurry, I often just use a Rapunzel bouillon cube for broth. I find most boxed broths taste like dishwater or they can be over salted and just unusable. But for my holiday recipes, I like to make my own broth. Especially on Thanksgiving when I need broth for soup, stuffing, and cooking potatoes or side veggies. 

You can either use fresh vegetables for your broth or veggie scraps that you have been saving in the freezer. But since it's a holiday, let's go all out and use fresh vegetables and herbs. 

Use your Instant Pot for a quick and easy broth or cook or simmer on the stovetop which is just as easy but takes a bit longer. You can double the recipe if needed.

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Instant Pot or Stovetop Vegetable Broth

Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free

[makes 4 cups]

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cups coarsely chopped onions

1 cup coarsely chopped leeks

1 1/2 cups thickly sliced celery

1 1/2 cups thickly sliced carrots

1 cup mushrooms

3 cloves garlic, cut in half

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs parsley

1 or 2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 teaspoon peppercorns

Salt to taste

Directions

For the Instant Pot:

Heat the oil in the Instant Pot by pressing the SAUTE button. Add the veggies and garlic and cook until they just begin to soften, stirring frequently, about 4 to 5 minutes. Press the OFF button.

Add the remaining ingredients. Cover with water and stir. Secure the lid and press the MANUAL button and set for 10 minutes at high pressure. When done, press OFF and let the pressure come down naturally. Remove the lid carefully with the steam pointed towards the back. 

Strain out the vegetables and herbs. Use immediately or refrigerate or freeze for later use.

For the Stove Top:

Heat the oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven and saute the vegetables and garlic, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Cover with water, stir, and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for at least an hour. Strain out the vegetables and herbs. Use immediately or refrigerate or freeze for later use.

It's Time To Make Serrano Pepper Hot SauceSalsa Picante Makes A Great Holiday Gift!

Turn those garden Serrano peppers into hot sauce.

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Fall Brings Peppers
Fall in Northern California is generally the time to pull out your summer crops and plant broccoli, kale, beets, lettuce, garlic, and other winter crops. The one plant that is still in the ground, however, and that's always late to produce is our pepper crop. 

But now it's time to pick them before the weather turns bad so I picked all the serrano peppers and most of the red pimento and poblano peppers. But what do you do with 3 pounds of serranos when only one is needed to flavor a dish? Well, let's make hot sauce!

I blogged a hot sauce recipe a few years ago using jalapeños and serranos but this year I'm using serrano peppers combined with a sweet red pimento pepper. It's still turned out super hot, but the sweet pepper cut the heat a little bit and gave it a nice flavor.

Sweet red pimento peppers cut the heat a bit and adds a lovely flavor to the hot sauce.

This recipe makes a lot of hot sauce (10 cups) so feel free to cut it down. Or, if you have lots of serranos and want to make this big a batch, fill some cute little bottles and give them away as holiday presents.

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Salsa Picante with Serrano Peppers
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 10 cups]

Requirements
High Speed Blender
5 quart or larger, enamel-coated Dutch oven 

Ingredients
3 pounds serrano peppers
1 pound sweet red peppers
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cups chopped onions
12 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt
3 to 4 cups water
3 1/2 cups white distilled vinegar

Directions
Cut the tops off the serrano peppers. Then, cut them down the middle lengthwise. Set aside.
Remove the tops and the inner seeds from the sweet peppers. Dice and set aside. 

Heat the oil on medium heat and cook the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Stir in the serrano and red peppers along with the salt and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. 

Add the water and cook uncovered, on a medium boil, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are very soft and the water is greatly reduced but not completely dry. (I started with 4 cups of water and it took over an hour for it to cook down so maybe 3 cups of water would have been enough.) 

Add water and boil.

Cook until almost dry but not completely.

Unless you have a really big blender, you will have to blend in two batches.
Place half the cooked peppers and half the vinegar in a blender and process until smooth. Repeat with the rest of the peppers and vinegar.

Unless you have a 12 cup blender, you will have to process the peppers and vinegar in two batches.

Pour the hot sauce into jars and refrigerate. It will last for over a year!

Or pour into small bottles with a cute label and give them away as holiday gifts!

Salsa Picante makes a yummy holiday gift!

Instant Pot Rice With Butternut SquashVegan And Gluten Free

A simple way to get more veggies into your family's diet!
It's also a great gluten free side dish for the holidays.

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Did you know the Instant Pot has a Rice Button?
For the first year I owned my Instant Pot, I didn't use the Rice button a single time. I cooked just about everything using the Manual button. One day I thought I'd give that poor neglected button a try. 

Here's a simple recipe for a rice side dish that provides the added benefit of dietary fiber, vitamin A, C, potassium and manganese as well as magnesium, vitamin E and B6.

For the rice, I prefer Tamaki Haiga, the short grain white rice that retains the germ. I call it "white rice without the guilt." (Please note that the Rice button is only timed for white or parboiled rice.)

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Instant Pot Rice with Butternut Squash 
Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free
[4 servings]

Requirements
Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker

Ingredients
1 cup short grain white rice
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup small diced onion
1 cup grated butternut squash
1 1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Place the rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse well under cold water until the water is clear. Drain well and set aside. 

Heat the oil in the Instant Pot using the "Sauté" function. Add the onion and grated butternut squash and cook, stirring frequently, for several minutes. Hit the "Off" button. 

Saute the onions and butternut squash for several minutes.

Stir in the rinsed rice, water and salt. Secure the lid and press the “Rice” button. When the Instant Pot is done cooking, let the pressure come down naturally. 

Remove the lid carefully and fluff the rice with a fork and serve.