Pressure Cooker

I have used my pressure cooker twice now. Both times to cook beans. The taste of beans that are not canned are AMAZING! Who would have thought beans would smell so good? Not to mention, they are very healthy and a great substitute for meat. If I don't cook anything else besides beans in my pressure cooker, it will still be worth it. A bag of beans (un-soaked) can be cooked in 30 minutes - with a quick steam release. My cooker is stainless steel. They are more expensive than the aluminum cookers, but I wanted a quality product that would last a long time. It is a 6-quart cooker, and sometimes I wonder if it will be big enough. You can cook whole meals in them; roasts, ribs, pork loins, etc. They are suppose to be just as tender, as if you slow-cooked them all day, but much much faster. It also promotes energy savings. Because it doesn't take as long to cook, the user saves electricity/gas to run the stove and also eliminates most of the heat from the kitchen when cooking during the summer. I cooked up some kidney beans today for some chili. I could have made the actual chili in the cooker (not just the beans), but there is something to be said for enjoying the aroma while it is cooking and leisurely "tending" to it. The weekend allows for more time to enjoy the joy of slow-cooking. But, for those busy times, get a pressure cooker!

Here is a link to a website for the cooker that I have. It has great ideas for meals and a time chart:

http://fastcooking.ca/pressure_cookers/cooking_times_pressure_cooker.php