Making food fast at home

Risotto in the pressure cooker - my new favorite fast food

Sometimes there’s just no time left to spend in the kitchen. Evening events filled up our calendar last week so dinner had to be simple and/or fast.

For Meatless Monday, we relied on a stirfry (and ignored the boys’ standby complaints about tofu). Tuesday was easy thanks to leftovers from the Spicy Pork and Apricot Stew that my husband made on Sunday (that’s his day to cook so this time, we made a super big batch and froze three-quarters of it for future meals).  Wednesday was a boxed chicken enchilada dinner (not so good) for the guys while I dined on roasted autumn vegetables over pumpkin polenta at my business dinner (cringe). Thursday I was off again while my husband made penne with marinara sauce and ground beef for the boys.

By now you may think I should be featured on this website and you’ll nominate my husband for this one, especially because he complained not one whit.  I managed to redeem myself in the kitchen on Friday. Thanks to the pressure cooker I had just en0ugh energy left to whip up butternut squash and sausage risotto.  This version by Rick Rodgers was easy enough and tasty; the texture not as appealing as the last version with ham and peas by Lorna Sass. The risotto was a comforting way to wrap up a hectic week of eating on the run.

Still I marvel at the fact I’ve cooked dinner only two out of last seven nights. Hmmm, not a bad change of pace from my perspective!