Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

This recipe comes from the Kitchen Girl. I have not tried it, it's on my list to get to. My freind said it's great. Ingredients Ingredients for an 8 cup yield ▢ 3 lbs Russet Potatoes or Yukon Golds, about 6 medium potatoes ▢ 1 cup Water, or broth ▢ 1 cup Heavy Cream, also called whipping cream ▢ 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter ▢ 1 tsp Sea Salt ▢ 1/2 tsp Black Pepper ▢ 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, for garnish ▢ 6 quart Instant Pot ▢ trivet ▢ Potato masher (or electric mixer for whipped potatoes) ▢ oven mitts Instructions: Scrub POTATOES and stack them (trivet optional) inside the cooker. If you don't want skin on, you can peel it before or after pressure cooking them. *Note: If using an 8 or 10 quart Instant Pot with more potatoes, use 2 cups of water or broth instead of 1 cup. Add WATER (or BROTH). Close and lock the lid, turn pressure valve knob to the “Sealing” position. Select MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK for 10 minutes on HIGH pressure (or 4 minutes for diced potatoes). When cook cycle completes, allow the cooker to sit undisturbed for a 10-minute natural pressure release (NPR). Carefully release any remaining steam. Open the lid and insert a sharp knife into a few potatoes to test for doneness. If they give resistance, repeat pressure cook cycle for 2 minutes with natural or quick release. Once cooked, remove the trivet from under the potatoes. No draining required, unless it's preferred. Add BUTTER, HEAVY CREAM, SALT, and PEPPER. Mash ingredients into the potatoes to the desired consistency. Bbe careful to not overwork them because they can lose their fluffy texture and become gluey. You can use a vegetable masher, hand mixer, or stand mixer for this process. Serve warm garnished with PARSLEY and my 10-minute gravy! Note: You can keep mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot on "keep warm" mode. Storage and Reheat Instructions Allow potatoes to cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container up to 5 days. To reheat, add a splash of liquid (water, broth, or dairy). Heat on med-high stove heat until warmed through, stirring as needed. Or microwave them on a 50% power setting in two-minute intervals until they’re warmed through, stirring as needed. Traci's Notes Recipe tips for pressure cooker mashed potatoes The 6-quart Instant Pot fits approximately 5 lbs. whole potatoes and up to 7 lbs. diced. Reduce the pressure cook time to 5 minutes for diced potatoes. If they need any longer, just add 1 minute pressure cook intervals as needed. If you don't want mashed potatoes with skin on, you can peel first, or pressure cook and peel after. A trivet isn't required, but keeps the potatoes above the liquid, so they're steaming instead of boiling. Cook time is the same for any size Instant Pot No draining is needed, but you can drain if you prefer to. Plan to serve 1/3 to 1/2 lb. mashed potatoes per person (about 1 cup).

Thanksgiving Turkey

It occurred to me I had never written down all my mom's tips and tricks for cooking a Thanksgiving Turkey.  So here it goes.  This is going to include stuffing and gravy. 

Step 1:  Stuffing

2-3 loaves of cheap white bread
2 onions
1 -2 sticks of butter
poultry seasoning
season salt
olive oil

Purchase either 2 loaves for a small turkey or 3 loaves for a large turkey, cheap white bread.  The nice stuff turns into a soggy mess. Cut bread into about one-inch cubes, but don't use the ends of the bread.  Coat the bread in poultry seasoning, until it is thoroughly coated light and evenly.  Next melt butter and brown onion in the butter until thoroughly cooked.  If you add a little bit of olive oil, the butter won't burn.  Once onions are soft, slowly mix the butter and onions over the coated bread, a little at a time until the bread is moistened.  Adding a little milk will help moisten the bread. 

Step 2: Turkey

Make sure turkey is defrosted.  This takes several days in the fridge.  Clean out inside cavities in the front and the back of the bird.  Take out the innards.  Do what you want to with them because they are gross and we don't use them.  Rinse out the cavity and stuff both front and back with dressing mixture.  Place an onion over the ends, directly under the skin to ensure the stuffing won't burn in the oven.  Using meat pins, seal the skin over the stuffing.  Rub bird with olive oil to assist with browning.

Place bird in an oven bag.  Breast up or breast down?  It depends.  Breast up will give you more juice drippings and will brown the bird.  Breast down gives you moister meat.  Also place in the bag about a Tbsp. of flour and 2 pinches of Thyme.  Seal the bag.

Cook bird at 350 degrees in the bag.  (It's 325 without it.)  Sorry, the length of time depends on the size of bird.  You need to do math here.  Sorry.  You really did need it.  It wasn't a waste.

When bird is cooked thoroughly, take out of oven and let it cool for a bit.

Step 3: Gravy

Get the drippings and place in a pan.  Make with flour and chicken broth for extra flavor. Season how you like. 

Step 4: The stuffing

Sometimes the stuffing needs extra cooking. Especially if you cooking it breast down.  Place in a baking dish and cook at 350 degrees until heated through.

"Sweet" Potatoes

Doesn't it seem that people fall into two categories with sweet potatoes, either they hate them and don't eat them or they love them because they have a pet family recipe. I've had sweet potatoes as french fries, in pancakes, in pie and just a big hunk of it, but this is our family pet recipe. Yum.

4-5 yams, mashed
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

--Mix together and put in greased 9x13 pan.

Topping:
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour

--Mix with pastry blender. Add 1 cup chopped pecans. Bake @ 350 degrees for 0-30 minutes.