Instant Pot Pumpkin Pasta

I’ve been making Pumpkin Pasta for a long time. And tonight I finally adapted it to be a one pot instant pot meal. 

One pot, Instant Pot Pumpkin Penne 

1lb sage breakfast sausage (or 1lb ground pork*)

1lb penne

1 12oz can evaporated milk

1 15oz can pure pumpkin

1 1/2 t sage

1/2 t garlic

Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste*

Parmesan cheese to taste

In 6qt instant pot, cook sausage/pork on medium sauté until cooked thru. Remove to a plate, and drain and drippings. 

Add 4.5 cups water and 1lb penne to pot. Seal lid and pressure cook on high for 0 minutes (yes, zero. That is how long I’ve come up with thru trial and error, starting with 4 minutes, which was waaayyyy to soft). Let NPR for 10 min, then QPR. Remove lid when pin drops and steam is done. 

Quickly stir in the evaporated milk and let rest a few minutes to absorb. Add pumpkin, sage, salt, pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes. If still too runny, turn pot on low sauté for a few minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking and burning. Stir in Parmesan and serve. 

*You will need more seasoning if you use pork instead of sausage. 

This recipe is adapted from Rachael Ray’s Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pasta-with-pumpkin-and-sausage-recipe-1939614.amp

Crockpot cranberry pork roast

Just a quick note about what I made for dinner last Thursday, and have had left overs for dinner twice. It is Crock Pot Cranberry Pork Roast. I found it on Pinterest from the site recipegirl.com. I will put a link to her site below, and just mention the few modifications I had to make.

When I first found the recipe last month, it sounded good, so I bought a can of cranberry sauce in anticipation :) Last week, when the tasty bug bit, I couldn't afford the pork loin roast she used. So I bought 2 pork shoulder blade steaks that weighed about 2.5 pounds. Not as lean, but cheaper by a couple dollars a pound.

I didn't brown the meat as suggested in the recipe, and only cooked it on low...for 9ish hours. A girl has to go to work, ya know? When we came home, it smelled yummy. M (who now wants to be referred to as Cupcake, after seeing some other blogs with kidonyms) wanted rice, so we did the first night. It. Was. Yummy. But I happened to have some left over mashed taters, so that is what I have been eating the left overs with. I like that even better!

So here is the link. Try it and enjoy!
http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/01/18/cranberry-pork-roast/

Braised pork with cinnamon and beer

Tonight I made a recipe I got from the pork board on twitter. They found it here (http://fiveandspice.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/pork-braised-with-beer-and-cinnamon/comment-page-1/#comment-3528). It took several hours, as a good braise will with a big hunk of meat (my pork shoulder was 4 pounds), but man, was it yummy! And easy!

Brown the meat. Sauté some onions. Add cinnamon sticks. Deglaze with brown ale (I used Newcastle). Bake for 3 hours until meat is falling apart. Done. She (and I) served it with polenta, but I am sure mashed potatoes, rice, or anything would work.

I have some meat left over, and a lot of broth. I may make some soup with it...add noodles? I'll let you know :)

Creamy Pasta with Ham and Roasted Broccoli

 

I found this recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food (www.mathastewart.com/317182/creamy-pasta-with-ham-and-broccoli) and thought it sounded yummy.  After reading the comments on the site, I did make a couple modifications, tho.  The lead in page had said you could sub in mushrooms instead of ham to make it vegetarian...I added them with the ham!  I also increased the quantities a little, as I wanted left overs for lunch, and even tho the recipe says it feeds four, it must be four people with no appetite, or who don't like food, as most recipes like this don't feed four people I know.  As it turned out, I fed two adults, a child who loves pasta, and had one container for leftovers.

Here is how I made it:  I bought a pound of broccoli crowns, which I trimmed into flowerettes.  I also had .40 pound mushrooms that I quartered.  I think more mushrooms would have been nice.  Put the broccoli and mushrooms on a baking sheet with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  Roast at 425* for about 20 minutes, until broccoli is tender and both are getting a little browned.

Meanwhile, put a large pot of salted water on to boil.  Add 8oz fancy egg noodles and cook just until tender...not mushy!  While the water was boiling and noodles cooking, I cut .40 pounds deli ham into small pieces.

Once the noodles were cooked, I drained them into a colander and put the pot back on the stove.  Here is another change I made.  When I was at the store looking at cream cheese, I saw that Philly had what they call Cooking Cremes on sale (they are flavored cream cheese based goodness for casseroles, etc.).  And the savory garlic had a couple with nearing expiration dates that were an extra dollar off.  So I got that instead of plain cream cheese.  Back to the recipe...I added about 2/3 of the container of cooking creme to the pot and stirred it to melting.  I then put everything in the pot -- broccoli, mushrooms, ham, noodles -- and stirred it all together.  I did add a couple tablespoons of hot water into the mix to thin the sauce a little.  Voila!  Everyone liked it and wanted more.  Next time, I will have to increase the quantities a little, so I can also use the whole container of cooking cream.  The original recipe also said you could sub chicken or turkey (deli meat, I assume) for the ham.  I think it would also be good with diced/shredded meat (leftover turkey, anyone?), and even diced pork would be yummy!  I was also thinking it would be good as a casserole with buttered bread crumbs on top...

I just ate my leftovers for lunch, and they were good, too...Now to figure out what is for dinner tonight!