Pressure Cooker 365 Day 1: Pork Chops with Cabbage and Baked Potatoes

On November 17, 2012 I married the love of my life and met a new love: My pressure cooker! To spread the love I’m using my pressure cooker every day and sharing the recipes on my blog.

Lyn says:

“Where are you Kayla? I’ve been following this blog for a couple of years and you’ve totally disappeared! It’s sad! You used to post at least once a week but now your fiance becomes your husband without so much as a wedding pic? Or an article about budget weddings?”

Oh goodness, where have I been?!

I started Kayla K’s Thrifty Ways as a college student in November of 2008.  Although I depended on student loans to cover tuition, I worked to pay my own living expenses.  Living within my means was something I grew up with but was not the norm in my college surroundings.  My blog was a response to that.

My blogging has taken several hiatuses, from my Living History Farms internship to Student Teaching. But I have been largely absent the last year, save a few recipes here and there.

And what a year it has been!

My hard work in college paid off and I am now in my second year as a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher.  I teach culinary and life skills to high school students. I recently became the Speech coach as well.

Spencer and I got engaged (finally!) in April of last year. We got married the day after our sixth anniversary on November 17th of last year.

True to form, I put off planning to the final months. Although we had lots of thrifty DIY touches, I was too busy doing them to blog about them.

I have only a few wedding pictures to share.  I am planning a very loooong series of wedding related posts as the pictures come in.

In addition to marrying my love, I found a new love: Roller Derby! I practice four hours a week and have bouts and promotions on the weekends.

Another new love: My pressure cooker!

Why the long-winded introduction to a simple recipe? Because this three-course meal can be prepared in less than 30 minutes! Almost as amazing as the quick cook time is the cleanup: Everything is made in the same pot!

Don’t make my mistake and wait to get a pressure cooker as a wedding gift. My Presto 6-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker can be purchased for less than $30. It will pay itself off quickly in both time and sanity!

Pork Chops with Cabbage and Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t each: Fennel seed, salt, and pepper
• 4 porkchops
• 1 small head of cabbage, cut through the core into thick 1-inch slices
• 6 small russet potatoes, scrubbed and poked with a knife
• 2 tsp flour

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in pressure cooker with lid off.
2. Rub seasonings into pork chops.
3. Brown pork chops seasoning-side down.  You may need to do only a few at a time based on the size of your cooker. Set aside.
4. Arrange cabbage in bottom of cooker to create a sort of rack for the pork chops. Place the pork chops brown-side up over the cabbage. Place the potatoes over the pork chops.
5. Pour 3/4 C water over the food.
6. Close lid and bring to full pressure. Cook for 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pressure to drop naturally.
7. Remove potatoes, pork chops, and cabbage from the cooker. Bring remaining liquids to a boil. Whisk in flour and cook until thickened.
8. Enjoy!

Notes:

• I used more water than the original recipe because I added potatoes.  Definitely not necessary, so I wrote the original amount.
• Spencer says: “Not bad. You could make it again sometime.” He did not try the cabbage.
• I say: Delicious! This pressure-cooker business is really magical. All of the foods kept their taste and texture but the flavors are so much better.

Tagged as: cabbage, Pork, potatoes